Bothawui

[Qaela]

Qaela used the decent amount of cash Starlisk had given her to buy food, proper baby clothes, and a true stroller that could fit the three of them, as well as a few other small bits and pieces of things for them and herself. Remaining in a single set of clothes was tiresome, so she got herself a more proper flowing black dress to wear. The dress wasn't expensive or finely made, but it was far better than the overly modest, robe cut in Jedi style that she had been wearing. This dress was not the most immodest she had ever worn, but it did show a good bit of skin. The Bothan who sold it to her didn't seem too interested in how it fit on her, but that was fine because she wasn't interested in a furball.

 

She still didn't have any weapon beyond the wooden knife that Starlisk had returned to her on Ilum, but that was okay. The only thing she could possibly find here would be a blaster or an metal knife that was inferior to her wooden one and those were not of any use to her. She much rather would have had a proper spear, treated with the Force to resist energy and lightsabers, but that was not possible here. She doubted that any of these paranoid, suspicious creatures would allow a human woman with three infants in tow to walk around with a spear strapped to her back. Plus, if she had a spear, she would want to don the traditional leather attire that her people normally wore and that would look plain awkward, even if she could find something suitable on this urban planet.

 

After wandering around the streets of the multiple markets and assuring herself that Starlisk hadn't sent anyone to follow her, she decided to make a call. Going to a public terminal, she put in a few decicreds, enough for a text based message, and dialed in a number she had memorized back when with the Sith. It may have been tied to the Sith, but the number of relays, shell companies, and false names would make it uselessly impossible to track. She wasn't even sure if the Sith would get it now that their Temple had fallen, but if anyone was monitoring the contact line, they would know what to do with it.

 

Her message was simple. "Trip to Ilum was an ambush. Entire team captured and separated, status of other members unknown. I have limited freedom, attempting to improve situation. Do not send rescue attempt, but focus on locating and freeing mission leader. --Qaela"

 

It was short out of necessity. Shorter messages were harder to track and spot among the mass plethora of messages that went out in a city like this. Plus, if this was intercepted, she didn't want to give anything away that could compromise the Sith, Furion, or the others that were with her. She had no idea what happened to the others, but wasn't at all guilty about not trying to get them out. When things went bad on Ilum and the Jedi discovered who they were, she was responsible for herself and herself only. She didn't have any apprentices or a master to worry about and Furion was supposed to be able to take care of himself. She was responsible only for herself and her goals, both of which she was doing a rather fine time in dealing with.

 

Once the message was sent, she left the public terminal and started ambling back to the place where Starlisk and Ads were when she started to notice an increase in the local Bothans glaring at her. She had, being human, received her share of strange looks, but this was getting a little more odd. She reached to the darkness and immediately began to feel a tingle go down her back as the Force hummed in tension and hatred that was building rapidly. Picking up her pace with the hover stroller in front of her, she managed to get a block and a half from the Social Hall when her danger sense piqued. A split second later, a fist sized stone flew past her face, missing by just a few centimeters.

 

She looked over her shoulder to see who had thrown it and was confronted with a small gang of what she figured to be young adult Bothans glowering at her, each armed with makeshift weapons. Their hatred for her sang out in the Force, but she didn't know why. She hadn't ever done anything to Bothawui that would deserve any such hatred and they couldn't have known she was a Force user. Only a handful of people within the Social Hall may have been able to guess that she was based on her interactions with the Jedi, but the chances of these thugs knowing were so astronomically low that she didn't even consider it.

 

Making sure her body was between the quickly growing mob and the stroller containing her children, she began to walk at almost a trot toward the hopeful safety of the Social Hall and its guards. Another hurled stone was quickly followed by a piece of sharp metal refuse that bounced off the side of the stroller. Anger exploded in Qaela's mind at the mere thought of what would have happened had the trash hit one of her babies and she whirled around to confront the mob. "What is your problem!" she hissed at them.

 

"Imperial murderer!" one of the thugs in the front shouted.

 

"You can't come here and spy on us!" chimed in another.

 

"We don't tolerate your kind here!" a third yelled. After that, the rest began shouting in a cacophony that drowned out what each were saying. Qaela didn't care because at that point, she realized that this was a rapidly deteriorating situation that could get deadly very quickly. If it were just herself to watch out for, she didn't think the mob would pose any problems, but it wasn't. She had her three children and a bag full of supplies to hinder her. Running didn't seem to be an option, neither was standing and fighting. The only option she saw that didn't result in mass bloodshed the likes of which would get too much attention and retribution brought upon her was a fighting retreat.

 

"You should know better than to mess with a Sith," she snarled at the crowd, though nobody seemed to hear. The use of the Sith name didn't seem to phase them one bit, neither did her blocking several new missiles with simple waves of her hand and a judicious application of the Force. Since that wasn't working, she decided for some theatrics. Normally, ripping the heads off of a half dozen or so of them would provide a most effective demonstration of how poor an idea it was to attack a Nightsister protecting her own, but she didn't think Starlisk or the Bothan security forces would approve. Instead, she spat out a quick and simple spell relying mostly on her rapidly rising anger and lifted the front row of malcontents a meter or so into the air with the gesture of one hand. She held them there for a couple of seconds so everyone could be sure of what she was doing, then splayed her fingers out. The six or seven hapless punks were thrown back into their own crowd.

 

Without waiting to see the reaction, she turned and fled up the street pushing the stroller with her now crying babies ahead of her. Anyone who got in her way was quickly shoved aside by a telekinetic burst of the Force. Shouts and a continued barrage of stones, pieces of trash, and other things near at hand continued to rain down on her from behind. She focused her defenses around her children, a move that left her somewhat vulnerable and earned her a gash on the top of her head from a sharp piece of ferrocrete.

