Beyond - Legends The End of All Light (Post-NJO AU: Anakin Solo, Jacen, Jaina, L/M, H/L, many more) Updated 11/29/14!

Yobi! Your back! I have a life again! *squeezes him very tightly* For some reason, I picture Jag to look like Matt Damon. Just my oppinion.

Edit: I spelled opinion wrong, didn't I?

 

Well, you said that's your last fic in that continuity.

I'm against this discrimination of the good guys wardrobe.

Well, three years old should be good enough for SWTOR, it will be able to scale down to older rigs. But let's first see how the game really shakes out, hype and reality are always different things.

Who says that she'd stop being herself if she has a steady boyfriend?

 

Rohan: Yobi! Your back! I have a life again! *squeezes him very tightly*

Easy, Chewie!

For some reason, I picture Jag to look like Matt Damon. Just my oppinion.

That's interesting. I think my mental picture of him is just based on the few canon pictures that have been given.

Edit: I spelled opinion wrong, didn't I?

It's okay, it gave it more ppower





Magnuskn: Well, you said that's your last fic in that continuity.

Right. Maybe it's last because everyone dies


Well, three years old should be good enough for SWTOR, it will be able to scale down to older rigs. But let's first see how the game really shakes out, hype and reality are always different things.

I don't know. It couldn't run KotoR2 for some reason? Though that might be a Vista problem. Speaking of Vista, there's another reason I should just get a new PC...

Who says that she'd stop being herself if she has a steady boyfriend?

Well, it might hamper all the flirting






Post tomorrow

 

For some reason, I picture Jag to look like Matt Damon. Just my oppinion.

He has always reminded me of Channing Tatum if anyone.

 

Don't pull a Neon Genesis Evangelion / Rahxephon on us.

KOTOR 2 wasn't even developed by BioWare. Also, Vista sucks. ^^ Get Windows 7, it's much better.

Oh, you think going steady would hamper her flirting?

 

That's interesting. I think my mental picture of him is just based on the few canon pictures that have been given.
Exactly! Take Matt Damon, give him a crew-cut, put him in a stuffy Chiss (admiral?) suit, stick a bad-ass eyepatch on him and Wah-la! Jagged Fel!

 

*rushes in to post before tonight's update*

Awesome chapter, Yobi!

It was great seeing Anakin and Tahiri again, although they've both got some considerable baggage they're toting about... they've gotta rely more on each other. It'll make it easier to cope...

More awesome snarkiness for Wrev... He's hysterical.

~Celeste

 

grossmandg: He has always reminded me of Channing Tatum if anyone.

Poor Jag






Magnuskn: Don't pull a Neon Genesis Evangelion / Rahxephon on us.

Fortunately, I don't know what that means, so I can just say, "of course I won't"

KOTOR 2 wasn't even developed by BioWare.

And it showed.

Also, Vista sucks. ^^ Get Windows 7, it's much better.

I know

Oh, you think going steady would hamper her flirting?

Well, I guess it depends on how long this relationship is going to last






Rohan: Exactly! Take Matt Damon, give him a crew-cut, put him in a stuffy Chiss (admiral?) suit, stick a bad-ass eyepatch on him and Wah-la! Jagged Fel!

I think he's gonna need to dye his hair too






Celsete: *rushes in to post before tonight's update*
Awesome chapter, Yobi!

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it

It was great seeing Anakin and Tahiri again, although they've both got some considerable baggage they're toting about... they've gotta rely more on each other. It'll make it easier to cope...

Yeah, their relationship is pretty strained at the moment. Hopefully they'll be able to work through all the turmoil during the story.

More awesome snarkiness for Wrev... He's hysterical.

Glad you found Wrev's jerkiness funny

And thanks again for reading and replying






New post will be up in a bit

 

Chapter 10: Tour of Duty

The tactical briefing center on the Ostiarius was like every other such chamber Jagged Fel had been in since he was old enough to don a Chiss uniform. It was a large, basin-shaped cavity burrowed within the many decks of the Chiss Star Destroyer. The floor was ringed by tiers of white observation benches and a circle of blinking displays that formed a rim around its base segmented by short staircases. At its core was a large hologram projection pod circuited into the stylized gray deck plates like an enormous drain wreathed by a cluster of smaller HoloNet transceivers for real-time communications and imaging. The central pod was capable of rendering three-dimensional recordings, schematics, and maps that swelled up to eight meters in diameter and rotated for the benefit of the gallery when there was a significant audience present to appreciate it.

It was, by almost anyone's estimation, completely unremarkable.

What was remarkable about the tactical briefing center was the chamber's occupants.

Jagged Fel was not someone easily impressed with beings of fame and influence—he had, after all, been around powerful people as long as he could remember, from military leaders to aristocrats. His father had been one of the greatest starfighter pilots ever born and his mother a renowned holodrama star. In the years since their defection the Fel family had navigated the Chiss Ascendancy's most elite circles and helped pioneer its covert faction, a fusion of Ascendancy and Galactic Empire forces known as the Empire of the Hand.

But even Jag could appreciate the magnitude of the company he was currently keeping.

The briefing center was a veritable who's who of galactic heroes, beings who had sculpted the course of recent history in ways few could imagine. To his right, sat Garm Bel Iblis, former hero of the Rebellion and recent defector of the Galactic Alliance—to his left, smugglers Talon Karrde and Booster Terrik, who had each had their hands in more of the crucial dealings of the galaxy than Jag cared to know. Karrde's associate Shada D'ukal was equally as infamous in the space lanes they traveled, and she stood to one side of her employer with an ease that was as deceptive as her strikes would be lethal should anyone present make the wrong move towards him.

Across from Jag stood Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, two Jedi Master's whose contributions to history were well-known, and Master Kyle Katarn, whose expertise in both the Force and combat were the stuff of legends. With them stood Jag's uncle, the newly-released Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron fame, who'd only just returned from Coruscant less than an hour earlier with his wife Iella and some of the Jedi who'd helped spring him. Jag's mother would be pleased to hear of his return, and Jag himself was anxious to deliver any good news he could to her.

Moving chrono-wise from Katarn and Antilles was Commander Corssa, the Chiss female who oversaw the Empire of the Hand's ample fleet, and the recently resurrected Grand Admiral Thrawn, who stood hunched over a crystalplas walking stick masking labored breaths. Mitth'raw'nuruodo was widely considered the greatest military strategist to ever live—or live again, as it seemed...

