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Author Topic: ShadowLands  (Read 5058 times)
Karmack
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************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« on: May 18, 2018, 05:54:09 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
9 BBY
Mid-morning

Alex hated meditation.

Well, ok.  Maybe “hated” was too strong a word.  Dislike?  Hmm...  Alex rolled it around for interminable moments, considering it.  Maybe…  Or … disfavored?  No … disdained.  Definitely disdained…  He hid a mental grin and sigh of satisfaction as he settled on the word.  He disdained mediation.  Yes, that was definitely it.  A quick peek at the clock confirmed that his mental gymnastics had consumed an entire 18 seconds, and his momentary flash of triumph at the successful distraction dissolved into disappointment.  Worse, Master Cunn expected him to sit here for at least a half-hour in the morning and evening, leaving him with another … 27 minutes to fill.  This time the sigh was too much to hide and it escaped his body as a barely audible exhalation.

Alex disdained meditation.

“You know, if you stopped distracting yourself to use up the time and actually concentrated young one you might find it was worth your while.”  J’Hadya “Jed” Cunn felt the corners of his mouth twitch imperceptibly as his young padawan’s shoulder’s flexed ever so slightly at his words.  There were actually twelve students in the room, arranged in three rows of four, sitting quietly facing their Master.  All of them were gifted in one way or another, but only one flared like a beacon in the force.  Young A’Lexander Krin had potential that no one knew, save Jed himself.  Since the fall of the Republic, the destruction of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire he had been alone.  He was skilled in the force, a Sentinel Watchman tasked with keeping the peace on Coveway.  He was also one of a very few Jedi Shadows operating in his area, and his cover was so deep he’d been known in either roll to none but a very few on the council.  Master Yoda and Master Windu had known his name.  Only Master Windu had known his face as well, and none others had known more than that there had been a Watchman in the quadrant.  Two years ago Darth Vader had come and killed Jedi Master Olan Krill on neighboring Virgillia, who had continued to serve as that planet’s Watchman openly as a Jedi Knight.  From what Jed had heard, Master Krill had given Vader a worthy fight, badly damaging his cybernetic leg in the battle.  Unfortunately he had been too eager to move in for the kill, too focused on his own emotions of loss and pain, barely muted even after a decade, over Vader’s fall and the killing of the padawans and younglings in the Temple.  At the last he’d wanted revenge, and his weakness had cost him his life.

Despite his failure with Vader, however, Master Krill’s death had served another purpose: it had maintained Jed’s cover and allowed him to remain hidden even from Vader’s perception.  Unlike Master Krill, Jed had never served openly or operated openly as a Jedi Knight on Coveway.  To all who knew him he was a moderately successful computer programmer and cyber-security specialist.  A “white hat” hacker who was often contracted by the government to test and augment their own computer security and he had a very hard-won reputation as a man who’s’ security protocols were not to be trifled with, impenetrable even by the best slicers and slicer droids known to man.  Nor was he corruptible.  On more than one occasion he had been approached by smugglers or others of ill repute seeking his services.  All were rejected and soon found themselves ensnared by local government law enforcement.  As a result he was rarely contacted by anyone other than legal authorities.

The one time a separatist sympathizer had approached him, Jed had used a mind trick to divert him and help him forget Jed ever existed. 

Jed was overall boring, a cypher.  He had a loving wife and three daughters and his only hobby was his martial arts “self-defense” school, which he ran for young men who lived around the docks and in the rough areas of Orlando’s capitol.  The school was a boarding school where the young men learned discipline, studied academic topics, and learned to defend themselves with their own hands and feet, and whatever tools might be at hand.

It was a good cover, one that kept Jed in shape, allowed him to maintain his own skills while in hiding, and placed him close to many influential government officials, thereby allowing him to do his job without ever coming out into the open.  Even when one of the Emperor’s Inquisitors had made an inspection of Orlando he’d been able to hide his presence without difficulty.

Young A’Lexander Krin had nearly upset that.  His parents were from a prominent family and records indicated that several strong Jedi had sprung from their line in the last few generations.  Both his father and mother were marginally force sensitive but had been passed over for selection to train as Jedi both because they were only marginally gifted and because they both came from prominent families and removing them would have potentially disrupted the local governments. 

With the fall of the Republic, however, the Krin family found itself firmly in the Separatist camp, pushed there by Palpatine’s relentless consolidation of power in the new office of Emperor.  First the Krin family was stripped of their hereditary Senate seat, then their assets were seized.  Before troops descended on them and removed them physically from their homes A’Lathan and M’Jori Krin placed their young son A’Lexander with his school for poor orphans and fled.  So far as Jed could tell the Krin family had no idea who and what he was.  Placing the boy with him was simply an act of desperation, an attempt to save their son from their own inevitable doom.

For Jed, it was also an opportunity.  However marginal his parent’s abilities may have been, the force was very strong with their son … very strong. 
Now if only he could find a way to get the stubborn youngling to realize it…  Jed sighed again inwardly and returned to his own meditation, tracing the electrical wiring in a small droid sitting nearby, looking for faults and scanning its code matrix with the force to make sure it wasn’t a stealth probe droid hunting for him.

Alex caught himself nodding and risked Master Cunn’s wrath to crack his eyes open and check the clock again.  He managed to hide the sigh as he realized that he still had fourteen minutes left.  Concentrate...on what…?  A soft buzzing sound caught his attention as a dragonfly wandered into the room.  Alex followed it with his ears, listening to it, and wondered what it looked like.  Mentally he reached out, intending to draw a picture of the dragonfly in his mind to fill in the details, but realized with a start that he could in fact see it.  His eyes snapped open and locked in errantly on the tiny insect, hovering against the wall across the room.  He watched in fascination for a moment then closed his eyes again.  In his mind’s eye he was able to see it much more clearly, in vivid detail, as if it were right in front of him instead of across the room.  He followed it as it searched for a way out of the incomprehensible prison it found itself inhabiting, banging aimlessly against the clear pane, only inches away from the opening it had come through.  Without thinking about what he was actually doing Alex reached out and gave the small creature a gentle nudge to align it with the opening, feeling its primitive joy as it found freedom and open expanse at last.  A slow smile spread across Alex’s face as he sat utterly still and rode along with his new, small friend, now skittering across the grass in the field beyond the school building.

Across the room Jed felt Alex finally reach out and his own eyebrows rose slightly.  Well.  About time… he thought, then finished his own inspection of the droid.  The first steps were taken.  Now to begin his training…
Logged

signature picture by DarthScrub

Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2018, 05:56:31 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
5 BBY
3 hours pre-dawn

Alex was alone, in the dark.  The training mat was cool under his feet, and the cool night air was a welcome visitor, refreshing him as it flowed over his sweat-soaked gi and scalp.  His concentration was paramount as he flowed through the Soresu velocities.  He wielded a simple bo staff, but his mind was attuned to the Force, flowing through his body and even reinforcing the solid wood of the staff itself.  His tight, efficient movements weaved the white wax-wood instrument through a complex pattern that seemed to form a cocoon of translucent white around him as he moved around the mat.  As Alex reached the end of the form he suddenly transitioned from defense to attack, sliding effortlessly from the Soresu velocity into a Djem So velocity, blocking and counter-striking with speed and power.  As he reached the end of this form Alex transitioned once again, this time blending the two into a swirl of Soresu defensive coverage punctuated by Djem So counter-attacks, all done at very high speed and with a grace that hid the devastating power of the strikes.

A power that was revealed when Alex reached the end of his last pass and launched into a force-assisted forward somersault that carried him over the boxing ring next to the mat and into an area where several heavy bags hung.  With a series of quick strikes Alex hammered each bag, knocking each one free of its mounting with a single, powerful stroke.  He finished in a deep crouch, bo staff cradled behind him at the ready while he reached out and picked up the six heavy bags simultaneously and re-hung them on their mounts.

“You should be sleeping.”

Alex nearly jumped out of his skin when Master Jed broke the silence.  I still can’t feel him when he REALLY wants to hide… he grimaced at his failure to both hide his own activity from his Master as well as detect his approach, resulting in his own embarrassing reaction.  He straightened and brought the bo to a position of attention and bowed by reflex, using the slight pause to hammer his pulse and adrenaline levels back down to near-normal before responding.  “Yes, Master.  I have found that it is … easier to practice at night, when there is no one else to disturb.”