 

Without thought, she turned and pulled down a large signpost with the Force. The resulting shower of sparks and massive crash provided her with a temporary reprieve from the mob, but that didn't stop one or two angry looking Bothans in front of her from charging in. She tossed them aside with the Force and laughed as their bodies hit the wall and slid down to the ground. She didn't think that she had killed them, but they would definitely feel that in the morning. Seeing the first two go flying gave the others in front of her pause, so she ran past them while ignoring their curses and threats. The fallen sign wouldn't hold the mob for long, but she was close to the gates of the Social Hall.

 

At last, she got within the guard perimeter. There, instead of letting her in, the guards blocked the gate in confusion at what was happening. "Let me in!" she shouted. Cursing under her breath at the blindness of the Bothan guards, she added, "The mob is trying to kill me!"

 

One of them, a male with a slightly more fancy uniform than the rest, didn't seem too convinced. Qaela's heart sank a bit as she sensed the same bitterness from the mob coming from the guards. At least they were self controlled enough not to shoot at her. For now.

 

"Why would we allow a miscreant such as yourself into this sacred place?" the officer scoffed. "You are nothing but a trouble causing Imperial human, after all. If there are citizens after you, maybe you deserve what you get."

 

"Are you insane?" she gasped. And after I played nicely, she thought. "I have done nothing but shop and spend good money in your stores. Is this how the people of Bothawui treat foreign visitors?"

 

"No," the officer retorted. "This is how we treat meddling aliens who come to our planet and kill our beloved elders."

 

Qaela was growing more desperate now because the mob had gotten past the downed sign and was flooding into the street behind her. There was nowhere else to go but into the Social Hall because they had cut off any other hope of retreat. At least the presence of armed guards was enough to give the mob pause when it came to throwing things at her, but it didn't stop the insults and threats.

 

"I came with Jedi Master Starlisk as his charge and under his guarantee of safe passage!" she shouted in desperation even as she struggled to keep her fury in check. She wanted to lash out and start a bloodbath so badly that she was shaking. Blood from her scalp wound had soaked through her hair and began running down the front of her face, but she ignored it. "Ask him yourself if you don't believe me! He's inside the Hall right now with your leaders at some funeral." She now wished that she had bothered to learn the name of the being who had died.

 

At the sound of the famous Jedi's name, the officer blinked a few times and drew his head back. Just in case, Qaela applied a touch of the Force to persuade the man and was relieved to see him reach into his pocket for a commlink. Seeing that, the mob moaned and began to boo the officer while jeering the guards to turn her away so they could get at her. She hoped that Starlisk and someone with a little more sanity left about them got those gates opened for her before things got bad enough that she would be forced to shed blood. She might be willing to restrain herself for Starlisk's sake, but she wouldn't stand by and allow herself or her children to be harmed for any Jedi morality. If they pushed her much farther, blood was going to be spilled and, even without a lightsaber or blaster, she would take a great deal of these creatures down before they could get to her or hers.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin started to move out of the room as he continued to search the Force for the influence. However, all of his senses told him that the Force user who was doing this was not here at all. But as he expanded his sphere of influence, he quickly started to pick up on other things. There was a fair amount of agitation in the area around the Social Hall and locally in the city. He suddenly found Qaela's presence, quite alarmed and angry, approaching his location. He suddenly hoped whatever had happened hadn't led her to killing someone. Even influenced as they were by the dark side, he couldn't protect her from the Bothan justice system. He knew she would kill for her children in an instant, but he hoped she would show the restraint he had witnessed in her over the last few weeks.

 

"It's time to leave," he said to Ads, his voice suddenly taking on some urgency. He got the feeling that Kitt had been right about a war brewing, and that incidents like this were going to take place on more worlds than Bothawui. Maybe they already were taking place. If so, then he would have very limited time to act. He would need to make a call to Sabian, his old apprentice. Then make sure the Jedi Order knew the stakes.

 

The Jedi Master headed out of the Social Hall to see Qaela standing in front of a guard who was barring her way and had his commlink out. "Stop," he said, intuiting the situation. "She's with me, let her in." He immediately noticed that Qaela was bleeding, and then he spotted the angry mob that was making its way toward the guard perimeter. "What's happening here?"

 

Onderin was tempted to use the Force to calm the mob, but it would take some effort and might ultimately prove fruitless. Their ship was docked nearby, within the guard perimeter, so it might not be necessary.

[Qaela]

Qaela made no attempt to hide her anger at the situation. "What is happening here?" she spat out. "What is happening is that these kriffing dogs are trying to kill me!" She threw her arm out across the gathered guards and added, "And these are just standing there blocking my way in."

 

Her brown eyes narrowed and her voice lowered so that the Bothans around them couldn't hear. "I warn you, Starlisk, I have restrained myself so far. If there is one more provocation or if they again try to harm my children, blood will flow in rivers."

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin stepped carefully between Qaela and the approaching mob. "Stretch out with your feelings," he told her. "There is something or someone influencing these people. But we cannot get involved." Not if Kitt was right, and the way the Force felt made him start to believe what had been said. "It's time to leave Bothawui." He gestured to her and Ads and they headed for the ship. He was somewhat pleased that his instincts had proven correct and Qaela had indeed come back after he had let her go. He wished the circumstances would have been slightly different, but the outcome was the same. There was still much that they could accomplish for her sake, if only she was willing to listen.

 

They quickly made their way to the shuttle without being harried further. The mob seemed to start to disperse when they saw that the humans were out of their reach. When they were aboard, Onderin gave Qaela a chance to get her children situated, then went to the cockpit. "Where to?" he wondered aloud. He needed to report what was happening here to the Galactic Alliance, but he didn't need to go to Coruscant in order to do that. He could write up a report in hyperspace and send it in... with his contacts, he could make sure it landed on Chief of State Devanus' desk within an hour of transmission. He wanted to go somewhere where he could teach Ads and see if he could get Qaela to take her first steps in learning about the light side, but she probably wouldn't react well to a Jedi Temple. Nor would a Temple react well to her, he imagined.