The Chiss Grand Admiral was joined by another Imperial defector named Voss Parck, who often stayed at Thrawn's side, and like Jag's father, had been instrumental in the formation of the Empire of the Hand.

The last of the conference's leaders was just arriving through the open hatchway at the chamber's far end and everyone's attention was fixed squarely on the entrance as he was admitted. He was a man of average height with an undeniable military bearing stamped in his sharp gait and straight back and shoulders, with a crisp white uniform and a finely-groomed white mustache perched smartly over a mouth bent ever-so-slightly by a whisper of a grin. There was a twinkle of mirth in the old man's dark eyes as he strode forward and approached the chamber's other occupant with the same uniform and rank insignia bars emblazoned on his chest.

"I was thinking you might be an illusion over the holocomm," the man said as he closed the distance, "but now that I see you in the flesh, I must say that if you are, you are an excellently crafted one, my old friend."

Grand Admiral Thrawn did not smile back exactly—his glowing red eyes remained as unreadable as ever, but there was some flash of white teeth against his blue skin that might have passed as a shameful expression of happiness beneath the thick crusts of ice that covered Csilla. "The flesh isn't what it used to be, I'm afraid."

"I know the feeling."

"I am pleased to see you again, Admiral Pellaeon."

Gilad Pellaeon offered his former superior a bow. "And I you. If there was ever a time we needed you to rise from the dead, I suppose it is now."

"I wouldn't have minded during the Yuuzhan Vong War," Mara Jade muttered to her husband just loudly enough to draw smirks from Karrde, Terrik, and Antilles.

The circumstances surrounding Mitth'raw'nuruodo's miraculous revival were shrouded in mystery, with little explanation of how he'd survived the assassin Rukh's blade nearly twenty-five years earlier, but he claimed to have spent the time since in a state of suspended animation because of the mortal wound he'd suffered in the attack, waiting for the day when the threat in the Unknown Regions for which he had established the Empire of the Hand would return and his military prowess would be needed to defeat them. The wound, Thrawn said, would eventually kill him, and with his days numbered he had chose to spend the past decades in stasis so that he could live long enough to combat the Raithians rather than wasting away prematurely.

"I understand you had your brush with mortality recently, Admiral," Voss Parck said from over Thrawn's shoulder, the web of old veins in his face showing through skin so aged and translucent it might have been tissue paper.

"The attack on Bastion, yes," Pellaeon frowned grimly. It had been less of an attack and more of a complete orbital bombardment of the Imperial Remnant's capital mere days after they'd officially announced their intentions to sever ties with the Galactic Alliance and join the Chiss in declaring war against the GFFA and Raithians. A Raithian fleet had engaged in a suicide attack to obliterate Bastion and send a message to the other worlds controlled by the Empire. "That unpleasantness is behind us now. Thankfully, we were able to whisk most of the Moffs from the surface and get them safely away from the carnage before the planet was razed."

"Are you sure things wouldn't be easier without them?" Booster punctuated the question with a gruff snort. "You could be calling the shots without all their scheming and interference."

Pellaeon nodded toward the man. "For a time, perhaps. But I would lose the cover they provide as well, and I haven't the time to concern myself with governing if I am going to prosecute a war effectively."

"We are thankful for the Remnant's support," Luke Skywalker said. "We need all the help we can get right now, and I appreciate that many in the former Empire are not eager to help the Jedi."

"That's undeniably true. Thankfully, I believe most realize how dire the consequences would be for us all if we simply stood on the sidelines and allowed this to happen. If the Jedi and Chiss fall, then we will be next. Our best chance to fight this is together."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Admiral."

While they'd been speaking a second man dressed in Imperial grays had marched into the chamber behind Pellaeon and closed the hatchway behind him. It wasn't until he moved to his right that the Admiral seemed to notice him.

"Oh—this is Commander Jarl Pace," Pellaeon said apologetically, gesturing to a man with pale blue eyes and dark hair free of the standard Imperial cap. "I thought it would be best if he joined me in the briefing. I'm not sure if any of you remember him..."

"I do," Mara smiled, nodding to the newcomer. "It's good to see you again, Pace—how's that hip?"

"Good as new," Jarl grinned, patting his right side. "Better, if the cybernetics manufacturer is to be believed."

Jag recalled some mention of Jade storming Supreme Overlord Shimrra's palace during the Yuuzhan Vong War with an Imperial Commando team which included Pace, but he himself had met the Commander while accompanying the Solos to Bastion to lobby for the Remnant's support in the current conflict—a campaign that had obviously been successful. He hadn't learned much about Pace in the meeting, but he seemed an honorable fellow, and Mara Jade—far from a generous judge of character—appeared to hold him in high regard.

Pellaeon and Pace made the rounds of introductions peppered with small talk. Wedge was congratulated on his newly found freedom, as was Commander Corssa for her success in the recent rescue of an Alliance-ambushed CEDF flotilla. When Pellaeon reached Jag, he offered his sincerest apologies for the loss of his father and the standard words of praise about the great man that Soontir Fel had been. Jag simply nodded and agreed as he shook the Admiral's hand. He had heard the words so many times since the tragedy on Apollyon that they had become meaningless, and Jagged Fel, whose focus was as keen and unwavering as any in the galaxy, found his mind wandering during the exchange.

The same conversation had already played out that day with three others, including, somewhat more emotionally, with Jag's Uncle Wedge only moments earlier.

Soontir Fel had been replaced in his life with mindless apologies, platitudes about life and death, and customary words of reverence for the man sprinkled with the occasional anecdote.

But Jag didn't need sympathy, or comforted, or reminders of why his father was held in such high esteem. None of these things had ever meant much to him, and they certainly didn't now.

All that mattered to him was completing his father's work—what Baron Soontir Fel had been dedicated to all of Jag's life.

Pellaeon made some comment about the patch that covered Jag's right eye that the young man didn't quite catch, but it was always the same—either a remark about how it made him look like his father or a question about when he would be getting a cybernetic replacement. Jag felt no urgent need to have the eye he'd lost on Apollyon replaced with an implant, partly because he wanted to remember the pain and loss and circumstances that had caused it all, and partly because wearing his father's eyepatch gave him a strange comfort in seeing the galaxy around him as his father did for so long.

But he could never explain either of these things to anyone, nor did he particularly care to try.

"I understand you have been promoted to Chief Syndic of the CEDF?" Pellaeon smiled.

"I have," Jag nodded solemnly. He had taken over the position in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet shortly after returning from Apollyon.