“I see.”  Jed’s eyes twinkled, betraying his stern face as he regarded his student.  “And you failed to turn on a light because…?”

Alex grinned now.  “My eyes can deceive me.  The Force illuminates the room for me.  Light was not needed.”

“Yes.  Good answer.” Jed replied.  “I’m sure the fact that turning on the lights would have alerted others who may be awake that there was someone in the gym had nothing to do with it.”

“Well … maybe a little.” Alex admitted, and for a moment Jed caught a glimpse of the 13-year-old imp in the face of the 17-year-old standing before him.

“Yes.  Well, since no damage was done…” Jed looked pointedly at the heavy bags, which had all survived the attacks with no permanent damage this time, though one looked to have a very slow sand leak in it from the powerful blow.  “…may I suggest some rest?  You have an eventful day ahead of you.”

Alex relaxed his pose and felt his eyebrows rise.   “Master?”

Jed grinned.  “Yes.  A very eventful day indeed.”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Late the following afternoon Alex found himself grumbling slightly as he moved through brush and over broken, rocky ground.  He was miles outside of Arlington Cove in a wild, wilderness area inhabited by some very beautiful and truly dangerous lizards which hunted equally beautiful and far more benign mammals and birds.  None of them were present in great abundance, however, which pretty much described everything around.  About the only thing there was plenty of was rock, which Alex was spending far too much time getting to know.  His body was covered in bruises and scrapes and even some fairly deep cuts from falls induced by Master Cunn.  He was being hunted by a Jedi Master and he didn’t know exactly how…

Alex felt the force push coming a split second before it impacted and he managed to deflect it, maintaining his balance.  As he did so, he had a flash of insight: for a second he could see the Force, not just feel it but actually see it and how it connected to everything around him…  And in that second, he saw a hole.

Alex would never be able to describe it any other way than as a hole in the force, a small divot or cavity created by the complex web of connections around him.  He could feel Master Cunn looking for him, knew another blow was coming, and so he scrambled into the hole and concentrated on making himself as small as possible, employing the stealth techniques Master Cunn had already taught him to make his presence in the force as small as possible.

Barely breathing and as still as death, Alex closed his eyes and waited.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Jed grinned as his padawan deflected his force push.  He was about a mile away from him, well out of site, but his presence in the force was still a bright flare for anyone with the training to see it.  Sure, it was far dimmer than it had been when they’d started, but it still shone brightly…

Jed blinked as the flare suddenly disappeared.  Where there had been a bright blip in the force, there was … nothing.  Just the normal background hum, the natural ebb and flow of the force in nature.  Jed stopped walking, sitting down and closing his eyes in concentration.  After several minutes he was able to detect a very faint presence, blending nearly perfectly into the background hum.  Carefully he stood again, moving cautiously over the terrain, his attention focused on the weak and elusive presence.  After a long walk Jed was able to finally tell that the nearly invisible flare of energy in the force was his normally brilliant student.  So weak was the signal that he was nearly standing over him before he was certain it was in fact Alex.  “Well done, young man.  Well done.”

Alex looked up and grinned.   “There you are.  I saw you coming a way back, but I wasn’t totally sure it was you until you came over the ridge there.”

Jed came over and sat next to his student.  “Yes, it is I.  You did well today.”

“Really?  Seems like I mainly got pushed around, and I STILL can’t see you coming until it’s pretty much too late anyway.”

Jed grinned.  “True, but very few have the skill I do at concealing my presence in the Force.  Even Master Windu and Master Yoda had trouble detecting me, and they are both far more skillful in counter-detection than you are young one.  And the primary purpose of today’s exercise was achieved: You learned to hide at last.”

Alex had been studying a particularly livid bruise on his arm, but he looked up quickly at his Master’s last comment.  “Truly?”
“Yes.  Describe it to me.”

Alex tried, finally settling on the “hole” analogy though it wasn’t really correct.  Jed nodded gravely as he finished.  “I think of it more as merging my vibrations with those of my background, but your analogy works as well.  In the end, neither is really correct because we’re trying to describe something that cannot be described.  The important thing is that you do it.”

Alex nodded.  “Yes, my Master.”

Jed grinned at his student.  “Good.  Now come.  The air car is not far and I think we both need a hot meal and perhaps some bandages before we sleep.”

Alex only nodded before climbing painfully to his feet and following his Master back to their transport. 

Eventful day indeed…
Logged

signature picture by DarthScrub

Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2018, 05:58:02 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
2 BBY
Evening

Alex grinned as he closed and locked the door of the small electronics shop behind him.  For two years now he’d worked in this shop, servicing equipment and droids for people in the port.  While initially aided by a recommendation from Master Cunn (who was himself a well-known electronics tech in the port) his own reputation as a man who could fix nearly anything was growing.  Like his Master, he was rapidly becoming one of a handful of people who could literally fix anything.

He was also becoming – again like his Master – a man who could recover anything, from anyone.  This was mostly harmless work, recovering records and files from crashed systems and damaged droids, but there were other cases as well; cases of a more … sensitive nature.  These tended to be rare, and Alex was very picky about which ones he would take, but the jobs he took and completed were by far the most profitable segment of his business.

His grin, however, had nothing to do with a “special” case.  No, that was for Miss Joanna Blackwell, Chief Electronics officer of the tramp freighter “Blackwell’s Hope”, under the command of her Uncle Samuel Blackwell.  The “Hope”, like most tramp freighters in the area, had a shady reputation and more than likely spent some (if not all) of her time carrying cargo that was not on the Empire’s approved list.  The “Hope” wasn’t overt about it, however, and seemed to spend a lot of time carrying legitimate cargoes as well.  Several weeks earlier Joanna had come into his shop with an astro-mech droid in tow.  The droid was malfunctioning badly, and she had asked his help in repairing it and recovering as much of the droid’s operating system and memory as possible.  She had seemed a bit nervous, probably because of the nature of some of the data stored in the droid, and she’d emphasized the fact that his discretion in such matters was the primary reason she had come to him.
Alex had managed to quickly isolate the fault, a logic-center glitch caused by a physical fault, which he had repaired.  As they’d chatted while he worked, however, Alex had been struck by her self-assurance and whit.  Slim and small, Joanna had the whip-crack look of a trained athlete and the aura of someone who could be dangerous at need, but greatly preferred not to be.  Her thigh-mounted blaster was over-sized and was an outward statement of “don’t mess with me” that was only emphasized by the subtle signs of real use.  No doubt being a gray-market merchant could be dangerous whether the cargo involved was legal or not: Joanna was proclaiming that she was ready for anything.

When she’d left, Alex had been surprised at the way his thoughts lingered on their conversation, as well as her auburn hair and striking green eyes.  It had been some time before he’d been able to concentrate on his work again.  He’d been particularly puzzled by the persistent feeling that he’d be seeing her again, soon.

His perception had proven to be accurate when she’d appeared in his shop again the next day, this time with a small power converter in hand.  Alex gladly fixed it for her, agreeing that it was indeed a rare type but knowing that it was still normally a component one discarded and replaced rather than repaired, even if the actual power transfer rates and cycle counts were … unusual.
The plasma focus grid she brought to him the next day was also unique, and while it was far more typical of a specialized repair it was also a far more dangerous component to be advertising.  The power curves and cycle rates on the grid were far too high for normal shipboard activity to account for.  Only a ship with lively active sensors and a respectable weapons system would need the curves Alex was programming into the grid, and the look she gave him as she explained the settings they needed to achieve told him she knew exactly what she was doing.

For his part, Alex didn’t particularly care if her freighter, a Correllian XS “Stock” Light Freighter that was apparently anything but “stock”, was armed with turbo-lasers or spit-ball shooters.  After only a couple of brief encounters, however, he found he did care if Joanna’s ship functioned well.  To that end he not only repaired the grid but also included and explained a few small modifications that would increase its overall through-put and make it less likely to suffer the same failure he’d just repaired.

