Official RPG - Chapter Two

[Link 3]

As Am'ni thought about the invitation from Master Skywalker, she suddenly became quite disoriented and afraid. She spun around and ran off, much to Ka'als astonishment. "I can't do this! I'll mess it all up and then it will all come down and be my fault!" Am'ni continued running and fell in a heap at the end of the corridor. "Boy is Ka'al gonna kill me for this one!" She regained her strength and composure and walked out the door. She saw several people standing in a group, looking very weary and one, with steely eyes gazing in her direction. "Who in the world..."

[Doc Ani Jade 1]

Kith flew the small shuttle he had rented down at Coruscant South and approached the Rnager station.

"This is Lieutenant Kith Kalea, of New Rpeublic Intelligence, here under request by Master Skywalker. Requesting permission to land." he stated.

A controller's voice came back to him, "Mr. Kalea, you are clear to land in the main hangar bay, in slip 17. It'll be a tight fit, but its all we've got. An aide will met you there. Control out."

As Kith brought his shuttle in to land, he felt afraid for the first time in his life since he was a child...

What if nobody liked him? What if he was rejected? It was Master Skywalker, for sith's sake.

After he hit the hatch release and jumped down, and aide met im there. The aide guided him to a room near the heart of the station, and as he walked in, he caught site of the other's faces and thought,

They don't look too forbidding, maybe I'm not the only new person here...

[E-wing 3]

There was a quadrail car waiting in the room Melinda just walked into. A quadrail car and two happy looking Force-users. "Your probably wondering how we got here ahead of you." said Jorj.

"No. Not really. I figured you to just teleported." said Melinda.

"How do you know we can do that? Michael have you been showing off?" asked Jorj.

"No, but I do use my powers when i have to." said Michael.

"Ok. Did you tell her about my home?" asked Jorj.

"Nope." said Michael.

"Good." said Jorj. "Your in for a treat."

With out another word they all climbed in to the quadrail car. After a short hi-speed trip they were there. As they stepped out of the room witch they arrived in Melinda got her first veiw of the Car'das's true home.

***

Back at the Ranger's space station.

Luke had finally got everyone in to the meeting room. "Let's start with the good news. Rangers I have 2 new members for you, Karyyyncca and Am'ni." said Luke.

Dan stood and said "On behalf of all the Rangers I welcome you both."

"Sorry to interrup Master, but who are this other people if there also not new Rangers?" asked Haladar.

"These 2 are Kyp and Ulic. Both are mercenaries. I hired them to help on your next mission. Kith, a commando, is on loan from the NR and also here to help." said Luke.

"What mission could you give us that would need all this extra help?" asked Raana.

[MsSolo 1]

Aurora was dozing lightly when her fighter was yanked out of hyperspace. The sudden stop meant she jerked forwards against her restraints and whacked her head against the transparisteel cockpit. She swore lightly, and opened her eyes.

Aurora found herself searching for a curse or expletive to express her suprise and dismay. Despire being able to swear in fourteen different languages, nonw came to her. Suddenly, she struck upon a phrase she had heard some of the jedi she worked with on the occasions she actually felt like being a ranger use.

"Sithspit!"

An Imperial Interdictor cruiser lay in her path.

Aurora rubbed at her bruised head and tried to think. This wasn't a route many people used, it wasn't a route many nknew about. She was on the very edge of Imperial space, but something about this really didn't feel right. Her sensor board bleeped at her and she winced as she recognised the TIE fighters coming towards her. SHe made an unusually rational desicion to sit tight, and to not fire until fired upon.

The fighters swarmed about her like flies, but none of them dared attack without provocation, as Aurora had suspected. Eventually one contacted her.

"Unidentified vessel, um, identify yourself," an unexpectedly young voice demanded apologetically.

"My name is Aurora. I was just passing through. Mind if I continue on my way?" she asked pleasently.

"Umm, you'd better not. In fact, I think you should come with us. Yes. Come with us!" the commander tried and failed tp hide the concern in his voice. Aurora smiled, well aware that they could see her through her cockpit, and followed obediently. So she'd be a little late to meet with the rangers, so what? She didn't really care.

* * *

She stared at the imposing figure before her. "Baron Fel?"

He sighed. "Aurora. When I saw the fighter, all suprise was lost."

"So can I go? I'm not saying a word."

"You're unusually blunt today."

"You mean I'm not lying." Aurora tucked her hands into her back pockets and stared up at the Baron.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go-"

"Why? Because the Chiss republic will have your guts for garters?"

"No, because you have stumbled upon an extremely secret and restricted access Intelligence operation."

"Hope it's Imperial, or the Remnant will be more than a little unhappy to find you're using their space. Pelleaon's been trying to secure a lasting peace with the New Republic for some time now." Aurora spotted a figure haning around in the background. "Hey Jag! Was it you who brought me in?"

"Uh, no, that was Davin." The boy flushed slightly. "I was with him though."

Baron Fel snapped something at his son in Chiss, and the boy retreated again. He gave Aurora a small wave as he went.