"It seems fitting that you would take on your father's duties," the older man replied.

"It had to be done, Admiral."

Pellaeon's mouth formed a pale smile. "Well, I'm sure he would be very proud of you."

Jag's mouth tightened and he gave a shallow nod of acceptance. "Thank you, sir." The words were reflex.

"We should begin," Thrawn interrupted, rescuing Jag from another round of clichés. The Grand Admiral's words came through a filter of wheezes and gasps as he limped over toward the holoprojector on his walking stick and Parck approached the control inlay to the right. Streams of blue light shimmered from the projection pod in the floor that quickly resolved into a swirl of floating stars that expanded to fill the room, the clusters of which grew so thick at its center that it formed a white vortex. The map was soon painted in swaths of reds and blues that showed the locations and movements of the major fleets.

"Half of the Chiss and Empire of the Hand forces are still protecting Ascendancy Space in the event the Raithians decide to retaliate and to maintain the illusion that the Jedi Knights may still be hiding there," Mitth'raw'nuruodo said, pointing at a crescent of blues that ran along the edge of the Outer Ring with his crystal cane. "Most of the rest resides here amongst us and Halo behind Tatooine's moons, hiding in Roon's cosmic dust or spread around Geonosis and the far side of Kowak, with a few roving patrols at the end of major space lanes and flotillas forming blockades to protect sensitive territories. Most of Admiral Pellaeon's forces remain in Remnant territory but he has brought three full fleets with him into the Outer Rim.

"Our enemies' forces are slightly more difficult to pin—" Thrawn paused and began to cough, a series of painful-sounding, fluid-filled hacks that nearly doubled his failing body over. Voss Parck moved to support him but Thrawn waved the other man off before wiping his mouth with the back of one blue hand and continuing. "Excuse me—difficult to pin down. Naturally, the Galactic Alliance has secured the Core, but their forces are being bolstered by the Raithians. This may be a clever attempt to convince us the reports of the Fifth Fleet vanishing are true, though I still suspect some sort of misinformation campaign there."

"It seems obvious to me," Kyle Katarn said gruffly, his right hand stroking his beard. "Kre'fey is up to something and they don't want us to see it coming."

Luke Skywalker shook his head. "Our sources say otherwise. I have it on good authority from someone high in the GA military that Kre'fey and his fleet actually did go missing."

"Then perhaps the Alliance is simply unaware of it." Corssa said. Her voice, like most every being of her species, was as even and emotionless as a being of flesh and blood could be. "Kre'fey could be working directly with Solo and the Raithians in order to keep the GA in the dark and help reinforce their lie."

"It's possible," the Jedi Master frowned.

"What's important is that we don't know," Thrawn said. "And not knowing is the greatest disadvantage one can have."

Talon Karrde folded his arms, seeming to feel the Grand Admiral's scarlet eyes on him before he looked back. "I've been checking with every source I have and no one seems to know anything. I still can't figure out why or how they would move the fleet without most of the crew."

"It is puzzling," Thrawn admitted. "Continue to check with your associates though, Captain Karrde. This is simply too massive an undertaking to have actually gone unnoticed. Someone somewhere has to know something."

The information broker nodded while Mitth'raw'nuruodo turned his attention back to the hologram of the galaxy floating between them like windborne snowflakes. "The rest of the Alliance Fleet is maintaining a heavy presence in shipping lanes and the major hyperspace routes. They've got forces along the boundary to the Unknown Regions and Chiss Space to bolster the Raithian lines there, and have helped seal up Corellia where the Raithians are still guarding Centerpoint Station. Thyferra and other key systems have increased defenses, fearing we might attack the Alliance's bacta supply or the shipyards at Sluis Van.

"The Raithian fleet movements are more perplexing. They have taken complete control of the Hapes Consortium and seemed to have conscripted the Hapan military back into their services despite the efforts of your Queen Mother Tenel Ka, and we're also seeing more traffic in and out of the Core from them, along with sightings in a number of systems that defy explanation."

Jag's eye watched as blotches of red appeared across the holomap like spatters of blood beaded in systems like Ossus, Almania, and Dathomir

"That gives me one of those not-so-good feelings," Wedge said without smiling.

"They're up to something," Booster agreed.

Grand Admiral Thrawn nodded. "Undoubtedly. The problem, of course is ascertaining what exactly, and then deciding what to do about it—and what we do in the meantime."

"We've sent teams of Jedi to investigate some of these sightings, and I know you've dispatched your own spies to others, as has Karrde," Mara Jade said, her green eyes fixed on the streaks of color staining the holomap. "But we haven't been able to find any connections. There's no rhyme or reason to anything they appear to be doing."

"I doubt that very much—I'm certain a pattern will reveal itself in time."

"Like right before it blasts us in the face," Katarn said grimly.

"If we're proactive, perhaps we can avoid that," Jag replied. "If we simply continue to sit back and wait for something to happen, I imagine you'll be right, Master Katarn."

One of Mara's eyebrows rose at the younger man's remark. "And what is it you people had in mind?"

The question was clearly directed at Thrawn, Parck, Jag, and Corssa, as all attention seemed to turn fixedly on the four military leaders from Chiss Space. There was a moment's hesitation where Thrawn's glowing eyes sought out Parck's cold gray ones for some unspoken approval before the Grand Admiral turned his focus back to the former Emperor's Hand. "I believe we should consider launching a full-scale assault on the Alliance."

"You're joking, right?"

"I never joke, Master Jade. You of all people should know that by now. Chief Syndic Fel is correct—if all we do from here is play defense, we have no hope of victory in the coming conflict. We earned some breathing room with the attack on Apollyon, forcing the Raithians to draw some of their forces back to their own territory for protection and have kept them on their heels wondering how we managed to succeed, but that will only last so long. In fact, I believe in the long run, it will only make them feel more threatened and hasten their strike back at us to ensure we cannot harm them again. They will seek to exterminate us in a few swift motions rather than risking a protracted war and an opportunity for us to make them feel vulnerable again."

Luke Skywalker was frowning thoughtfully, but he remained serene rather than dismissing Thrawn's suggestion out of hand. "Then why the Alliance?"