That had seemed to seal the deal with Joanna, who’d managed to spend a part of nearly every day since in his shop, working on some component or other to either repair it or increase its functionality.  From what he could tell they’d managed to upgrade the Hope’s sensors, shields, drive and weapons, increasing her speed and maneuverability in real-space and her range in hyper.  And along the way they’d developed a relationship that was moving in the direction of a real friendship very quickly.  Friendship … and maybe more…

Alex walked into the dojo still thinking about the latest iteration of his now daily conversations with Joanna, not even realizing just how silly he looked.  He was half-way across the room when his thoughts were interrupted.  “She came again today?”

Alex stopped and faced his teacher, who was sitting in the center of the mat.  His eyes would normally be shut, but they tracked his student now, and Alex could not read them.  What he could read, surprisingly, was a very strong boil of emotions bubbling at his master’s core.  It was faint and well in hand, but Master Cunn never revealed his emotions.  Sure, he laughed or was stern, but his deep core emotions were buried deep down and rarely surfaced.  “Yes.”

Cunn nodded and motioned for Alex to join him.  Alex crossed the mat and folded himself down in front of Cunn, his curiosity rising as he did so.  He’d been training with Cunn now for years, and knew the Jedi code very well indeed.  He knew they were both risking violent death every day just for being who they were.  He also knew that Master Cunn had seriously violated that code when he married and formed a family, and some of the teachings concerning the Force, its nature and in particular the light side vs the dark side were not Jedi orthodoxy.  Alex had never questioned him, though he had initiated and enjoyed several discussions about the source of Good and Evil and how it related to the force, and over the years his views had slowly merged with his Master’s in many regards.  But they’d never spoken of his choice to take a wife and raise a family.  Alex sensed that the time had come at last, and he felt relieved: his blossoming relationship with Joanna left him in desperate need of guidance.

Master Cunn held his gaze, and finally smiled at his student.  “I am glad.  We have never spoken of my decision to wed and raise a family.  I have long appreciated your restraint in this, until this moment I was not sure what to say.”   Cunn leaned back, taking a deep breath as he gathered his thoughts.  “It was not a decision made lightly.  You know the code, and what I was risking.  But beyond that, there was always the risk that comes with any strong attachment.”

Alex nodded.  “I do.  So why did you do it?”

Jed met his student’s eyes and saw the sincerity of his question as well as why he was asking it.  “What I found was that I was stronger with Elise than without her, and I realized that our fates were not controlled by the force, but rather by the One who created the force.  She and I and my children are all held in His hands, and there is no safer place for anyone.  You and I have discussed this many times.”

“Yes.  It cost you much, though.  Your position…”

Jed chuckled.  “Perhaps, but in the end what I gained is far more valuable.” He leaned forward, his expression intent.  “Love is the greatest force for good in the galaxy, Alex.  Never doubt that.  It is never wrong to love, but always understand that with love comes vulnerability and possible pain.  Great love will come with great pain: know it, and love anyway, trusting in Him how knows all to guide you and give you the wisdom to deal with both love and loss.”

Alex nodded gravely.  He understood the risk: with any great attachment came the risk of anger and fear and jealousy and a myriad of other negative emotions.  The Order had protected themselves from these gateways to the dark side for centuries by walling themselves off from all strong attachments.  But all Jedi were people, and all people developed attachments: if not the love of a husband for a wife, then the love of a man for his brother or father or son.  Men who fought and often died with and for each other couldn’t help but form close bonds.  While Alex understood the morality tale that was Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, he also saw how Jed’s love for Elise and his family gave him stability and a moral anchor and compass when others were awash in circumstances and led astray by relativism.  The key was to know the One, albeit incompletely.  Alex had come to know Him personally only a year before and he was still very young in his faith, but already he felt a much deeper peace and calm than he had ever known in a Jedi meditation.  The force was strong, but the One was All, and that was all there was to say about that.  Jed had lost his place in the Order because of his own belief in the One and its implications on his life, but had been entrusted with his position as a Watchman by Yoda so as to not waste his potential and training.  Jed had embraced it, and Alex could only thank the One he had, because without Jed he would have been dead or more likely corrupted and forced into the service of the Emperor long before now.  “Thank you, Master Cunn.  That helps me a great deal.”

“You are welcome, Alex.  And … good luck.” Jed’s eyes twinkled now like stars.  “You’re going to need it.  I foresee your relationship with Joanna will be tumultuous and fraught with danger…as well as great reward.  Joy and pain will be your reward, as is true with any couple.  Move with wisdom and reason, and do not trust your heart: It is corrupt.  Trust in the One, and He will guide you.  Only the One can be trusted in matters of the heart.  Never forget this.”

“Yes, master.”
Logged

signature picture by DarthScrub

Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2018, 05:59:44 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
0 BBY
Mid-day

Alex opened his eyes and an involuntary groan escaped his lips as he slowly unfolded his legs.  He’d been here for over 80 hours, concentrating intensely, but now it was done. 
Joanna’s head popped around the door frame before he could call for her.  “I thought I heard someone moaning in here.  Is it finally done?”
Alex accepted her hand and stood painfully with her assistance.  “Yes, it is done at last.  It took longer than I had anticipated…” together they moved into the small apartment’s kitchen, Alex putting more weight on his wife’s shoulders than he wanted to but having no choice as his shaky legs rebelled against him.  Finally between them they managed to land Alex in a chair at the table and Joanna busied herself preparing a meal for them. 

“You know, I thought we’d have more time together this week.  Uncle Sam gave me the week but we’re still going to be shipping out again soon and we’ll be gone for almost a month on this next run.”  She carried a tray with coffee and food for them both, sitting close to him at their small table.  Alex and Joanna had been married for several months now, but most of that time they’d been apart with her off-planet on her family’s ship.  Nor had they really publicized the marriage.  It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t common knowledge either.  Alex felt a little bad about that – he’d wanted her to have her dream wedding – but ironically it had been Joanna who’d felt compelled to keep it quiet, lest her secrets spill over on him.  When she’d sat down with him a few days after they were engaged to explain this to him, he’d nearly burst out laughing.  He’d managed to keep his calm, however, and then proceeded to share with her his own deep, dark secret.  Fortunately, she’d taken to the notion of marrying someone who was trained in skills considered both illegal and treasonous by someone condemned to death by the Emperor as a traitor against the Empire in stride and even seemed to enjoy the notion that she wouldn’t be the most notorious outlaw member of the family after all.

“I know, and once I get a little rest we’ll spend that time.  This was just something I had to do and it couldn’t be rushed or interrupted.  I just didn’t expect it to take this long.”

“I know.”  Joanna gave him a side hug then picked up her own coffee mug and took a sip.  “So, can I at least see these little time thieves?”

“Of course!” Alex replied.  But instead of getting up he reached out with the force and gently opened the door to the small crystal oven, removing the newly completed crystals inside.  Alex usually used the oven to bake crystals for component repair, a task it did quickly and without supervision.  These crystals, however, had required a far more delicate process – and far closer supervision and concentration.

Joanna spread a small cloth napkin on the table between them just in time for four perfect, amethyst crystals swooped into the room and landed in a neat formation upon it.  Alex grinned a little as his wife’s eyes lit appreciatively, but his shoulders sagged a bit with the effort.  He was so tired…

“These are beautiful.” Joanna set the first crystal down and selected a second.  “Very different than the component crystals and parts you usually bake.”

“That they are.  These are 100% pure, no inclusions.  And they’re … how do I describe it?  They’re tuned to me, to my own unique … oh, vibration in the force I guess.  It’s hard to explain, but these crystals will create a blade that is in sync with me in ways that a … untreated … crystal never would.  Anyone can ignite a light saber; with these crystals, mine will be like an extension of my own body.”

“A part of your own body?  You mean you’ll be even more efficient than normal?  Remind me not to play tag with you anymore!”  Joanna laughed.  Since the wedding the couple had started playing their own version of “tag”.  Joanna used a low-power blaster and tried to tag Alex.  Alex used his practice blade and tried to keep from getting tagged while simultaneously deflecting the bolts back at Joanna.  It was one area of training that Alex had not had extensive practice in, but his skill at both defensive deflection and reflecting bolts back at the shooter had grown quickly and steadily, to the point where after only a few months they tended to come out about even on hitting and getting hit.