"Aurora, I'm going to have to detain you. You do know what that means, don't you?" Soontir said condescendingly.

"Are you looking for trouble? You see, Major Tom might take something of an exception to you detaining the leader of his special ops regiment."

"Oh, is that what you're calling the Angels now? It was mercenary law enforcement, last time I checked." Two stromtroopers took her arms, and began to lead her away.

"If you knew what we found..." Aurora let herself be lead away.

* * *

Aurora sat in the small holding cell, and checked her belt. They hadn't taken it from her, not even her haloblade. Fel was well aware of the sort of situation that could arise, and wanted her not to feel mistreated in any way. Aurora thought that that was ironic, as she kicked her heels against the wall. A guard, sitting outside the cell, looked up, then returned to his staring blankly into space.

Aurora began to sing, softly, under her breath. The words were unrecognisable, and they were of a language not even the famous (or infamous) See-Threepio would have been able to recognise.

"Kum lah ley, kum lah lee. Ei-yadah ayo, trei ah delalee. Kum la ley, trei ah delalee, delalee, delalee. Kum la ley, Kum la lee, Ei-yadah ayon, trei ah delalee..."

She trailed off, as snores began to filter through the helmet. She smiled grimly and she her powers to send the guard a little deeper, and then a lot deeper. Nothing short of being hit by lightning (unlikely here), would wake him for the next ten hours.

She took from her belt a small metalic cuboid, almost flat. On one side a thin film of some liquid lay in a puddle. It vibrated as she ran her finger across it, and she pressed it against the power socket next to her bed. A few seconds later the cell went dark, and she knew the power for the holding block had been switched off. The field in front of her cell had disappeared,though in the complete darkness she had no way of knowing for certain.

Aurora steeled herself for the painful shock that didn't come, and jumped forwards. She hit the gaurd, who fell from his seat with a soft 'oof'. Using the force, she summoned Muppit to her. The electricity immediately came back on.

"Are there any infomation terminals?" The tiny droid asked, it's liquid membrane vibrating to create sound.

"Down here. Can you trun off all power apart from emergency systems, for the whole ship?" She pressed it against the socket, and the liquid conformed to the socket's shape. "Make certain the interdictor field is down, and will stay down. Encrypt the system, if possible."

SHe waited a full minute before the droid dropped to the floor, it's job down. She hit the keypad nad slid through the door, and into almost total darkness on the otehr side. Damn, cupboard. She had to use the force to open it again, as there wasn't a keypad on her side.

* * *

Aurora made it back to her Angelfighter with little trouble. Anyone who might have seen her didn't look. This was her version of the jedi trick, merely deflecting attention, rather than changing memories and perceptions. She felt she could justify it better. Of course, she still showed up on the cmarras, but that couldn't be helped.

Aurora crouched in the doorway of the docking bay, awash with dim red light, as the emergency system didn't consider it an essential area. To her horror, even as she watched the red faded away and once again the bay was full of harsh white light. She knew that before long the interdictor field would be up again.

Aurora found herself faced with an awkward coice. She could fly away now, and risk the interdictor field already being up, or she could check if it was up, or likely to be anytime soon, and risk being caught. After a brief period of consideration, she chose the second option.

Aurora slid into a control room, and press Muppit against another information terminal. Crouched against the control panels, she waited as information appeared and disappeared on the screen above her as Muppit swiftly ran through the systems.

The door swished open, and Aurora cursed the luck which had got her this far. Six troopers stepped in, accompanying two technicians. Aurora drew herself futher into her corner, pressing back against the unyeilding wall.

Muppit observed the troopers through a security camera. The tiny droid feared detection as much as its mistress. If he had been able to smile, he would have. The lights went off, and the chair in the centre of the room started to spin. The technician who had been about to sit down on it, and te two troopers flanking him went flying. The door opened, Aurora leapt out, and as Muppit felt itself being summoned he set a brief timer and as he whistled past the door it slammed shut on another two troopers.

Aurora used the force to create what she had always called 'fairy light', a ball of twinkly, shifting, multi-coloured lights, and used them to find her ship. Sometimes she thanked the force for, well, the force. Diving into her ship she hit the ignition plate and slid Mupit into a descreet slot in the sesorboard, where it patiently downloaded everything it had found in the main computer while she powered up the ship.

"Sithspit!" Aurora found her new curse particulary versatile. "The hangar bay doors are closed!"

Aurora made an informed desicion. She hit the lasers and created a nice large hole in the previously mentioned doors. All the doors allowing interior access to the rest of the ship sealed themselves, and the sudden depressurisation of the hangar sent the Angelfighter, along with several racks of TIEs and some larger ships, flinging out into deep space.

Aurora launched into Hyperspace without even checking her direction. She didn't care about the 'to', just the 'from', when it came to escapes.