"Because we know where they are, and they're a part of this whether we like it or not," Parck responded. "We have been fortunate thus far in finding ourselves mostly entangled with only the Raithians—it was their forces that conducted the sieges in Chiss Space while the Alliance hunkered down and protected their own worlds—but we cannot afford to be naïve enough to believe that will last, that they will not enter this battle more overtly, and simply waiting for them to strike first is foolish. If we can mount our own assault on an Alliance stronghold we can draw them back further and perhaps even keep the Raithians occupied in a place of our choosing, allowing us more freedom when we find a way to strike at the Raithians' heart."

"It would also make a peaceful resolution in the end next to impossible."

"Look around you, Jedi," Parck snarled, waving his hands at the red wounds weeping across the galactic map. "What peaceable solution do you see to this? Do you really think the Alliance is just going to stand down when it's time? They have allied themselves with the Raithians for a reason and declared war on everyone here."

"We have some soft support from Corellia, and Kashyyyk as well," Garm Bel Iblis announced, his liver-spotted skin tensing in a grimace of worry. "If we could get some other Alliance systems to join us, we could take control of the Alliance again once the Raithians are gone."

"No," Luke refused, shaking his head of graying blonde hair. "Another civil war is not an option."

"Just what is it you think we're involved in now, Skywalker?" Booster Terrik bristled.

"A war with the Raithians. We've defended ourselves against Alliance forces, but we haven't attacked them—and I refuse to. They were allies not so long ago, and I would like them to be again when this is all over again. I don't see how that is possible if we commit ourselves to slaughtering a few million of them."

"We can all agree it's a distasteful notion," Pellaeon said, one pale hand cradling his chin. "But what other option is there? I'm afraid Admiral Parck is correct—the Alliance has chosen the wrong side in this, and the consequences they face for that are unavoidable."

"Why? Because you can't think of a better solution?"

"At the risk of sounding harsh—yes."

Again, Luke frowned and shook his head. "I disagree, Admiral."

"And I'm with Luke," Wedge added. "I've had enough in-fighting for one lifetime. If there's a way to end this without blowing up the whole galaxy, we should be trying to find it instead of just settling on an all-out war."

"And just what role are you planning to take in all this, Antilles?" Corssa questioned. "Command of a fleet of the smugglers ships?"

"No, thanks. I'm done with being a general too," Wedge said. "Just put me in the cockpit of a starfighter and I'll fly with whoever will have me. I think that's where I can make the best contribution."

"A starfighter without laser cannons or proton torpedoes, I'm assuming," Parck replied snidely.

"I could probably get by without them."

"If anyone has an alternative to taking action, I'd be delighted to hear it," Thrawn said, his unreadable expression making it clear "delighted" wasn't an emotion he was actually capable of.

"Actually, I do." Luke stepped forward, the slowly rotating map painting his features with streams of blue light and white stars. "I believe there's a way we can end this war with minimal bloodshed and without harming any Alliance worlds. The Raithians are the problem here, not the GFFA—I think we can all agree on that—and they're a problem because of a single person."

"Most of you are thinking of this war as though it was a normal dispute between worlds or fleets, and determining your reactions based on that," his wife interjected. "But it's not. They are controlled by a Sith Lord they don't even know exists and have been manipulated into this conflict."

"If we can find Darth Malig and defeat him, I believe we can bring this war to a peaceful conclusion," Skywalker continued, folding his hands in front of him serenely. "We should be focusing all our efforts on locating him and not going on the offensive elsewhere."

Jagged Fel had done his best to remain quiet as the Jedi argued with Thrawn and those who favored more aggressive action as long as he could. He didn't want to quarrel with the Jedi, but it was all he could do to keep from squirming or fidgeting as the Skywalkers explained their proposal. His arms came free from where he'd folded them across the chest of his black uniform and he set his gaze on the Jedi leader. "With all due respect, Master Skywalker, I couldn't disagree more. I've been to Raithian Space—not just Apollyon, but another world as well. I've lived among their soldiers, not as a prisoner, but as a spy. In reality, I've spent more time with the Raithians than anyone here, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that simply destroying their Sith leader will do nothing to end this war. The Raithians themselves are mad, and they'll annihilate this galaxy because it is all they know and all they crave. They won't be discouraged by Malig's capture or death—they won't even realize it's occurred. The only way we will ever stop them is to do it physically."

Mara's eyes sharpened from across the holographic field that separated them. "We thought the same thing of the Yuuzhan Vong for a time, and the Chiss tried to destroy them with Alpha Red, but we were able to find peace once Shimrra and his loyalists were gone."

"Yes, but this conflict is different. The Yuuzhan Vong were zealots driven by a religion we could prove was false, or at least that their chosen, god-like leader was a fraud. Zonama Sekot's appearance convinced them that they had strayed from what was right. The Raithians believe in nothing. As Master Skywalker said, most of them don't even know Malig exists. They are at war simply for the sake of being at war, because they enjoy violence and destruction and killing—how will you ever reason with them?"

"Syndic Fel is correct," Parck agreed. "You Jedi view everything through the prism of the Force, that if the Sith are defeated, the battle is won and everything will fall into place afterwards—but that is not how the galaxy works. In reality, this war probably has very little to do with your Force."

"The Raithians are the Sith," Kyle Katarn reminded. "Or their descendants, at least. That's what this is all about."

"Be that as it may, the idea that we could kill one man and end a war is fantasy," Corssa said sternly.

Though he remained the calmest person in the chamber, it was clear by the way his brow furrowed that Luke Skywalker was disappointed with the way the discussions were progressing. "No, I don't believe it is. I spent several days with Malig on Apollyon, saw how he worked. He gives the Raithians their direction—without him, there is none. There will be no collective will to fight anything."

"And if you are mistaken?" Thrawn questioned. "If another took his place? You would risk everything on this theory, and if you are wrong we will have surrendered our advantages and our lives."

Luke nodded sadly. "If you insist on pursuing a war against the GA, then I'm afraid our alliance has come to an end, Admirals. The Jedi Order will have no part in it."

Grand Admiral Pellaeon looked to Thrawn, but the Chiss mastermind's red-eyed gaze remained focused on Skywalker through the threads of holographic light. "Perhaps you will feel differently in time, Master Skywalker. As it is, there is no need to decide this today. I think it would be best if we all took time to consider what was said here today and evaluate all our options."

Luke and the Jedi agreed.

Jagged Fel said nothing more for the remainder of the meeting.


***


Leia was half-asleep when she felt it.

She and Han were seated in the rear of the Second Chance's flight deck as the star yacht lumbered through hyperspace en route to Tatooine. Her husband had dozed off several minutes earlier and was leaned back at an angle in a seat two sizes too small for him with his mouth hanging open like a waiting docking berth—he hadn't started snoring yet, but Leia knew it wouldn't be long.