“Awe…”  Alex took a bite of his food and nodded appreciatively.  “This is good, by the way.  Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.  Uncle Sam borrowed the recipe from my great-aunt Matilda.  I had to substitute some local ingredients but it came out pretty well.”

“Yes it definitely did.  You might want to…” Alex suddenly lurched forward as if someone had slugged him in the gut.  He nearly retched but managed to keep his gorge, but his face drained of blood as the shockwaves of shock and grief and pain and terror slammed through him.

Alarmed, Joanna reached out for him. “Alex, are you OK?  What’s wrong?”

Alex closed his eyes and shook off the nausea of the event.  After a few deep breaths he was able to refocus and look at Joanna again.  “I’m not sure.  It was like…a huge wave of terror and pain rolling over me.   For a moment I was lost to it, but then it passed.”  Alex rubbed his temples briefly before looking up and meeting his wife’s worried eyes.  “It’s gone now.  I’m fine.”

“OK, if you’re sure…”

Alex smiled a reassuring smile for his wife and returned to his meal, but his mind was in turmoil.  He had no idea what had happened, but something huge had just rolled through the force.  Something huge and very, very bad…  He looked down at the crystals again, and decided that he would accelerate his saber build.  He had an odd feeling he might need it sooner than expected.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

In the end Alex had spent the time with Joanna after all, putting the crystals aside and concentrating on her for the remainder of the week.  The Hope had shipped out two days after her leave ended, however, with plans to make an extended voyage into the Core and back rather than the ship’s usual runs in their own area of the Rim.  In addition, Alex had used the bulk of the week since then catching up on his own work and repairs.  Now, however, he was caught up and he had no other place to be.  It was time.

First he gathered his components.  The crystals had been the longest and hardest parts of his “build” to fabricate, but nearly every piece had been hand-made over the course of several months.  Only a few of the small control knobs, read-outs and various ports and jacks were standard equipment, all things he used every day in his repairs and purchased from local suppliers in bulk.  Everything else was hand-made, from the machined housings and plasma emitter assemblies to the compact power cells and focusing crystal chambers.

Slowly he assembled the parts, using the force to gently align crystals and connections with precision, doing most of the internal work by “feel” rather than with his hands.  Every connection was firm and would have been impossible to put together without the force unless you literally split the outer case into two parts.  His practice saber, the blade he’d been using for years now, had been built that way, using a split outer case held together by small fasteners to allow the internals to be assembled by hand before being installed in the split casing. 

Alex’s sabers, however, were turned from a single tube of warship-grade battle steel.  The outer surface was built with a pair of choke-points where the tube was reduced to its internal carbon-fiber core, with expanded areas for the emitter control circuitry, the crystal assembly, and the main power storage cells and busses.  Grooves were cut into the outer case and grip-enhancing material added in strategic spots to enhance his ability to hold it while maneuvering.  The pair of hilts were identical, with end-caps allowing for the easy removal and replacement of the power cells if they became damaged or if a hot-swap was needed to replace a dead cell with one carrying a charge.  There was also a small mechanism built into the hilts that allowed them to be locked together, forming a single staff from the two hilts.

The entire assembly took two hours, with most of the time going to getting the crystals perfectly aligned and set in their chambers and the various internal connections made and secured.  By the time Alex finished and opened his eyes, the room was nearly dark, lit only by the spill of lights from the docks and neighboring businesses.  In the gathering darkness, Alex lifted one of the hilts and, with a nervous exhalation of breath, hit the activation switch.

With the characteristic hiss-pop of its kind the high-energy blade of the light saber ignited for the first time.  The blade pulsed with bright power, the core nearly white within the purple-tinged tube of energy.  It lit the room and Alex thought it was stunningly beautiful, but more amazing to him was how it felt.  Unlike the saber he had been practicing with, which wasn’t greatly different to his senses than his wax-wood staff or a wooden training sword, he could feel this saber.  It pulsed in the force, connected to him not just by his grip and tactile senses but also by his awareness of the force around himself and it.  It really was like an extension of his arm rather than a weapon within his hand, and he marveled at it.  He knew EXACTLY how long it was, exactly where the tip resided, precisely how close to the wall and overhead fixtures he was coming as he swung it through a few quick patterns.

With a satisfied smile he retracted the blade on the first hilt and ignited the second.  It was a match in every way, pulsing with power and alive in his hand.  Alex swung it through the same pattern, then retracted it and snapped the hilts together with a solid click of the locking mechanism.  His hands, used to handling his wax-wood staff, went naturally to the choke-points at either end and Alex again ignited the blades.  His pattern was a bit constrained this time, and he ended it with a flourish that just sliced some loose wires hanging from a shelf bin while leaving the shelving itself intact.  Again the blades retracted, and Alex checked the power levels and internal circuitry.  Everything was good and the power systems were barely registering any loss after the brief exercise.  Alex clipped one hilt to his belt, hidden from view below his loose tunic but easily at hand.  The other he concealed more deeply and completely.  Satisfied, he left his shop.

He had classes to teach to younglings, and then afterward he would submit his work to Master Cunn for his appraisal.  He hoped his mentor and friend would be as happy with the result as he was.
Logged

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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2018, 06:02:11 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
0 ABY, 6 weeks later
Morning

Alex watched as the Hope descended gently onto the landing pad, his lips tight.  The ship, normally gleaming white and light gray looked battered and worn, with areas of heavy carbon scoring and obvious impact damage from heavy blaster bolts and shield leak-through from turbo-lasers.  The ship’s defensive turrets also showed signs of wear and heavy use, as did the forward-firing laser ports and concussion missile tubes.  Whatever run the Hope had been on she’d come to mischief at some point and had been forced to fight her way out.  Hopefully she’d not been positively identified in the process.  If the Hutts or techno-union were after a Correllian XS Light Freighter answering to a general description, they could fix that with a few tweaks to her emissions signature and some judicious painting.  If the Empire had a full emissions read, however, they’d have a far harder time spoofing them and they’d need more than paint to pass any detailed port inspection.
The freighter settled onto its landing struts, giving off cooling pings and groans as the engines spooled down and the outer hull shed the last of the heat of re-entry.  Servo-bots and a small team of repair droids were already advancing on the ship, as well as two droids designed to handle cargo.  It was when the entry ramp came down, however, that Alex sensed trouble.  As Joanna emerged from the ship, a pair of individuals flanking her and her Uncle Sam trailing behind, a squad of Storm Troopers, accompanied by a pair of Port Customs officials and the local constable, emerged from the sally port opposite the ramp and the gallery where Alex waited to greet his wife.  Before he could do anything or even call out to them the squad leader barked a command to halt.

Alex gripped his saber, but changed his mind as the docking bay exploded in chaos.  Most of the folks in the gallery were there to meet various ships due in at one of the four bays served by it.  The open gallery was in between the four bays, with four narrow windowed corridors serving the central open gallery from each of the cardinal points.  Each bay was linked to the service terminals and cargo handling facilities of the port via underground tunnels and a wide area of service cubicles arranged along the outer walls of each quad of landing pads.  Civilian traffic was funneled through corridors adjacent to the cargo handling transport tubes, consolidating along the way into the central port terminal.  The sally ports on the outside edges of the bays gave law enforcement as well as service droids and personnel access to both the ship’s bays and service infrastructure without having to go into the port’s public corridors.  Alex had been into these areas many times and had access as an authorized port technician, but first he had to reach his wife and find out what was going on.  Whatever it was, he was pretty sure that if she were taken by the Imperials he’d never see her again.

His hand flexed one more time on his saber before withdrawing from under his robe empty.  The troopers were deploying, spreading out with weapons rising.  Joanna, Sam and the two strangers with them were also deploying, albeit in a slightly less precise manner.  Joanna and one of their passengers went to the right of the ramp, diving behind a pair of cargo containers, while Sam and the other stranger used a droid moving to clear the sudden combat zone as cover to reach a large pallet of spare parts stacked at the edge of the gallery.  Alex sensed the panic around him as civilians, mostly there to meet a small passenger liner due to land in another twenty minutes, realized what was happening behind them.  There was a sudden surge as the panicked crowd split and headed for the corridors leading out of the gallery.  Fortunately the gallery wasn’t packed and there was more than enough room for people to get out without a crushing tragedy.