 

Maybe somewhere quiet, like Corellia. Or maybe Qaela would make a suggestion.

[Qaela]

Qaela's anger was still simmering as she secured her children in the small cabin she had been occupying. A part of her still wished she could have unleashed the darkness against that bunch of thugs and shown them the true power of her people, but in hindsight, it was probably better that she had not. Creating such a scene would have not only gotten most of the planet against her, but it would have definitely turned Starlisk in opposition and left her stranded and alone with three infants to protect. It still irked her that she had been forced to retreat without dishing out any pain and death, but that was part of the responsibilities of watching out for infants. If she had been alone, that would have been an entirely different story, at least, that is what she told herself.

 

Once the children were settled down, she tended to the head wound. As was the case for such things, it bled more than it was really damaging. As her mother used to say, her skull was pretty thick and a quick probe with a healing spell revealed no damage to the bone. Unless she was otherwise occupied, she would tend to it with a full healing spell tonight. Until then, she just cleaned it with water and gingerly dried her face and hair to make sure it didn't reopen.

 

The Jedi pup was strangely quiet, but maybe that was for the best. She still didn't really know how he felt about traveling with one such as she. Maybe there would be a time when they could talk alone and she could see just how much of the darkness he had experienced. It would be most interesting to see if she could coax some of that out in him, even if Starlisk wouldn't like it.

 

She walked up to the cockpit and gave Starlisk a wide smile. There wasn't really a reason for it, but it felt fun. She wasn't truly surprised when he wondered aloud where to go. It seemed to her to be an invitation to decide their course, one she was eager enough to pounce upon. "It is only logical for me to find some place to keep my children safe, someplace where I know where they are and can be assured they are cared for by their own kind. You were right back there, you know. The crowd was being altered by someone strong in the Force. I have not seen such widespread mind altercation before. Whoever it was nearly got my children killed and for that, they need to suffer horribly before dying. I don't think their new sentiments exactly endear them to you, either, so we have common cause."

 

She sighed. "I am not sure if you are willing to release me from your custody. You have fulfilled your part of the bargain we made on Ilum, even if the Kirlocca is still free. Therefore, I will not try to inflict harm on you or yours, but neither can I rest easy with my children in such a situation. If you are willing to take us to my homeplanet, I have a proposal that may interest you that could resolve this situation and benefit us all.

 

"For a long time, my people have lived in fear of the Jedi returning and destroying them. Decades ago, a Jedi came to Dathomir and inflicted tremendous losses upon my people, the Nightsisters. Since then, we have planned and prepared ourselves for them returning and finishing what they started. It was only after I started to explore this Galaxy on my own that I realized nobody truly cared what happened on Dathomir and few even knew who the Nightsisters were. The Jedi had no plans to attack the Nightsisters any more than the Sith wanted to go after the Witches. We were too primitive and uncultured to be bothered with.

 

"When I reported as such to my mother and the other sisters, they ridiculed the notion and punished me. To them, it is inconceivable that they wouldn't be considered a true threat. I was sent to ally with the Sith so that we would have protection against a supposedly imminent Jedi assault, but things did not quite turn out as planned. I suffered terrible abuse at the hands of the Sith, something you saw back in Ilum. The Jedi, though, have not treated me as such. While I have had my problems, you have shown me that Jedi can be honorable and aren't all bloodthirsty zealots out to destroy everything that doesn't embrace the light.

 

"I wished to speak of this before your Council, but you did not afford me the chance. What I would like is for you to join me on Dathomir and negotiate a peace between our people. Due to my dealings with Ar-Pharazon and my knowledge of the Sith methods of casting magic, I am one of the most powerful of my kind. That means I will be able to command great fear and influence among my clan and some of the others. With you at my side to represent the Jedi, I believe I could not only solidify my own power, but also ensure the protection of my children and a peace between Nightsister and Jedi."

 

She looked at him intently and said in a more somber voice. "Of course, this would mean you would have to trust me for a change and place yourself within the grasp of my people. I cannot assure you safe passage, but I can assure you that any of my sisters who tried to harm you would have to go through me first. Would you be willing to trust me in this matter?"

[Ads-Gop Flif]

((I'm mostly posting to prove that I'm reading as each post goes up. I haven't been responding because I feel like Ads is more of a supporting character, at least for the time being.))

 

Ads was unsure what to make of the idea that there was such a strong influence affecting the Bothans. Of course he had experienced some of the power that dark mind control could cause but this was more widespread that he would have expected. He decided that only time would tell as he settled down before takeoff.

[Onderin Starlisk]

((I had actually been waiting for you to post, Ads.))

 

Onderin listened with interest as Qaela finally filled in the important blanks she had left empty since they had met. He had heard of the witches of Dathomir, and had guessed at one point that she might be one of them. The Nightsisters specifically were a little more esoteric. It vaguely rung a bell, and Onderin decided that he would at some point look them up in the archives and see what he could learn about them. But from his interactions with Qaela before, as well as what she was telling him now, he assumed that they were dark siders. He saw little reason for a Jedi to do as much damage as he did unless it was perhaps in self-defense.

 

In any case, he was relieved to hear that he had improved Qaela's perception of the Jedi and considered them more honorable than the Sith, especially given that she had emerged into the galaxy with the negative perception of the Order that had been propagated by her people due to that mysterious event. He suspected it would be considerably harder to convince her that the dark side did not serve her ultimate interests, but there was still time for that. Even if he was unable to do so, forming peace with the Nightsisters could divert a potential enemy in the future. Even if he went there and found that they were the most despicable of sorts, the least he could do would be to keep them from allying with the Sith.

 

Finally she asked if he could trust her. He found her to be constantly on the edge of doing something drastic. She gave herself frequently to displays of emotion and let herself grow angry at almost any slight. In many ways, he found what Kirlocca had said about her and her instability to be quite believable, given the circumstances she had been in at the time. And yet in the last few weeks she had proven herself capable of overcoming her compulsions as long as she had a clear goal in front of her. Protecting and helping her children had been sufficient to keep her focused so far, and it was clearly in her best interests to make sure what she proposed for Dathomir went smoothly.