The Squib Sligh had also fallen asleep, but his little body had mostly flopped out of his own chair and was now resting his furry head across Leia's thighs. Though they were obnoxious creatures and had a peculiar odor, Leia couldn't deny that the Squibs were cute, and when they weren't awake that was a lot easier to see.

Emala sat in the pilot's seat monitoring the ship's progress while Grees was beside her making an inventory of their newest treasures on a few sheets of rumpled flimsiplast so bent, tattered, and dog-eared they looked as though they'd come from the ruins of the Jedi Temple as well. Leia had hoped to glean what Jedi artifacts the trio had salvaged on Ossus by peeking over the little being's shoulder, but her attempts were foiled when she looked at the list Grees was scrawling and found it organized in categories like "texture" and "smell." An item listed as "shiny metal object that feels cool on cheek" told her very little about what Jedi relic the Squibs had harvested from the Temple, and she gave up in defeat almost immediately, realizing she would have to go through everything by hand herself when they reached Halo.

Despite her irritation, Leia had felt compelled to scratch Sligh behind the ears as he slept. She watched as he arched against her touch and the lips beneath his short muzzle seemed to curl in a smile of contentment. She hadn't realized she was falling asleep herself until the jolt shot through the Force and woke her violently. The Jedi Knight stiffened in her seat and grabbed the armrests so fiercely that her nails dug into the thin, synth-leather padding.

Han must have sensed her jump, because he stirred beside his wife and was soon looking at her in concern as he wiped a trail of saliva from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Leia? What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Jaina... And Anakin," she managed to gasp. "They're in danger."


***


Once he'd returned from the Ostiarius, Chief Syndic Jagged Fel left the shuttle that had transported him to the hangar of his flagship and stalked down the corridors of the Baron without betraying his frustration. The conference had not gone well at all, and it was becoming painfully obvious just how fragile this new alliance was.

There were simply too many different factions involved with too many conflicting priorities.

Jag walked briskly down the newly constructed Chiss Star Destroyer's gunmetal deck plates, passing his subordinates with no more than a glimmer of acknowledgment in his hardened green eye, as was customary in Chiss society—anything more would have been improper. Rounding a corner in the passage at a crossing corridor, he saw a familiar figure striding toward him from the opposite direction. Her black flight suit was rumpled and dampened slightly with barely visible rings of sweat from too many hours stuffed in the ball-shaped cockpit of a Chiss clawcraft. The Chiss female's coarse black hair was similarly matted, the roots slick from heat and a few stray ends frizzed out at random—the look of hair that had been trapped beneath a helmet for hours. It was clear she had just returned from a full rotation flying security sweeps for the fleet with her squadron and was making her way from the opposite hangar toward her own quarters.

Shawnk'yr'nuruodo was one of Jag's oldest comrades and friends. They'd trained together when they were both just children, and flown side-by-side together in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong when the Chiss Ascendancy did not wish to get involved.

The pilot nodded to him as she approached, her glowing scarlet eyes showing the faintest traces of a smile beneath her otherwise stoic exterior. "There's a message for you on the flight deck, Syndic," Kyrn said when she came to a halt in front of him.

Jag only slowed briefly. "I'll be along in just a moment—thank you, Colonel."

Kyrn nodded again as the human passed her, continuing on in a direction that would not be the quickest to the bridge despite his old friend's news. After all the discord on the Ostiarius, he needed good news—and he was hoping to find some.

At only twenty-six, Jag Fel was the youngest being to hold the position of Chief Syndic of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet by more than a decade, and only the second non-Chiss. When he was given control of the Ascendancy's forces shortly after Apollyon and his father's death, Jag had commissioned the construction of the Baron in Soontir Fel's honor, and taken it as his own. Doing so allowed Jag a warship built to his own unique specifications—everything from armament, armor, shields, hangars, number of docked clawcraft flights, to more minute details like the type of glowpanel fixtures mounted within the bulkheads and the arrangement of the decks had been decided by Jag.

One peculiar request he had made of the Chiss engineers designing the vessel was the addition of a state-of-the-art laboratory that's purpose was cloaked in secrecy buried deep within the heart of the warship. It was this restricted chamber that Jag arrived at and activated the control panel without glancing over his shoulders to see if anyone was watching him. The magnetic locks cycled open with a rippling hum and dense thud before the reinforced durasteel hatch that separated the corridor from the lab slid away with a hiss. Jag glided inside immediately, allowing the passage to seal shut behind him and the locks to reactivate.

The laboratory appeared to be a cluster of three large chambers linked together by short passages because of its asymmetrical shape and the amount of research equipment crammed against the white-painted bulkheads. Its core was ringed by five white lab tables put at angles to one another with a wide open space in the center where a repulsor chair could travel from one to another with ease. Their tops were strewn with racks of test tubes, bubbling flasks topped by ribbons of vapor wafting from their open mouths, liquid fluxing through bundles of looped tubing, a high-powered atomic nanoscope hovering over a glass slide, shallow dishes smeared with cell cultures, machines pumping punctuated by faint puffs of steam shot from exhaust nozzles, humming generators, a vibrating agitator that shook a handful of test samples with a tin rattle, an oscillating magnetic mixer holding a beaker weeping beads of condensation, multi-colored diodes and sensor lights winking from stacked display faces, and large vats of gurgling slime that tainted the otherwise antiseptic aroma that seemed to permeate it all with a trace of something vile.

The lab's only other occupant was seated at the table against the far left wall, hunched over the nanoscope with one glowing red eye pressed against the device's viewing lens. When Jag stepped further into the stark white light of the chamber's overhead glowpanels, he finally managed to capture the attention of the Chiss biochemist, who looked up from his work.

He was a frail-looking being in his early fifties—which differed little from early thirties for Chiss—dressed in white lab jumpsuit and boots capped by cloth coverings. His right hand was spattered with melted circles and blotchy discolorations where old chemical burns had chewed into his skin. The right side of his face bore similar scars and rutted mottling that sank toward a hole in his cheek where the chemicals had eaten through, leaving only a thin layer of pinkish tissue so delicate the outline of the Chiss's teeth could be seen when his mouth was closed. Patches of his blistered scalp were also visible in the scorched spots that peppered the short jet black hair on his head, which stood in stark contrast to the eye in between, which had been completely bleached of color in the accident.