Unfortunately, no one had told the storm troopers to be careful with their fire.  Blaster bolts cascaded toward Joanne and Sam and their companions and almost immediately the thinning crowd took casualties.  Alex jumped over the wall, heading in the general direction of the place his wife was sheltering and with a quick jab through the force he knocked the local Constable backward into the two port officials, driving them all into the wall and into a tangled heap.  The heavy blaster the Constable carried came loose and Alex snatched it to himself with the force, snagging it out of the air as he dropped into cover himself.  He took a moment to check the weapon’s charge and safety before rolling out and opening fire.

His blaster bolt impacted on the helmet of the squad leader, sending him sprawling.  The other troopers continued to pour a withering fire onto Joanna’s position in return.  Alex found he had no angle on the two remaining troopers, but there was a high-pressure fuel transfer duct immediately behind their position.  He concentrated for a moment, then reached out with the force and pulled on a microscopic fault in the pipe.  The pipe split, jetting fuel across the troopers, knocking them across the bay and into their fellows, where they tangled for a critical moment.  In that moment, the stranger with Sam fired a blaster bolt which missed the troopers but ignited the fuel.

Alex ducked as shrapnel pinged off the pallet he was hiding behind.  The Hope absorbed most of the impact with nothing more than some slight scorching to the paint, but the attacking troopers, the customs agents and the Constable were all incinerated as the fuel duct vented a super-hot cone of fire across the space between the Hope and the back wall of the bay.

“Come on!”

Alex looked over to Sam, who was moving quickly across the bay to another sally port.  Alex jumped up and started forward but stopped when he realized Joanna had not risen with her companion.  “Joanna!”

In an instant he was at her side, senses reaching out to her.  He noted her breathing and heart rate, both elevated but regular.  A quick scan looking for injuries as Master Cunn had taught him revealed several “hot spots” but nothing life-threatening.  A trickle of blood ran down from her hair line where something had hit her in the head, probably from the explosion.

Alex dropped the blaster and scooped up his wife.  “GO!” he yelled to the stranger next to them, who was also still stunned by the explosion that had killed their attackers.  He secured Joanna in a shoulder carry and then lifted the other man bodily to his feet, practically hurling him toward the exit.  He took the hint and started running, following Sam and the other man into the warren of service tunnels running below and through the port.

They moved through the semi-darkness for a couple of minutes before Sam called a halt.  “Ok, we should be clear of the initial response now.  We can take a minute to breathe.”

Alex gently set Joanna down in the tunnel, leaning against the wall.  Sam came and leaned over his shoulder, looking at her with concern.  “How is she?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.” Alex said.  He reached out and laid his hand across her face, lightly gripping her temples.  He felt the ebb and flow of her mind, examining the complexity of it.  He concentrated, going deeper, following the glowing lattice of the force that overlaid her synapses and nerves.  He followed them just as he did logic circuits and physical connections in droids and equipment.  After a time, he came to the place where damage had interrupted the system, the reason she was unconscious.  Something had hit her hard in the head and her brain was already hard at work repairing the damage.  Gently Alex reached out, using the force lattice as his guide, and smoothed the disrupted pathways, restoring connections and removing shorts.  After only a few seconds he was able to carefully withdraw.

Joanna’s eyes fluttered open.  “Alex…”

“Joe.” Relief flooded him.  “I guess you should have ducked more quickly.”

“Yeah, well, someone kind of blew up the bay…”

“Joanna, you’re awake!  Good.  Can you walk?” Sam’s voice betrayed his own concern.  They were not out of the woods yet.

Joanna answered by struggling to her feet.  “Yes, I can walk.  Shoot, too, if necessary.”

“Good.”  Sam handed her a small blaster.  “You lost your weapon in the bay.  This will have to serve until we get back aboard the Hope.”  He glanced at Alex.  “To bad you left that trooper’s weapon behind…”

Alex grinned.  “Don’t worry, I’m armed.”

One of the strangers laid his hand on Sam’s shoulder.  “Sam, we must go.  They will be in pursuit.  If we do not move quickly the safe house will be compromised.”

“I know…” Sam turned and looked up the corridor, then back the way they’d come. “Just one problem…  I don’t know where we are.”

“What?!?  Why did you lead us into this maze if you did not know how to…”

“Where do you need to go?” Alex asked, cutting the man off.

“Why?  So you can betray us?”

“Betray you to whom?  I’m on your side, or did you miss the fact that I saved your butts in the landing bay?”

The stranger barked a laugh.  “Saved us?  I saw nothing to suggest that we were saved by you.  If anything your effect on the engagement was negligible.”

Alex pushed the anger that threatened to bubble up back down, carefully centering his mind and pushing his emotions aside.  “That’s a matter of … some debate.  But unlike Sam, I know EXACTLY where I am.  I also know that there are fourteen troopers moving in this general direction, including a squad of six directly following our pathway.  If we delay more than another two minutes, we’ll be engaged in another fire fight.  Only this time…” Alex reached out and tapped the brightly colored fuel lines running along the tunnel next to them “…we’ll be the ones getting bar-b-qued.”

The other man’s jaw worked as he considered.  “Who are you?  How do you know we are pursued?”

“My name is A’Lexander Krin of House Krin, but I have not been known by any name beyond Alex since I was very young.  My friends call me Alex.” Alex reached out his hand.

The other man’s eyes had widened slightly as Alex spoke his family name for the first time in years.  The Krin family had fought the Emperor long and hard – and paid the ultimate price for it.  They had been made public examples by the Empire and the story of their destruction was still trotted out on holo-vid on occasion as a reminder of the penalty for resistance, lest anyone become tempted to join the Rebellion. 

Alex grinned.  “I am also Joanna’s husband.  I have a good reason to see she’s not taken by the Empire.  We all know what they did, and would do, to a member of my family, even if they didn’t know what they were getting into when they married.”

The other man relaxed slightly, and took Alex’s hand.  “Very well, I am Ham’al and this is Jo’al.  We need to get to Greggor’s Deli on Main Street.” He cocked his head in a gesture that was mildly feline.  “That doesn’t explain how you know we are pursued.”

Alex let his grin widen.  He shook Ham’al’s hand and then released his grip, reached under his tunic and withdrew his saber.  “Oh, I’m just full of tricks.”

Alex ignited the saber, letting its amethyst glow illuminate the passage.  “This way.  We need to go three intersections down and turn right.  After that, just follow me.”
Logged

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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2018, 06:03:37 PM »

(Continued from Previous Chapter)

Two hours later the two men entered the deli, widely spaced and from different directions to avoid suspicion.  Alex stepped back into the dark alley they’d emerged in after following a series of utility tunnels away from the main service areas.  The hatch to the utility tunnel had been sealed, only his force-enhanced lock-picking skills had allowed them to access it at all, and it was highly unlikely any pursuit force would have access or even think to try to follow them.  “So now what?” He asked his wife and her uncle.

“Now we find a way to get back to the Hope and get out of here.” Sam replied.  “Am I right in thinking you will be coming along?”

Alex nodded.  “Yes, but I think we need to plan this out.  They’ll be hunting us, and I can only provide so much surprise help along the way.  Do you have a place to lay low?”

Sam shook his head.  “No.  I always stayed aboard the ship…”

“What about Donnigan’s place?” Joanna asked, looking up at Alex.

“That might work…” Alex considered the option.  Duval Donnigan ran a small training gym and recreational center near the port.  Alex had spent time there teaching martial arts but had not been there recently.  Better, Donnigan had dealings with many shady characters.  He wasn’t the sort to turn folks in or blab about who frequented the place to anyone in authority.  “By now they’ve identified the ship and crew, and probably know I was there and involved as well.  They’ll be watching our flat and the shop, and probably even Jed’s place, but I doubt they’ve tumbled to my association with Donnigan.”