 

"Yes," he finally said. "You've given me no reason so far to think you cannot be trusted on this. And peace between the Jedi and Nightsisters seems to be in both of our best interests." Actually, the Jedi would be the primary beneficiaries. The Nightsisters had been in no particular danger from a Jedi attack, as Qaela had observed. But this would serve as an assurance to them that such wouldn't happen in the future.

 

Onderin lifted the shuttle off the ground and got the navicomputer working on plotting a series of jumps to Dathomir. By the time they were in orbit, he had realized that it was on the opposite side of the known galaxy. "It looks like we have some travel time ahead of us," he said. Making sure everyone was strapped in, he got the shuttle started on the journey.

 

((Whoever wants to post next, do so in the Space thread please. It's a good opportunity for some training!))

[Gren Sairdonga]

The Ranger's Eye appeared out of hyperspace above the troubled planet of Bothawui, its pilot, the half-man half-machine warrior, formerly of the New Republic, now unaffiliated with any of the major Galactic powers, except for a his Shadow Sentinels, scattered and disorganised as they were and a few friends amongst the Jedi he was a free agent. No longer interested in sides he would right for what was right. Aggression against those innocent of the charges levelled against them. Protecting those unable to fight back. Revenge against the slug. The AI nestled in his brain wasn't interested in sides or religions. It had been born into a mind rife with grief over the injustice done his friends. It would fight to create justice for those unable to protect themselves for it.

 

Gaining the necessary clearances to land, even in these troubled times he still had friends amongst the Bothans. Former Alliance and Republic soldiers, plus a small contingent of Sentinels allowed it to be possible. Taking a deep breath as he prepared to enter the yet another war he brought his fighter down, landing in a private bay, formerly reserved for Republic soldiers, now for private citizens Gren met two of his men. Striding past them as his AI began gathering the latest news from the holonet and easily accessible military feeds. The more secure ones would take some time. Bothans had few equals in code making and breaking, slicing being almost an art-form amongst the locals.

 

It would take a little time for him to get his bearings. Work out who he needed to find to begin investigating for himself. To discover who the villain was trying to start a war.

[Gren Sairdonga]

After several days of gathering information, Gren and the small core of agents he'd placed on this planet as a New Republic General he realised how little solid information their was. Looking at the various footages from the murder, softly interrogating certain people who had been close to the incident. Even going so far as to scope the joint out, sneak inside and have a brief look around. He'd even investigated the sewer system below the place to try and find trace of the assassin. It had all turned up nothing. Swearing quietly, more of an old habit and more to keep those around him from getting suspicious then to relieve the stress he no longer felt as he considered his next move. Starlisk was hoping he could make a difference in this war somehow. Gren wasn't convinced however, that the Imperial Remnant was to blame for this. Some of the planets who's senators were attacked were friendly to the Empire, some were neutral and some were former New Republic.

 

Sending his findings back to Allin he began making his way back to the Ranger's Eye, he wasn't a spy. He was a soldier. It was time to go find a war.

[Zalis Krales]

It was for sure an enjoyable ride to Bothawui, yet very long. Sitting on the pilot's chair in Nimbus, Zalis leaned towards the viewport to look at the planet below her. It seemed so strange that such a beautiful view from above could easily be so distant and weird on the surface. Failing to hold in a smile, as it was bursting at the seems of the small corners of her mouth, Zalis turned towards Vothe, whom she assumed would be walking onto the bridge this time as he always did during travel.

 

"So, what is the game plan officially? I mean besides for framing."

[Vothe Kyrik]

Vothe considered. He had performed several assassinations in the last few years since leaving Anzat, but he had always either hidden them or performed them overtly when there was no fear of apprisal. He had performed some in disguise so that security footage couldn't link the kill to his almost-nonexistant identity, and he had passed others off on circumstance that could also not be tied to him. Although he was over 100 years old, he was barely pubescent to the Anzati, and had never actually framed a murder on someone else before.

 

That didn't peclude having the knowledge and ability to execute such an act successfully, however. "The Bothans are a meticulous and detail-oriented people, but from the reports they are not reasoning clearly when it comes to the Republic," he said. He hoped that coming here would give him some insight into what was going on, but he suspected that they were being influenced. Silas was making a gamble that Akao Den'kji was not, in fact, the source of this influence, but Vothe agreed that the chances were slim given the Bothan's existing track record. "Still, I would expect diligence when it comes to discovering who the killers are." It would have to be subtle enough to look accidental, but firm enough to point a clear finger.

 

"How equipped is this vessel? Do you often employ disguise in your contracts?" Vothe had an idea that would have worked easily if they had been on his own ship, but it was still on Coruscant. "If Den'kji is assassinated by an unknown operative, I would expect the Bothans to be able to locate this ship, particularly if it is registered under a suspicious name. If we can leave evidence aboard that points to it belonging to a Republic assassin, then all we need to do is murder Den'kji and go to ground for a few days, then worry about getting the ship back... or procure another way offworld."

[Tobias Vos]

And time for another scan. Something about Bothawui had always been unsettling to Tommin, but he knew they would only spend a day or so doing the surveys. Settling into the usual pattern, he made the usual notes- air traffic, space traffic, basic ship movement- an assessment of how much traffic was coming in and out of the world. Down to air quality, geographical features, and steams. The authorization codes and orbital pattern was accepted by the Space Control- with a touch of delay that was uncommon. Bothans... Tommin rolled his eyes. Either way- they had settled into their pattern for this sweep. He really wished they had a probe droid that would be able to handle all this, but I guess that's the silver lining- he was getting paid which meant he kept food on the table for his family. Also it meant he was away from them. Not that he hated being home, but his wife was always nit-picking. He was thankful for the escape route and the pay.