His name was Chaf'ros'tombi, and he was one of the brightest scientists in all of the Chiss Ascendancy. Jag had needed to pull great bureaucratic strings to get him assigned to the Baron unnoticed, potentially putting a valuable Ascendancy asset in harm's way.

"Syndic Fel." The bioengineer sounded surprised when he looked up at him. He put his hands on the edge of the table to push himself away and rise to greet him, but Jag put his own hand up to halt him.

"No, please, don't get up, Frost," Jag said, stepping around a bulky incubator that stuck out from beneath the adjacent table. "I came to see how your work was progressing."

"Of course, sir. I was just going over some of the new test samples..."

"And?"

The Chiss grimaced, the bundles of burn scars on his face knotting into a horrible vortex around the hole in his cheek as he did so. "No effect."

All of his discipline couldn't keep Jag's shoulders from slumping. "You're certain?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

Jag shook his head, his jaw clenching as the day's frustrations seemed to overflow. "I don't understand. How can that be? We've been at this for months now."

Frost's blue lips tightened for a moment. He glanced down at the nanoscope before he replied, as though he was trying to choose his words carefully. "I have been engineering weapons for the Ascendancy for nearly three decades now, Syndic Fel. At the risk of sounding self-inflated, I am the best there is at this. I imagine that's why you worked so hard to bring me here. In all my years of research and development, I have been able to create things that no one has ever thought of before—but I have also learned that some things are simply impossible—not because it can't be done exactly, but because the entire premise for its application is faulty. I fear that this is the case with Omega Red."

The human standing over him felt very numb. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you want me to create a virus that will target members of the Sith species," Frost replied, "but that these people you'd like to infect aren't really Sith, sir."

When Jag had returned from Apollyon, he did so with the absolute certainty that there could be no peaceful resolution where the Raithians were concerned. On Oscurra and the Raithian capital, he had seen how their society operated, watched the Raithian soldiers and the civilians, and what he saw was emptiness. It wasn't revenge for his father that drove him—it was his conviction that the Raithians had to be stopped. The war would come down to the destruction of one side or the other, and Jag was determined to see that it was the Raithians who were annihilated.

After he'd put his father to rest on Csilla, Jag had learned of Anakin Solo's discovery that the Raithians were the descendants of the ancient Sith Empire. For Jag, this knowledge seemed to be the key to defeating their enemies.

If the Raithians shared a genetic trait that the rest of the galaxy did not, it could be targeted without the fear of collateral damage and exploited—Omega Red was supposed to be the weapon to do that.

"Are you saying Solo is mistaken?" Jag question, his voice remaining even despite the dismay he felt hollowing his chest and gathering in a knot at the pit of his stomach. "That these people are not the ancestors of the Sith?"

"I do not know if Jedi Solo is correct or not. What I know is that it may not matter," Frost explained with a wistful smile. "The Sith species is long gone, having been bred out millennia ago. I have been searching desperately for some common recessive genes in the subjects you've brought me, but there aren't any to be found."

"Why not?" The scientist had been given dozens of captured Raithian soldiers to study and experiment on since the project began, many of which were still sealed in transparent tanks and kept sedated in the far wing of the lab. Jag could see three of them lined up on the bulkhead through the mirage of a hatchway the equipment piled between sections formed.

"Because many of them probably have no Sith lineage at all. If they are the descendants of the Sith Empire, then their ancestors would have left known space more than four-thousand years ago, Syndic. They settled on other worlds, bred with humans and other species for hundreds of generations. Many of these outsiders would have become part of the Raithian Empire you know. The number of Raithians with even a single ancestor who was one of the original Sith to settle in the Unknown Regions would be... miniscule.

"And that's without taking into account that the Sith species had been made extinct through interbreeding with humans long before any of them left Republic Space. That was more than five-thousand years ago, sir—perhaps closer to six."

"There has to be something here," Jag insisted. "Even if it only took out a fraction of their forces, it would be worth it. If we could target them in that way, without any risk to us..."

"I agree. The problem is that I'm not certain there is even a fraction there to target." Frost shook his head sadly. "I tested Omega Red on thirty-five subjects yesterday—thirty-five beings who were fighting on the front lines for the Raithians. Today there are still thirty-five living, breathing beings in that room. It had no effect at all."

"Nothing? No change in health at all?"

Again, Chaf'ros'tombi shook his head. "These were some of our best candidates—all human, all outwardly possible descendants of the Sith. Like the rest, the pathogen did nothing."

Jag felt as though he'd had the wind knocked out of him. This weapon was the only real hope he could see for a victory that didn't take more lives like his father's, especially if Skywalker and the Jedi were determined to go through the war unwilling to do the things it would take to win. He respected Luke Skywalker and the Jedi, and loved Jaina Solo dearly, but they were wrong in this—he knew it.

In his minds eye, Jag could see Soontir Fel's lifeless face staring vacantly up from the fog and drifting snow where his body lay, recalled the warmth of his own blood running down his face from the empty socket where his eyeball had ruptured. He remembered the cruelty of the Raithians clearly, and why he was doing this.

His father had always known the threat the Raithians posed, as Thrawn and Parck did now—Soontir Fel had dedicated his life to seeing them stopped when they finally returned to conquer the galaxy, had whisked his entire family away to distant Nirauan and Csilla, to live as aliens amongst the Chiss, and sacrifice everything else. But he had died before he'd seen his task completed.

And now it was Jag's duty.

And Jagged Fel could never turn from that, no matter how hopeless it became.

The young man's hands tightened into fists as his eye found Frost's chemical-scarred visage again, and when he spoke, there was familiar steel in his voice once more.

"I'll get you more test subjects—as many as you need, and anything else you require. Whatever it takes, Frost. But I want Omega Red—and I want it to destroy the Sith... All of them."

 

1st! *throws party* This is the happiest moment of my life! Is that sad? Jag acting unreasonable? I so called this! Omega Red. Anakin and Jaina in trouble. Jag being unreasonable. You know I have to say it! I have a bad feeling about this.

 

2nd.

Well, I can see both sides to the argument in the briefing room, but I'm siding with Thrawn and the others. The Alliance needs to be taken care of sooner or later, and if they enter the fight for real while Luke is having everyone run around the galaxy looking for Malig, it'd be game over.

Meanwhile, I see Jag is going all family-honour-revenge-quest on us. I can see this Omega Red backfiring a lot easier than Alpha Red would have. That would be... very, very bad. And I doubt Jaina and co. are going to be happy when they find out about this.