Alex, Jed…” Joanna said concern in her eyes.  “You need to warn him.”

“Yeah, I know.  Let’s get moving it’s going to be a bit of a hike to Donnigan’s place from here.”

The trio began moving on foot through the shadows.  As they went Alex withdrew his communicator and keyed it alive. He tapped out a quick text, a routine inquiry to his shop droid to upload the day’s activities to him with a very specifically misspelled word.  Once the message was sent, he stripped the battery from the device and then flipped it into the air.  His saber ignited in his hand and the blade vaporized the small device before disappearing again into the hilt, which was back on his belt before Sam or Joanna could turn to send a questioning look in his direction.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

In his shop, a small astro-mech droid activated at the beep of an incoming message.  The droid read the message, and then sent the requested report back to the sender.  He then followed the instructions buried in his memory banks, activating and sending another encrypted message before shutting back down.  After a period of a month of inactivity the droid would leave the shop and travel to Jed’s place, but for now it would stay in place, just in case its master did in fact return – or someone was watching.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

In a small dive near the port, a waitress received a message from her boyfriend.  She grinned and wrote back, sending a pre-selected phrase to a return number she purposely typed incorrectly, connecting her loving response not to her supposed boyfriend but instead to a humble man who lived on the edge of town, tending to a small orphanage full of lost boys.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Jed received the message and sighed.  “Be safe, my friends.  Go with the One.” He murmured, closing his eyes to offer up petition for them to the One they both believed guided their steps.

Logged

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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
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************

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Light side points please.


« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2018, 06:05:50 PM »

Arlington Cove, Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
0 ABY, 2 days later
Donnigan’s Place
Late afternoon
   (Part One)

Alex bent in concentration, his fingers flying across the keyboard.  He’d sliced quite a few databases and computer systems in the last few years but this was by far the hardest one he’d ever attempted.  Penetrating port security hadn’t been hard; he had installed a back door in that system three years previous during another job.  But once inside he’d found a whole new layer of security.  It had surprised him and nearly been their downfall when the firewall had launched a counter-attack against him and tried to embed a tracking program into his own data stream.  He’d managed to extricate himself but he’d lost the portal in the process. 

Alex had withdrawn, gotten a little rest and some food, and then dove in again.  This time he’d slipped his way in from scratch, using a data feed portal with news and information content to slip into the outer system and then sliced his way carefully through the front-line security.  This time, when the new internal firewall had challenged him he’d been ready and managed to choke its gateway authentication system with a massive “credentials” file long enough to slip into the firewall itself and defeat it from the inside.  That completed, he’d spent a couple of hours exploring this new system, learning as much as he could about their new enemy: Inquisitor Senara.

Master Cunn had warned Alex about the Inquisitorius.  They were force-users, sometimes former Jedi fallen to the dark, sometimes new recruits or members of some dark order or another.  With the rise of the Emperor and Vader, the dark force users had come out of the shadows, aligning themselves with Palpatine gladly as they moved to exterminate the Jedi.  Against the vastness of the Empire and even the pathos of the Rebellion the hunt was small and generally hidden in the shadows.  Rarely did anyone hear about the ongoing “Jedi hunt” or the hunters that continued to work to carry out the Emperor’s death sentence against the Jedi.

Technically Alex was not a Jedi himself.  Master Cunn had not been a member of the Jedi Order when it fell, so technically his student was nothing more than a “gifted force sensitive” or possibly what the Order would have recognized as a Gray Jedi, a “ronin” force user not a member of either the Jedi or Sith orders.  Whatever the technicalities, however, Alex knew his Master was and always would be a Jedi Sentinel, and he had trained Alex in that tradition.  Alex considered himself a Sentinel Knight and a Jedi, whether the Jedi Order would have recognized him or not.

Nor was it a distinction likely to deter his new enemy, one Inquisitor Senara.  Lyana Senara was twenty-three years old, human, and by all accounts fanatically dedicated to the Emperor.  She had been trained by Darth Vader to hunt Jedi and had seven kills to her credit.  According to what he’d been able to find she was a dangerous enemy, strong with the blade, and used a particularly aggressive form of Ataru.  It was far more offensively focused than Niman, his own chosen form, and he was more worried about facing her than he had let anyone know. 

Worse, Senara was camped out in the spaceport with the Hope staked out, waiting for them.  There were standing patrols of storm troopers covering both the public access points and the service tunnels they had used to escape.  They would be unable to sneak back in and any direct assault would be through mounting resistance, culminating with a confrontation with Inquisitor Senara and her hand-picked team.

So, unable to break in, Alex had changed tactics.  If they couldn’t get themselves to the Hope, then the Hope would have to come to them.

With a last flurry Alex finished his final slicing program and inserted it into the system.  With a deep breath he hit the “execute” key and pushed back from the computer.  He rubbed his eyes and looked over at his wife.  “Done.  Finally.”

“Are you sure it’s going to work?”

Alex nodded.  “Oh yes.  In about ten hours Gambler will start his run.  When he hits the threshold all hell is going to break loose in the spaceport.  We need to be in position by then.”
“And what if Gambler gets caught?”

Alex felt his grin fade.  “Then we’ll need to come up with a plan B … and I will have lost one very good friend.”

Joanna stood and pulled Alex up with her.  “Well, c’mon then.  We need to get some rest before we leave for the rendezvous point.”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

R3-A4, known to his friends as “Gambler”, stopped near the service ramp entrance and performed a quick visual and IR-range scan of the spaceport before him.  He noted the increased patrol activity and the newly emplaced scanners but ignored them.  They were keyed for humans, not droids.  It wouldn’t be fair to say that port security was bio-centric, it was just that this particular service ramp was dedicated to service droids.  Each droid had to present its credentials and log its purpose as it cleared the portal.  Screening against them would have been pointless.  Screening against a biological trying to use the same access point, however, made perfect sense but had no effect on Gambler or his mission.

With a resigned beep Gambler re-entered the traffic flow and moved down the ramp.  He cleared the physical portal without incident and approached the traffic control point, a buzz of electronic “nerves” zipping through his central processing centers and making him just a bit jittery.  He noted it and locked it down; filing away a reminder to examine the sensation later and make sure it wasn’t a malfunction.  Gambler was “salvage”, a droid that had been critically damaged and slated for destruction.  Alex had saved his components and repaired his memory and logic centers, effectively bringing him back to life after two decades of deactivation waiting for reclamation.  Gambler had come back online in a like-new body with enhanced memory and processing power as well as greatly enhanced sensor acuity and resolution.  He was extremely grateful for the second chance at life and would do anything for his young master, even something as risky as infiltrating a star port and “stealing” a freighter.  Due to his background, however, he was a bit of a droid hypochondriac.  Any kind of twitch or shiver from his processors and he logged it for later analysis and rectification if necessary.  He was determined to avoid returning to the scrap heap if it was at all possible.  For now, though, he had a job to do.  When he reached the control point he jacked in and dumped his credentials into the system.  The file gave his destination as the light freighter Olivet, berthed three bays away from the Hope but in the same service corridor.  The system acknowledged his orders and assigned him a transponder code, which he immediately set before continuing on his way.

It was a twelve minute journey across the port to the service corridor where the Olivet and Hope were berthed.  For nine of those twelve minutes nothing at all out of the ordinary happened.  People and droids both went about their business oblivious to the electronic mayhem cascading through the spaceport’s systems.  It was as Gambler entered the final corridor that mayhem exploded into the real world – literally.  Across the port several fuel transport pipes burst open as the flow handling valves suddenly shut, causing the fuel to rupture the pipe with back-pressure and spill out onto the tarmac.  Two quad-hoppers and a heavy shuttle were caught when a random spark ignited the fuel in a titanic fireball.  Multiple smaller explosions barked in its wake as small unoccupied bays suffered similar disasters on a much smaller scale.  None of the bays were occupied by ships or clients, but several Storm Trooper patrols were caught in the explosions, suffering casualties. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Logged

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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
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************

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Light side points please.


« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2018, 06:07:49 PM »

(Part Two)

In the control center, a worm implanted the night before sprang to life, filling the internal tracking system with false droid transponders while simultaneously resetting all of them, real and false alike, to the same null code.  At the same time, all of the security monitors blinked off for a split second then came back up with the current gate arrivals and departures instead of the take from the actual security cameras.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Senara’s eyes widened as the room erupted around her in chaos.  She’d been holed up on this backwater planet for nearly a week after her quarry – a pair of Bothans known to be “Intelligence Assets” and believed to be working with Rebel agents – had escaped her last trap aboard a tramp freighter.  The spectacular failure of her team’s second attempt to apprehend them had left her suspicious, and a quick review of the visual records had revealed hints that all was not as it had seemed.  Interviews with witnesses had confirmed that the man who had joined the crew was the husband of the ship’s first officer.  Records revealed him to be a credentialed computer technician and service professional, which explained his familiarity with the service access ways.  But what had appeared to simply be a case of a man leaping to his wife’s rescue, scooping up a weapon dropped by one of her attackers and then capitalizing on a freak explosion became something else entirely when the date was closely analyzed.  Once Senara saw the way the Constable flew backwards, how his weapon travelled across the bay in the opposite direction, and the way the newcomer had paused to concentrate immediately before the fuel line rupture, she became convinced that she was facing someone who was at least force-sensitive, and likely had been well trained in the Jedi arts.  When she realized she was hunting another Jedi her pulse had quickened in excitement.  Another kill for her Master!  If only she could find him again…

And now this. A quick glance confirmed that the status board displaying her trooper’s transponders was also now displaying the arrivals/departures board data.  The entire computer system was compromised: Someone had hacked in deep…  Intuition awoke understanding within her mind. He caused this… “This is it.”

Senara activated her comm, a private channel she’d kept totally independent of any spaceport system.  “Guard Six to all Guard units: switch to omega frequencies.  Secure all entry points and report status.  Break.  Guard Alpha Heavy and Black Omega – converge on Bay Gamma Seven and secure the freighter.  MOVE!”  Senara sprang from her chair and bolted, leaving the port security personnel to attempt to sort out the mess.  Her troopers would secure the exits and detain anyone entering or leaving.  Black Omega “squad” was her hand-picked unit of special operations troops, twelve highly trained and specially equipped troopers.  Alpha Heavy was a heavy-weapons unit with heavy blasters, crew-served weapons and grenade launchers and often served as heavy back-up for Omega.  Combined the two “squads” had nearly fifty troops.  They would hold the freighter until she arrived to deal with the force-sensitive assisting these rebels or die trying…or she would kill them herself.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

In the corridor Gambler picked up speed as the alarms suddenly awoke around him.  He cut his transponder and opened the door to bay seven and moved across the bay and up the ramp of the waiting freighter.  Once inside he plugged into the data port in the engineering space and tied into the freighter’s internal computer net.  The ship’s computer was no droid, devoid of any personality or true AI, but it had followed its own altered programming obediently and had the ship powered up and ready for flight.  All stores were topped off and everything was a go.  With a thrilled trill of beeps and whistles Gambler activated the ship’s guidance and auto-pilot while simultaneously issuing the “cast off” commands to the bay’s computers.  

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The first Black Omega trooper arrived in bay Gamma Seven just in time to see the power and fuel umbilical separate from the ship and watch it lift out of the bay on counter-gravity and thrusters.  In futility the trooper snapped off several blaster bolts, which did little but add some charred paint to the ship’s thick skin.  He watched helplessly as the freighter pivoted over the bay, found it’s heading, and thrust away.  His companion had realized the futility of the gesture and had instead scanned the small ship’s cockpit.  He shook his head and waited while the first trooper opened his comm unit.  “Omega Six to Black Six: the rebel freighter has left the bay.  Scans indicate no life-forms aboard.  Repeat: No life-forms are aboard the freighter at this time.”

Senara stopped in her tracks, eyes opaque with thought.  “Understood … Omega, initiate snooper protocol and make sure no one accessed the bay before the freighter lifted.  Alpha Heavy, divert to assault shuttle Bravo.” She turned and started running again. “Break.  Guard Six to Assault Shuttle Bravo: track freighter currently lifting from bay Gamma Seven and prepare pursuit course.  Be ready to lift as soon as I am aboard.” Senara secured her headset and moved from a lope into a sprint.  Time was ticking away while her quarry escaped.  She would not fail her Master by letting that happen!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Alex watched the Hope arc in gracefully and settle onto the compressed crush rock of the rural landing field.  During harvest the field and its surrounding warehouses and elevators were a buzz of activity as light freighters and small bulk cargo shuttles cycled in and out, loading up with grains and produce for transport to planetary urban centers and off-world markets alike.  Alex would have felt more at ease with the arrangements if that activity were happening now, but it was early spring and the fields were just freshly planted.  It would be months before activity picked up.  For now, the warehouses were essentially abandoned, guarded by a few sentry droids and security systems.  Joanna and her family often carried cargoes for the farming co-op and the Hope was equipped with the proper codes to land and allow them physical access to the site without raising any alarms.  Unless they were physically observed no one would ever even know they’d been here, and so far they’d seen no one but the sentries.

…so far...

As usual, Gambler’s piloting was superb.  Droids were usually good pilots and very precise, but Gambler had a touch that rivaled many human pilots, though he greatly favored larger craft and often complained that he felt vulnerable and exposed on anything smaller than a light cruiser.  No doubt flying the light freighter made him feel virtually naked, however that translated in the positronic brain of an astromech droid.

Dust kicked up as the anti-grav interacted with landing field and thrusters fired, adding their own heat and mayhem to the swirling wind kicked up by the freighter’s presser field.  The dust cloud billowed, shrouding the trio waiting for the freighter to settle as well as the freighter itself in a miniature dust storm.  Alex sensed more that saw the freighter settle and the presser field shut down, and the three of them moved through the settling dust toward the center of the cloud where the Hope waited.  They were nearly there, in sight of the boarding ramp, when the world erupted around them.

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Karmack
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« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2018, 06:10:37 PM »

(PART THREE)

“Main batteries, Ion cannons only!  I want prisoners, not corpses!” Serena snapped as the assault shuttle’s blasters and turbo-lasers raked the compound around the freshly landed freighter.  Her troopers had loaded up in record time and the assault shuttle had used its priority clearance and higher thrust ratio to close the distance on the escaping freighter.  They’d arrived just as the larger ship landed, and she intended to catch them out in the open and vulnerable.  What she would NOT tolerate was a stupid mistake at the end robbing her of her prize!  She’d trained for years to hunt Jedi, tested herself against the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) opponents available and handled everything she’d ever encountered.  She had never failed, and she was not about to fail now!  She wanted to know who the spies were working for, who they reported to, and especially now she wanted to know where this apparent Jedi had come from and who or what had trained him.  He was far too young to have survived the purge, which meant that someone somewhere had trained him to use the force.  Senara intended to find out who that had been and where it had occurred. She couldn’t do any of those things if their quarry ended up dead!

“Yes ma’am, Ion cannons only.” The gunner responded.  The sounds of weapons fire shifted noticeably as the turbo lasers and blasters shut down, replaced by the assault shuttle’s ion cannons.  These weapons would do no physical damage, but they would disrupt the power systems aboard the freighter, shutting her engines down and incapacitating its shields and perhaps anyone else caught in the blast radius.

“Thank you.  Prepare for hot LZ.  Rake the freighter, then get us on the ground.”

“Yes ma’am!”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Alex threw himself flat, pulling Joanna down beside him as the laser and blaster bolts raked the area around the ship.  The air filled with ozone and flying debris then the sound shifted.  “Gambler!”  There was a plaintive wail from inside the ship as the crackle of electrical discharge spread across the freighter.  In a moment the small ship’s power systems shut down, including the droid within. 
Alex slammed his fist into the ground, then rolled over on his back.  “Sam, check your power packs.” He called, pulling his sabers out and visually confirming that the hardened power packs in the hilts were still charged and ready for use. 

“Power is good, I guess the ship absorbed the bolt.”

Alex nodded. “Good here, too.  Thank the One for small favors.  Joe?”

“Good.” She held up the blaster rifle they’d acquired at Donnigan’s to show him the small green indicator light. 