[Delta73]

The Marie emerged from hyperspace at the edge of the Bothan System. The ships signature had been rebuilt and renamed into the Star Divine for stealth reasons.

 

Delta waited with a small crew of elite officers in the hanger bay for the leader of Black Sun to arrive.

[Zalis Krales]

Zalis walked into the hanger, looking like a mix of battle ready and whoring ready. It suited her well to have both appearance at the ready whenever she needed them. While she knew how well like Smash was, she was not him. She was Zalis Krales, the new leader of Black Sun. She would lead them as best she could, and as closely to the heart of how she felt. As she walked, she gave the crew a quick smile.

 

"So, who's ready to try new food? I've always heard Bothan's taste better fried, but those are only rumors from a crazy old man who used to run things."

[Delta73]

The Marie made a sweeping vectored turn to face its launch bay towards the distant glowing gem of Bothawui. Two Aged black painted ARC-170s launched into space from the forward hanger bay, the Stealth Variant of the ARC was developed during the clone wars, and deployed in the latter third of the war, these had been retrofitted to modern equipment and sensor packages. Designed to house a single pilot and sensor specialist, they carried rations enough for a month of slow moving deployment, and carried two large thermonuclear warheads under each wings. An old but effective technology they would be used to level the center of the capitol of Drev'starn once Delta and the rest of the black sun crew took down the planetary shields. For now the Stealth ARCs would wait on the edges of the system, one microjump away from the planet's surface.

 

Delta extended his hand to the lady of black sun and escorted her aboard the Lady Fair, a captured smuggling shuttle that still had its haul of old imperial technology from Scariff. He grinned at her, and they departed towards the planet to peddle some recovered technology, the Star Divine to follow swiftly.

[Zalis Krales]

Zalis gave a playful smile as she looked around and admired the technology on the Lady Fair. The planet grew large and overtook the viewport as she admired much of what Delta had managed to take and keep through his years of service. Pulling her black leather cape/coat over her shoulders to conceal some of her other weapons, she made sure to check her assets on her ship. The droids that she had reprogrammed were now in a defensive position to guard the accounts of Black Sun. In the long run, she felt it was better to keep them with he ship as opposed to bringing them into the fray. Granted, only two were with her own ship. The other eleven were back on Dark Sun Station guarding everything that was owned by Black Sun. Walking up to Delta now, she pulled out her main blaster and checked to make sure it was loaded and ready to kill.

 

"So, I'm going to assume you have a plan? You strike me as someone who always has a plan despite having someone in charge over you."

 

Zalis was calm and sincere in her question. She didn't mind that he would. It should how much of a leader he was, and how much she would be able to depend upon him down the road. She herself had a plan, but was more then willing to let Delta take charge on this one. Besides, he was the one bringing in a much larger armament then what she had anticipated for toppling Bothawui. Which ultimately meant he knew what he was doing and how to do it right. Her own leadership skills knew better then to turn down the plans of someone who was this prepared.

[Delta73]

Delta’s fingers traced his helmets control pad and a projected hologram of Drev'starn appeared in the middle of the cabin flight deck. “You are right Ms Krales, I do have a plan. It is called project Hammerfall and was designed for the destabilization of the Galactic Alliance by embroiling their key worlds in chaos and war. This plan was designed to be exploited by the Sith to seize power in a cunning death stroke to the senate and democratic institutions galaxy wide.” He motioned to the wide map of the city to a dome shaped building. “The Bothan Clan leaders will be gathering at the Unity Building for a celebration of the anniversary of the attack on the second Death Star. The city and the building will be packed with tourists, dignitaries from other worlds, and millions of innocent civilians. It is our object to frame the Imperial Remnant in this attack, or more specifically Moff Esferaden who is known as a xenophobe and especially dislikes Bothans.” He gestured around the shuttle, “We have rigged both this ship and the Lady Fair to have masked sublight trails that reach back to imperial vessels from his garrison at Yaga Minor, it's a long shot, but the reactionary Bothans will very publicly blame the Imperial Remnant at the first chance they can get.”

He laughed, “But I am getting off point, we have ourselves and a few dozen specialists to take down the Drev'starn planetary shields and clear the way for thermonuclear holocaust on this planet of furries. As for my reasons for it, I figure committing a Bothan Holocaust will impress this chick I have been texting. The plan literally cannot fail.”

[Zalis Krales]

Zalis grew her smile from ear to ear as Delta finished elaborating on his plan. The plan was brilliant and downright worthy of recognition by someone who would read all about it. And as Delta said, the Bothers would end up blaming the Imperial Remnant, which would put pressure on the Galactic Alliance to step in, which would mean Jedi involvement. A single stone throw, or in this case, a holocaust of sorts to set the ball rolling. It would also setup Black Sun to control resources that they already posses to gain more credits and power through leverage. The plan was perfect, except one thing.

 

"Delta, while you wear Katarn-class armor... Not everyone else does. Do we have extra imperial insignias just laying around somewhere to help us get recognized with them? Their history doesn't really favor hiring outsiders to do their jobs. Sublight trails may not be enough."

[Delta73]

“Oh my god you are right, let me grab some old Imperial Armour I kept and acquired from the old days.” He ran his hand across a bulkhead and it opened revealing a series of armours. He selected a pair of gleaming white stormtrooper outfits and give one of them to her. “This one is build for a woman, but it might not fit to your bust, my apologies on that one, but hey, that's life.” he slipped out of his katarn armour and into the other set, before boarding the shuttle packed with equipment and a mock strike team. “Now remember miss, we have to go in stealthy, and hit when the time is right, not just blasters blazing.” The shuttle lifted off, heading to the bothan home city, while two stealthed ARCs maintained their flight pattern one microjump out.