 

Well now, this is a council of war.

I can see both sides of the argument, and can understand both. But i do believe that they should, which is obvious in my opinion, focus on attaining both goal. It is obvious that the Alliance needs to be taken care of, and as such i advocate that they should either be made to defect or should be attacked. They are a pawn in this, yet they do not seem to be a very adequate one.

The biggest problem though is Malig. I mean, we have seen in the EU, or the 'past', before Palpatine and the Empire, that once the leader is destroyed the others will follow. Sith or Jedi alike. Exar Kun, Revan, Malak and even Palpatine himself. So the Jedi prospect here that once they kill off Malig, and the Raithians will loosen their control over the galaxy is well founded, but the problem remains, Malig has essentially said that he is not the leader of the Raithians, the Raithian Council is. Also, they are well entrenched within the GFFA, so it will be hard to dislodge them without a formal, overwhelming attack.

This itself causes some concern, and i do have to wonder. The only thing with the Sith have in common is the Force. So is it possible that the weapon they create will wipe out the force in general?

One has to wonder about the weapon they are creating.

 

I totally agree with Thrawn and his side of the conference. I really like Bel Iblis suggestion to start a civil war in the GA as that would severely limit Raithian and GA forces ability to attack Chiss and Imperial space. I think Luke is being a bit too farm boy here thinking the GA will not come out and join forces with the Raithians. I would love for Han and Leia to have been at this meeting. I can't believe Bastion would fall so easily and there would not be major upheaval in the Remnant. Totally agree with Booster they should of left the Moff's to die in attack.

On to Jag's side experiment. He seems like he is very driven by revenge against the Raithians.It is good Jag is not force sensitive or he would be so darkside post Apollyon. But I do like his conviction that it is either us or them. It sounds like all this effort might be for naught on his part as the weapon may be useless.

 

I... violently disagree with this storyline decision.

Re-doing Alpha Red is a re-tread of what Callista and Leia already went through, it will probably end up being a plague which kills force-users instead of Sith and be mis-appropiated by either Jacen or Thrawn. This is a bad direction for the story AND for Jag to go. And I really, really, really cannot see Jag doing this. Please re-think this.

If there is one thing which defined Jag in all he had done, it is that he has honor. Duty was ever a second to Jag to him being honorable, with his love for Jaina superceding both on occasions. Biological weapons are the ultimate in dishonorable behavior and people who use them are evil, so this is about the worst characterization you could possibly do for Jag. This is a terrible and wrong direction to take the character. You are essentially making him into Daala or Hitler. I can easily see Thrawn going for a "results before everything" approach, but not Jag. Please re-think what you are doing.

 

I'll do normal replies in a couple days, but I wanted to slither in here to respond to some of Magnuskn's concerns quick.

Magnuskn, I'll try and have a more thorough reply for you as well on Sunday/Monday too.

In the Dark Nest Trilogy Jag attempted to use a biological weapon to kill trillions of Killiks (and failed after Jaina and Leia tried and succeed respectively to shoot him down), so this seems perfectly in line with his canon characterization to me and is a deliberate parallel.

This is more of a "Chiss thing" though than it is a "Jag thing." You mentioned Jag's honor code and I agree and actually think that's the point. The Chiss have a strict honor code about never firing first, but once they are attacked they seem to go all out to destroy their enemies, at least in the two wars we've actually seen them wage in canon (Yuuzhan Vong and Killik). In both cases, the Chiss developed biological weapons to exterminate them. I think Jag's decision here is perfectly in keeping with that code.

So anyway, there's the short explanation for Jag's current trajectory. I really don't think the story line is going to play out the way you think it is, if that's any consolation. Sorry to disappoint you either way though

 

Well, caught mid-edit. Tsk.

IIRC, Jag went and told Jaina about what he was going to do. Also, he was a soldier in that fight, receiving orders from his superiors. While this doesn't absolve him of taking those orders, at least he wasn't being the person who decided on the deployment of that bio-weapon. It is still a very different moral action than actively instigating the development of a bio-weapon.

AND the Swarm War didn't ever happen in your universe. Quite honestly, I really didn't expect you to try to emulate some of the worst writing of the Del Rey era. Which sounds harsh, I know, but I am really thrown by you going in this direction. This isn't the Jag you've written over the years nor even the one written by Del Rey at most of the time. This is anti-Jag.

When Leia followed Callista in trying to deploy Alpha Red, she at least had the excuse of dark side manipulation. Also psycho-Leia is well-established by now. People without the "benefit" of force-sensitivity don't have an easy excuse for atrocious behavior and therefore are held, at least by me, to a higher moral standard. And I cannot see anybody who is not an Imperial or Sith or Raithian not being appalled at what Jag is doing, including Jag himself, if he was written as himself. This is really a terrible direction to take the character.

 

^Dude, chill.^

 

I reserve my right to tell Yobi what a horribly, horribly utterly wrong direction this is to take Jag. If he listens to me is up to him.

 

oh dear...this cannot be good. Jag is being stubborn and is determined against the alliance which seems a bad idea...jaina and anakin are in trouble and the jedi now seem to be breaking away from the rest of the group!!! Things are bad and i suspect are going to get worse!

Great chapter Yoda! Looking forward to the next.

 

Great, the BLEEP is going to hit the fan. Omega Red doesn't sound good. A Full scale civil war alongside the war with the Raithians is no good either. I think the walls have closed in and there's nothing to grab onto except hope. And that cord is frayed indeed.

Great post, Yobi, can't wait for more

 

Okay, I thought this was a good chapter. I see the concern with Jag's characterization, but I don't see the problem and in any case I'm waiting to see how this plays out. I'm sure it'll be great, like your other stories YodaKenobi.

Anyway, I loved the meeting. It's great to see all these guys, especially Thrawn. I love seeing Thrawn any chance I get.

Can't wait for more, this is getting really interesting.

 

hmmm..... JAG wants to destroy all the sith.... but that wont work on the converted ones would it .... and since the original darksiders who landed on koriban were from the republic, ergo it means that Jag wants to destroy the republic and become emperor.....

IMO, Jag is due a serious whack up the head from our fav damsel in distress ( )

anyway... when do we get Havok??? we want havok, we crave havok...


Update soon

(PS>>> does it show that i have had a long dfay at the office and am this close to going crazy??)

 

Okay 3PO, we'll be sure to remember that. Me and the little mouse in my pocket.