“OK” Alex said, snapping his sabers together to form a single double-bladed hilt.  “They’ll be coming in a moment.  I’d recommend taking cover behind the landing struts.”

Joanna moved to cover, looking back when she realized that Alex wasn’t following her.  “Alex?  What are you doing?”

“I’m going to play tag.”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The assault shuttle grounded 250 meters from the Hope and the troopers of Alpha Seven deployed in combat formation around it.  Blaster bolts began to arrive from underneath the dead freighter as Serena joined her troops, her blood-red saber ignited.  “These are from the crew.  I want the Jedi.  Return fire.”

“Ma’am.” The squad leader replied.  “Open fire!”

A hurricane of red energy erupted from around the shuttle … and started to come back.  In the settling dust Serena saw a pair of amethyst blades flashing, deflecting blaster bolts back at her men with expect precision.  Even as a heavy bolt slammed into the squad leader next to her she grinned, letting the battle lust fill her.  “There you are Jedi…”

Flourishing, she advanced to meet him.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Alex felt the Inquisitor in the force.  She was strong…  But not as strong as Master Cunn!  Hate and fury radiated off of her in the force like heat, and Alex used the stealth techniques he’d learned and perfected over the years to make his own force “footprint” as small as possible even as he advanced to meet her.   Half of the storm troopers were down.  The rest were spending more time under cover and less time firing.  Gambler was almost through his power reset cycle and would reboot in less than a minute.  Once he was back online the astromech droid would be able to begin restoring power on the Hope.  Once that happened the over-powered weapons on the light freighter would be able to make short work of the grounded assault shuttle and the troops arrayed around it.

And none of it would matter at all if Inquisitor Serena killed him.  Or worse, captured him and forced him to reveal Master Cunn’s presence.  Alex didn’t know why the One had brought them to this place, but here he was.  “So be it.  Thy will be done…”

Alex stepped forward and with his own flourish engaged the Inquisitor in combat.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

“Alex…” Joanne said her husband’s name, a prayer and supplication in a single breath.  She fired as another trooper’s helmet popped up, then ducked as return fire splanged off the strut she was sheltering behind.  Suddenly the ship above her came back to life, the hum of the main power generator climbing through the start-up sequence cutting through the noise of battle.  “Gambler!  Way to go!”

Joanna was about to call out to her uncle when she heard his voice.  “Joanna!  The ship is live!  Go, I’ll cover you!”

Joanna popped off another series of shots, scattering the heavy weapons crew as they tried again to set up a crew-served weapon.  She turned then and sprinted for the ramp, bolts flying around her.  “C’mon, Uncle Sam!”

“Right behind you!” Sam replied, rising himself now, his own blaster firing rapid-fire shots.  He turned and had taken one step when he was bracketed by fragmentation grenades.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Alex felt the shudder in the force as Samuel Blackwell died.  Grief slammed through him, the pain of loss, and with it something far more potent.

Anger.

Alex back-flipped away from Serena’s attack, parried, and spun back in.  Riding the wave of anger, he hammered at the Inquisitor, pounding her guard, attacking her blade rather than simply trying to contain it.  Serena, used to being on the attack, retreated, her eyes wide as she felt the wave of anger radiating from Alex.  “I can feel your anger….  Embrace it!  Turn to the darkness!  It will make you powerful!”

Alex flowed through a series of spinning attacks, always bringing one blade or the other into action.  He’d learned long ago that in staff configuration his saber was a close-quarters weapon and he pressed his attack, staying close, hammering Serena’s blade with his staff; her defenses with his fury.

Serena backed, working furiously to protect herself.  Her other opponents, all experienced Jedi, had been nothing like this!  They had been calm, collected … and reluctant.  There had been no fury, no anger, no passion.  Only sadness and a sense of calm inevitability.  She had been the one with passion.  The one driven by anger.  The one pressing the attack.

Not now.  Now she was on the defensive… 

Alex sensed her shifting backward again and with a deft flick of the force he hooked her heel and pulled.  With a grunt the Inquisitor fell unceremoniously onto her backside.  She shoulder-rolled backward and sprang back up, attempting to recover…

Alex’ blade swept across her body, severing both wrists.  The tip of his blade just touched the skin of her neck, leaving a burn, and she screamed in pain as she fell again, ending up on her back, her useless arms pressed tight against her chest.

Alex stepped into her, raising his saber high.  Serena, eyes filled with pain and fear, found her voice.  “Jedi … do not kill…”

Alex paused.  “Yes, we do.  When it is necessary.”   He severed her neck with a clean stroke, ending her life.  He couldn’t leave them alive – they would know he’d never left Coveway, trace him back to Master Cunn and his family.  Tears rolled down his cheek.  “We just don’t like it…”

Alex deactivated his blades and lifted Sam’s body.   He boarded the Hope as the freighters pressor sprang to life, lifting the ship into the air.

Joanna sat at the helm.  Alex slid into the engineer’s chair and activated the weapons control.  A pair of concussion missiles obliterated the grounded assault shuttle and the remainder of the Storm Troopers.

As Blackwell’s Hope climbed toward space and freedom husband and wife wept…

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« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2018, 06:11:57 PM »

Coveway System
Koradin Sector, Outer Rim
0 ABY
close solar orbit

Alex held Joanna close as the coffin raced away from the Hope and fell into the Coveway System primary.  Her cheeks were wet with tears.   Alex knew his own eyes were shining and puffy, but he didn’t care. 

Besides, who was there to notice?  Gambler?  The droid was busy aft, fussing with a system diagnostic of his own.  Probably trying to isolate his own ‘grief fault’…

Finally Joanna sniffed and wiped her eyes.  “So … now what?  We can’t go back to Coveway.”

“No.  We can’t risk leading them to Master Cunn.” Alex said.  “I’m … open to suggestions.”

Joanna sniffled again and pulled up a star chart.  “Well…    We could go here.”

Alex looked over her shoulder.  “Bespin?  What’s on Bespin?”

Joanna grinned.  “Not much … but I know a guy.”
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« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2018, 10:47:13 PM »

...Karm, correct me if I am wrong but...is this one of your stories from before?  I could swear that I've read it (deja vu anyone?) Smiley

NOT that such detracts from it; point of fact: I find this ENTIRE narrative to be interesting and the characters...familiar.  Forgive me if I'm wrong or thinking of something else; I was hit on my head as a child.  Repeatedly.  With a giant stick.  So don't mind me  Tongue Grin

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« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2018, 01:19:04 AM »

It is an old project but I never finished it.  So I recycled it.  🙂

This was originally going to be the origin story for Karmack.  (I changed Karmack to Alex in this version).  The droid was also originally R3-R3, aka "Two" of "language" fame.  But at some point it got derailed and the whole "song" idea blossomed and Karmack got re-invented as a member of the Mak'Tor.... 

But I found this today and got inspired to finish it ... and maybe do something with it ...

I'm thinking Alex and Joanna may show up again.  :-)
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« Reply #12 on: May 19, 2018, 08:29:28 AM »

Well this was awesome. I almost feel like it is SotO from T'Risha Jord's perspective, but changing the characters a bit as well as the story. I hope we see more of Alex and Joanna. I do have to ask though, was the Inquisitor Senara or Serena? You switched it up at the end there.
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

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« Reply #13 on: May 20, 2018, 01:03:58 AM »

Well this was awesome. I almost feel like it is SotO from T'Risha Jord's perspective, but changing the characters a bit as well as the story. I hope we see more of Alex and Joanna. I do have to ask though, was the Inquisitor Senara or Serena? You switched it up at the end there.

Um....    Yeah.  Senara was the intent.  But you're right I switched it to Serena...  *sigh*  it is SOOOO hard for me to edit my own writing!  LOL

That's another change, I originally intended for Senara to survive, maybe with a missing limb or two but alive, but I decided to make a clean break as it were...

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« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2018, 01:06:08 AM »

Um....    Yeah.  Senara was the intent.  But you're right I switched it to Serena...  *sigh*  it is SOOOO hard for me to edit my own writing!  LOL
Regardless this was a fun installment; even better now that it's "Alex" instead of "Karmack 1.0"   Grin
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