 

He considered texting Jaina, but at this point if she didn't get back to him soon he would just have to drop by unannounced. Which he knew was a total slam dunk. He turned to Zalis, his voice muffled and unrecognizable by the comm system in the armour. "Hey have you ever tried to talk a Jedi into doing anything? Its like trying to move a stubborn bantha, and even after you toss terrorist attack after terrorist attack at them as bait they still don't show up. It not like Kitt is even leading them even more, at this point they must be extinct. This might finally stir them up though, I hear the Jedi like furries. But they will likely just complain about being busy and how they don't like getting force into stuff. But hey they are the first to complain that the Empire isn't siding with the sith. Ironic right." Upon getting no instant response he talked to the crowd at large. "Have any of you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?"

[Qaela]

Qaela was exhausted. It seemed that every free moment she had since she and Ca'Aran returned to the Marie was spent using healing spells. Though she could do it, the process was exhausting and took a lot of her own energy. Ca'Aran's healing was fairly straightforward since he also had the benefit of his doctors and modern technology. What was going on to her daughter was not something Black Sun's doctors could treat.

 

Telperiën's injuries were severe, but mostly psychological. The spells used against her were not designed to be survivable. If Qaela herself had been subjected to it, she doubted she would have survived and would definitely be in the same state that her daughter now was. The spells created a link between the girl and the afterlife, thus death itself. All attempts to sever that link were fraught with danger as she herself could be sucked in or she could end up killing her daughter.

 

Everything she did proved pointless. There were times when she felt that she was making headway in unweaving the spells, but before anything permanent could be done, she wore herself out and collapsed in exhaustion. After days of trying and delving into the darkest reaches of Nightsister spellcraft and Sith lore she could find or knew, she felt that she knew the answer. She had heard of a way to "trick" the spell to absorbing the life of something else and leaving her daughter to recover. The problem was that the spell was something she heard her mother and a few other of the clan Sisters talking about as a theory exercise. None of them had actually done it.

 

Qaela still had access to some of the Sith teachings she was allowed to take from the Sith Temple on Coruscant back when she was studying under Haephestus. Those proved quite interesting, but the approaches the Sith had towards dealing with death and the netherealm were quite different than what she was familiar with. It took some time to work out how to unify the two practices until she was confident that she could do what was needed.

 

The problem now was that she needed something to sate the spell's need for life. She was vaguely aware that they had come to Bothawui and could figure that her love was not here to hand out candy (unless it was poisoned). She remembered Bothawui as a less than pleasant place and had no problem with asking what she was about to ask. The concept of sacrificing nameless creatures to save her daughter brought about no guilt. It was the way of nature for the strong to survive and the weak to serve them. If she and her allies were stronger, then so be it.

 

Emerging from her old chambers where she had all but locked herself away with her daughter, she discovered that Ca'Aran had already gone. It wasn't difficult to acquire a secure, encrypted commlink from his men that wouldn't compromise whatever he was doing. "Ca'Aran, my love, I believe I have discovered how to save our daughter. I have always encouraged restraint as it is safer, but now I have a request for you: give me blood and death. I believe I can channel massive amounts of death into a way to break the spell entrapping her. Please, I beg of you, slaughter as many as possible and so that she might live."

[Zalis Krales]

Zalis got herself dressed in the armor provided by Delta, but she wasn't shy about getting dressed in front of people. When your prior work was assassin, being naked infant of others doesn't bother one very much. The chest piece was a bit tight, but she simply used tape to strap her chest down enough to fit. As she finished, she looked at Delta with his talking about Jedi. She couldn't tell if he was monologging or just simply asking a redundant question. After he finished and asked everyone else a random question, she decided to answer the question that she could.

 

"I have once talked a Jedi into climbing into bed with me... It was fun. Secrets were revealed..."

 

She kept her own thoughts past that quiet. Delta had mentioned the very Jedi she had gotten into bed with. But the once Jedi at the time was an undercover CoreSec agent trying to track down the Phantom Drug which had plagued the underworlds of the galaxy a few years back. She had uncovered who he was during their time together, but she kept it a secret from both Kitt Fitt and everyone else that she knew who he was. Truth be told, she was hoping that someone would bring Kitt to her alive with the Bounty, as she had found herself crushing on the man. Although, she also had other reasons for claiming the bounties. She looked down with her helmet over her face, which would have revealed a suddenly soft and thoughtful girl.

[Delta73]

Delta grinned from the communication from Qaela. He would bring her as much death and pain as he could. Anything for that little girl. The shuttle received clearance from bothawui space command and lined up at the shield entrance, it was a line of several dozen ships as the security level seemed to have been increased since last time Delta had been at the furry planet. He couldn’t blame them that was for sure. Enough GA citizens died every month from terrorist attacks that he was sure that one by one GA worlds would leave the GA to focus on their own defense. Delta’s blue eyes traced over an older model Mon Cal cruiser sitting at the entrance of the shield gate, this would of course cause a little bit of trouble if they had to blast off in a hurry.

 

Three hours later, Delta was standing in the shuttles entrance watching his men unload fake supplies for the long closed down Imperial embassy. He made sure that security cameras spotted his white armoured form before he changed into civvies and helped his men load the supplies into a rental speeder and drive off to a business location down the road from the shield facility. Four hours after that his men were ready, half a team was set up with the rental speeder, loaded up with improvised explosives and the other half were in a different rental speeder with Delta enroute to the Senate building. He made sure his respirator was airtight as they set off.

[Zalis Krales]

Zalis kept quiet as she walked with the crew. There was something about being in armor that made her feel uncomfortable, especially since the armor was not fitting on her chest as well as her normal clothing. And the Imperials didn't really like their troopers to speak unless that had reason to, and she held no reason to... until she saw something that attracted her eye to it like any girl with diamonds or a cat with a random moving light. It was a play center, or a daycare of sorts that a high official of the Bothan government was walking out of. With a smirk hiding behind the helmet, she spoke to one of the agents walking with her.

 

"I think I found something better for us to do then to poison the water system... Follow me..."