 

"Actually, I do." Luke stepped forward, the slowly rotating map painting his features with streams of blue light and white stars. "I believe there's a way we can end this war with minimal bloodshed and without harming any Alliance worlds. The Raithians are the problem here, not the GFFA?I think we can all agree on that?and they're a problem because of a single person."

ROFLMAO - it?s good to see that Luke has no problem with the Galaxy Far Far Away ROFL!!!

"If we can find Darth Malig and defeat him, I believe we can bring this war to a peaceful conclusion," Skywalker continued, folding his hands in front of him serenely. "We should be focusing all our efforts on locating him and not going on the offensive elsewhere."

The drugs he has received aren?t doing him any good ? I wonder how he wants to defeat MAlig when he walks through armies and they drop dead by diseases and things ?

?You have these rules. And you think they?ll save you.?
?I?ve one rule.?
?Then that?s the one you?ll have to break. To know the truth.?
?Which is??
?The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. Tonight you?re going to break your one rule ??

- The Dark Knight

I think that is rather fitting for Jag right now. He tried to play by his honour codex, tried to play nice and clean. Fight the warriors and leave the civilians out of the war as good as possible. It?s how he learned, how he understands warfare to a certain point.
I think his view of point changed during the battle of Apollyon where he witnessed how Malig walked through the ranks of Chiss soldiers and they dropped by some strange disease like no idea what. Then also his father died and he lost his eye. Additionally all tell him now how much he resembles him and that he now walks the path his father had set before.
I think that the battle is the point where he realized playing by the rules of the Chiss honour codex is not gaining them anything and he can only lose and not save those he loves.
The sense and usefulness of a bioweapon for a species like the Sith that interbreeds for millennia is another thing.

There are parallels with Harvey Dent. After he lost parts of his face and his beloved one he changed his tactic and saw that as ?white knight? he can?t reach his goal to fight the evil and so he became himself evil.
Fight fire with fire.

In his mind?s eye, Jag could see Soontir Fel's lifeless face staring vacantly up from the fog and drifting snow where his body lay, recalled the warmth of his own blood running down his face from the empty socket where his eyeball had ruptured. He remembered the cruelty of the Raithians clearly, and why he was doing this.

"I'll get you more test subjects?as many as you need, and anything else you require. Whatever it takes, Frost. But I want Omega Red?and I want it to destroy the Sith... All of them."

This just emphasizes how desperate he is. How vivid and life changing the experience for him was. Now you can say during the Yuuzhan Vong war there were countless loses and everything as well, and he also lost siblings but he never had to watch losing a beloved. Additionally he himself got out of everything ?unharmed? or nothing that couldn?t be fixed without having to replace body parts.
Jag got a strong character I?d say tho with the right applied force, even the strongest break.

"We can all agree it's a distasteful notion," Pellaeon said, one pale hand cradling his chin. "But what other option is there? I'm afraid Admiral Parck is correct?the Alliance has chosen the wrong side in this, and the consequences they face for that are unavoidable."
"Why? Because you can't think of a better solution?"
"At the risk of sounding harsh?yes."
Again, Luke frowned and shook his head. "I disagree, Admiral."

I think this shows nicely how undecided and unaligned the residence against the Raithians is. Even when they fight together they are alone.
I?d be with Parck

 

Rohan: 1st! *throws party* This is the happiest moment of my life! Is that sad?

No, it means you recognize how awesome your life is

Jag acting unreasonable? I so called this!

Yeah, I think I remember you saying something like that

Omega Red. Anakin and Jaina in trouble. Jag being unreasonable. You know I have to say it! I have a bad feeling about this.

You just killed them all



Thanks for reading and replying






Draconarius: 2nd.

Good job

Well, I can see both sides to the argument in the briefing room, but I'm siding with Thrawn and the others. The Alliance needs to be taken care of sooner or later, and if they enter the fight for real while Luke is having everyone run around the galaxy looking for Malig, it'd be game over.

It's definitely the more pragmatic approach here. They have the Raithians on their heels a bit after the attack on Apollyon, but that's only going to last so long. This will be their only opportunity to strike at the Alliance and make a dent, in all likliehood.

Meanwhile, I see Jag is going all family-honour-revenge-quest on us. I can see this Omega Red backfiring a lot easier than Alpha Red would have. That would be... very, very bad.

I don't know It doesn't seem to work at all...

And I doubt Jaina and co. are going to be happy when they find out about this.

You probably won't have to wait long to find out

Thanks for reading and replying






Phoenix: Well now, this is a council of war.

Too bad Ackbar couldn't make it

I can see both sides of the argument, and can understand both. But i do believe that they should, which is obvious in my opinion, focus on attaining both goal. It is obvious that the Alliance needs to be taken care of, and as such i advocate that they should either be made to defect or should be attacked. They are a pawn in this, yet they do not seem to be a very adequate one.

I suspect this is what Thrawn is going to want to do. Let Luke and the Jedi go off on their quest to kill the magic Sith leader () while the rest of their forces takes on the Alliance.

The biggest problem though is Malig. I mean, we have seen in the EU, or the 'past', before Palpatine and the Empire, that once the leader is destroyed the others will follow. Sith or Jedi alike. Exar Kun, Revan, Malak and even Palpatine himself. So the Jedi prospect here that once they kill off Malig, and the Raithians will loosen their control over the galaxy is well founded, but the problem remains, Malig has essentially said that he is not the leader of the Raithians, the Raithian Council is. Also, they are well entrenched within the GFFA, so it will be hard to dislodge them without a formal, overwhelming attack.

Yeah, it's hard to know. Malig isn't the actual leader of the Raithians, no one really even knows he exists, but he does manipulate the direction of their empire from behind the scenes, by controlling the council and the last two supreme commanders. I suspect killing him won't stop the Raithians but it will leave them directionless... I guess we'll have to wait and see though.

Thanks for reading and replying





grossmandg: I totally agree with Thrawn and his side of the conference. I really like Bel Iblis suggestion to start a civil war in the GA as that would severely limit Raithian and GA forces ability to attack Chiss and Imperial space.

It does seem to be the most sensible approach. Then again, the Jedi aren't allowed to simply be sensible

I think Luke is being a bit too farm boy here thinking the GA will not come out and join forces with the Raithians.

Probably. Luke's all about hope. Sometimes it's good, other times it blows up in his face

I would love for Han and Leia to have been at this meeting.

Me too! Unfortunat