 

Zalis quickly turned and made a few staggered pattern to keep attention off her. It was a bit difficult as she was texting Delta a special message. It was a simple one that was sure to get her point across.

 

 

"Delta, I'm making a detour. I've been thinking about adopting. I hear kids are worth a million credits. I'm going to test that saying."

 

 

After she sent the message, she made a quick scan of the building by walking around it in such a way that no one would be giving her a side eye or be wondering what she was doing. She did so until she was sure of her plan of attack and escape, as she never did anything without an escape plan, and almost certainly never did anything without a backup plan as well. Bbothawui was about to get interesting and fun.

[Delta73]

Delta sat in his speedertruck a block down from the main shield generator facility his men and women crammed in the back of the large bed. He looked down at his message unit and grimaced. The girl was insane he would give her that, but that meant that it was almost time to assault the facility. If Zalis wanted some kids to sell off on Curst or maybe kill on the holonet like the Naboo Royal family then all the power to her. They had a half hour. He leaned back in his seat and heard a thump from the rear window. He glanced back into Agent Deklos’s face who was peaking in with a worried look on her face.

 

“Cap the crew is getting all kinds of hungry, Chasxton says there is a drive through just around the corner if you wanted it. Said its a Farbies.”

 

Delta looked at her again. “A Farbies? Well why didn’t you say so, I love their Bantha Mozzarella Sticks. You want me to use the company card?”

 

A chorus of yes’s and other affirmatives echoed out of the cramped back bed compartment and he ignited the repulsor drives. A few minutes later they were floating up to the drive thru and Delta had a long list of complicated sandwiches.

 

“Hello Welcome to Farbies can I take your order?” The voice had a strong bothan lisp and seemed all too bored from the order that was going to come spilling out towards him.

 

“Yes hello I know I didn’t call ahead but I have an order for twenty of your roast Dewback sandwiches, three with Truloxon cheese, and eighteen with yellow bantha cheese, three of the normal sandwiches should have colslaw on the side, two with your hanmrong noodles, Ten with Kaisong butter parangs, and then the remaining five with fries. Then I would like five CoruColas, ten mustafar sprites, and five Diet CoruColas. And lastly three orders of the Bantha Moz Sticks with Honey Dewback sauce.”

A long sigh came from the orderbox and Delta Winced. “We don't have CoruCola we only have CoreBebsi is that ok?”

“Was the holocaust ok?”

 

“What was that sir?”

“Nothing, yes it's ok I Guess.”

 

“Ok your order comes to 98 credits at the second window.”

 

Delta pulled out the Imperial credit chit he had stolen and passed it to the bored looking overweight bothan at the window. He swiped it, Delta signed, got the food and parked. He passed out he food and was left holding an empty bag. He cursed loudly and got out of the Speeder Truck. He looked back and called out, “If I am not back in five minutes assault the planetary generator without me, i’ll catch up. Promise.” He received acknowledgement and stalked into the Farbies. He kicked open the door and looked at the interrupted patrons. “Where are my mozzarella sticks?” He yelled at the cashier who was suddenly very frightened looking.

 

“I don’t know man. I - I -I dont know.”

 

Delta jumped over the counter and grabbed the young overweight bothan by the scruff of his chinny chin chin and slammed his face into the register, causing a great deal of the forty odd patrons to scream in surprise. The bothan gagged a bit on the blood from his split lip and screamed loudly as Delta planted his face into the frying oil where three orders of mozzarella sticks still sat cooking. The bothan was fried to a crisp before he died, quite painfully.

 

Delta dropped the twitching corpse and faced a lone Bothan policeman who had been eating with his girlfriend. He pointed a sonic pistol at Delta, yelling commands to stop and drop to the floor. Delta of course would have none of that and dropped the young policeman with a bolt of high energy plasma through the bridge of his nose, splattering his bride to never be with brain and cooked pieces of bone. This caused utter panic. And Delta grinned under his helmet. He called out to the ceiling, “You feel that Qaela? There's some destruction for yah!”

 

And the slaughter of a couple dozen patrons began, as the speeder truck drifted towards the shield generator.

[Emily]

A comm message comes in for Delta, like an order of bantha mozzarella sticks making a violent comeback a few hours later.

 

 

You want me to smuggle damaged goods in MY cargo hold? I don't think so, buddy.

 

[Sheog the Mad]

A message arrives for Vigo Delta

 

 

<>

The Hutt’s voice was grave, but carried a seed of humour.

 

<>

 

[Tenebris]

A comm arrives for Delta, earmarked urgent.

 

 

"This is an emergency message. This is Captain Ulys Kelvin of CoreSec. We would like to gather some information about a known associate of yours, Emily Zsahra-Skywalker. We believe she may have been abducted. Please respond as soon as possible."

 

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Delta's comm continues to blow up incessantly as a message arrives from Corellia.

 

 

Ca'Aran, I have some questions for you of a somewhat sensitive nature. Call me when you get the chance. - Jaina

 

[Delta73]

As the last Bothan child hit the dirty floor of the Farbies Delta could hear the multiple chimes of return comms. The child, a 12 summer old Bothan male, did not of course die instantly, but bubbled away his last few breaths into his excavated chest cavity. Delta was far more interested in the amazing amount of comm traffic that he had received, and was not able to comfort the bothan. Not like he would have anyway. They weren’t humans after all. They were furries. He listened to the message from his old friend Sheogorath, grimaced and sent a quick reply. He liked the sound of a grand meetup on the old Sith world, and would gladly join the Sith as Black Sun fell apart.

 

Then came the message from some CoreSec desksurfer about Emily. Her name was Skywalker too? What a weird and original name, Delta thought. He filed the message away for a later response when he was untraceable and opened the next one.

 

This one from another Skywalker. The hotter one. But one that seemed to be more into Sith lords than him. Unfortunately she wasn’t just calling him to set up a hot date and wanted to discuss business. But he was a patient man, he would wait this one out. As he opened his comm, sirens blared from outside the restaurant, announcing the local security forces arrival. He groaned, set the comm on holo mode, and laid it on the front counter. For a more epic and wide view shot of the coming carnage. He looked into its lens as he crouched down and reloaded his flechette rifle. Hoping he looked as great as he felt.

 

“Lady Skywalker, How may I be of service?”

 

Somewhere behind the counter, the listener could hear the sound of a SWAT team preparing to enter the restaurant.

 

An image of the Skywalker female flickered into view, propped up on a mountain of pillows and dressed in what looked like a standard-issue hospital gown.

 

“Ca’Aran, nice to hear from you so quickly.” She squinted as though the scene that she was seeing surrounding Delta was slightly unbelievable… or maybe just slightly distasteful. “Am I catching you at a bad time?”

 

Delta grinned under his black tarnished imperial issued helmet. Of course she couldn’t see that, so the effect was totally lost but he continued anyway as the Bothan Unified Police District SWAT started their door breech. “No really Jaina I do my best flirting when under fire. Trust me.” He tossed an armed thermal detonator into the doorway. “What is up darlin?” There was a brief splash of static on the comm when the det went off, taking five bothans with it.

 

“A friend of mine told me that you have children whose Force sensitivity was stripped from them and then restored, is that--” she was drowned out in a burst of blasterfire, and picked up the threads of her sentence again. “Is that true? I need to know how it's done.”

 

Delta winced and returned fire without looking. He grunted, his voice sad, “More like had three children that were stripped of the force. Only one left now-” His voice broke for a second, “-and she’s nearly dead herself.” He paused and drilled a bothan in the eye with a crimson blaster bolt. “The stripping was done by the Jedi Council. At my request.” He felled another bothan which left him a moment of reprieve. “As for restoring their force, that was done by their mother, with the darkside. Something I would think you would shy far away from your highness.” He vaulted over the counter top to finish the last screaming bothan off. He looked back to the frame of the holo. “She said death would save them. Then and now.” He pulled off his helmet with bloodied gloves to wipe his streaming eyes now that the SWAT team was killed off. “And so death is what I must do.”

 

On the other end of the line Jaina grew utterly quiet, her mouth setting into a thin line as the explosive noises from inside the restaurant ceased simultaneously with the life of the last adversary. The static sound of a weighted exhale came over the comm. “I’m not afraid of the dark side, and I haven’t ever been. I’ve walked that road, and I know what it’s like to be prepared to give everything to save your child. But Ca’Aran, this isn’t the only way, nor is it the best one.”

 

If she was aware of the bloody carnage that surrounded him, she showed no signs of being affected by it. But the honest tears in Delta’s eyes seemed to give her pause. “Look, can I meet you somewhere so we can talk about this? I’d like to help your daughter, if I can.” She glanced off-camera briefly before looking back at him. “No child should suffer for the sins of their parents.”

 

Delta grinned and finished wiping his eyes. “Good my lady, you should never be afraid of something that is a part of every single one of us. If you know a better way I would take it. This path is dangerous.” A huge explosion echoed through the comm as Drev’starn’s shield generator exploded into the night sky. His agents had done their job.

 

“After this mission I have been recalled by Lord Exodus and the shadow council to Korriban. If you wish to meet there we can, if not I can arrange another time and another place.”

 

He leaned down to gather his helmet and looked into the comm, his blue eyes shining like shatter ice crystals. “I do however have a favor that is the only one I will ever ask of you." He too a deep breath, "If I gave my daughter Telperiën to you would you take her in? My sins are already coming home to roost and she does not deserve them. Nor is she safe with her mother.” It was a dangerous gamble, but this opportunity was rare and he would not give up the opportunity to see his daughter live a life away from the darkness that possessed her father and mother.

 

Silence reigned once more as Jaina took in his words, and when she finally spoke, her voice quavered. “I… I'm not good at keeping children safe,” she said quietly, “and my own daughter has done her fair share of paying for my sins. But I will do what I can to help, whatever is within my power. If you think it's best, I can watch over Telperiën for a while. Although I think it would be unwise for me to come with you to Korriban. It's been a long time since I was welcome there.”

 

He laughed dryly, "Manaan then, one week." The comm shut off on both ends with a miss of static. And Delta was alone again.

[Telperiën Ar-Pharazon]

Purple eyes like candied muja fruit on pearl white Alderaanian plates opened with a flash. They squinted behind full lids and singed eyelashes at an unfamiliar ceiling. Glow panels were unfamiliar to a girl that only knew the light of torches and campfires and the hum of engines through thick bulkheads became a clamour in her frightened mind. Where was she? She assumed that she was dead, her mother and father had been fighting when she had died and the heavens fell from the sky in furious flashes of fire and light. Yet she could feel the pain of the flash burns on her arms and legs, this was not the afterlife of painless bliss that the Sisters talked about, this was nothing but cold, sterile, painful anxiousness. She was still alive. There was no doubt in that. She reached out with her senses and felt nothing from her brothers. They were always there, why not now?

 

She reached out again and felt nothing, a dead and disturbing silence where there was always love, joy, and a frothing happiness that irritated her. She reached out again, letting the bubble of presence drift out more and less directly and then she knew. She could feel the anguish in the heart of her father a hundred miles below and the stillness in her mother a meter away. She didn’t feel herself scream but that scream sapped every bit of strength from her body and she lashed out striking the table beside her with all the rage she could muster. Hammering away as the durasteel until it was dented and broken and her lower arm and wrist had several new joints in them. The bones cracked like dry twigs in the fire and she felt relief in the horrible shooting pain coursing upper her arm into her shoulder. She threw up dark congealed blood and cried. How could they leave her so cruelly? She loved them! She cursed loudly at her mother and pulled her knees to her chest. Her crying turned into hollow coughing and she fell back against the pillows. Her voice was hoarse and croaking when she spoke to her silent mother.

 

"Why am I alive when they are dead?