>Sorry its so long, I just wanted to fill the gap before arriving late at the rangers base<

[Rogue 4]

"Wow...." Melinda said, quite taken back by the scenery before her. "You weren't kidding." Before her was a vast garden. It was Approx. 100 meters...or 3,280.8 feet long. The garden was filled with flowers, small plants, and shrubs. All were artfully aranged. A winding path led through the garden, with benches set at various along it. At the outside edge of the garden, there was a small forest of tall trees of varying species, who's leaves also varied from dark blue to bright red. Mel could hear the soft sound of water running in a creek, but could not see it.

At first impression she had thought she was outside again, but now she could see that she was surrounded by a large dome. "It's beautiful...I'd certainly like to know how Michael could hold off telling me about something like this..." she smiled as he came up and took her hand.

"Didn't want to spoil the surprise." he said, grinning. Melinda looked at Jorj who seemed slightly amused, standing there with a grin on his face, and his hands folded in front of him.

Smiling, she said. "You know, I'd love to stand here all day, admiring the scenery...but you must be anxious to show me the rest of your home, which I have no doubt will prove just as wonderful." E4 gave an affirmative beep and went back to "chatting" with Backup, as the 3 droids came up next to them, followed by Entoo Nee.

[Grand Moff Tarkin 0]

20 parsecs out side the Rishi maze a vessel trundles space...

Quobacca: "Well done brother, you are quite the mechanic"

Vewbacca handed his brother the fixed power source for one of Quo's lightsaber's.

Quobacca sat at a table inside the ship using a hydrospanner too adjust the fixings. He got up and walked over too the cockpit door and fixed the weapon into his belt.....

Quobacca: "Ah done! now continue with you're studies Vewbacca"

Vewbacca smiled and ran trough too his quarters, turned on the lighting and very delicatly picked up the parchment "a jedi must hold the deepest commitment....." he read and mumbled too himself...

Quobacca set a course into the nav computer, and made the jump into hyperspace.

Several hours later Quobacca pulled back on the controls and the ship slowed out of lightspeed.......

He pulled over the large dimming lights of a city and landed on a civilian platform.....

Quobacca: "Pack you're things Vew we're leaving too find master Skywalker"

Vewbacca: "Do you think he will want ou're help brother?"

Quobacca: "I hope so, i also hope too learn from him, lets hope that we won't go unoticed"

The two wookie's left down the hatch towards an air taxi......

The wookie exclamed too the driver exactly where too take them, Quobacca felt master Skywalkers presense.....

Quobacca: "Land here!"

Quo and his brother ran frantically after the group of people walking form the hanger....

Quobacca: "WAIT! MASTER SKYWALKER WAIT PLEASE!

As the group stared suspiciously at the two wookies running towards them Master Skywalker judged them as no threat, the wookie's had finally caught up with them and where stadning panting in front of the group.....

Quobacca: "Vewbacca turn ou're translater on"

Both of the wookie's turned their small box like device's on their belts on.....

Quobacca: "We have travelled for a long time looking for an opertunity for many years like this, i have studied too become a jedi for almost25 years, please let us help you"

Still trying too gain their breathe in front of the group, he looked into Master Skywalkers eye's

Luke Skywalker: "What is you're name?"

Quobacca: "My name is Quobacca, and this is my brother Vewbacca, we havecome too be of aide in you're mission, and too learn from you"

Luke Skywalker: "How did you know we where here? and how did you find out about this operation?"

Quobacca: "I saw this in my meditation a dream i suppose, i don't know how i knew it was this day or this planet or this hour or this hanger, i just did"

Luke Skywalker: "You are exhausted, come, take them with us"

Quobacca: "Thank you, come on Vew"

[E-wing 3]

Micheal walked forward "Come on Mel. I'll show you your room. Then we got to go." he said.

"The ceremony?" asked Melinda.

"The ceremony." said Micheal. Then he smiled and took her hand. "Lets go."

***

Back at the meeting that was so rudely interrupted.

"You 2 can take a seat over there." said Luke.

"I'm afraid you misunderstand. I am here to help you. My brother is here to train with you at your school." said Quobacca.

"Oh ok. Hold on." said Luke as he pulled out his comm. "Corran, You still there."

"Ya." said Corran.

"You still headed for Yaivn 4?" asked Luke.

"Ya, why?" asked Corran.

"I got a passenger for you. If you don't mind that is." said Luke.

"No problem. Just tell who ever it is to hurry we are leave now. We are at bay 3." said Corran.

"You heard the man." said Luke.

The 2 brothers said there good-byes. The young one left and the older one sat down.

"Now back to the meeting. This is Count Reeku." Luke said as he pointed to a holo. "He is the ruler of 4 star systems between what is left of the Empire and the unknown regions. Little is known about him. In fact, all we seem to know is that he held favor with the Emperor himself. Enough favor it seems to get him this 4 systems as a gift."

"That's some gift." said Haladar.

"What do we know about the systems Master?" asked Raana.

"Not much more then an over view I'm afrid." said Luke. "Each system has one inhabited world. All the planets have mostly human populations. 1st, there is Mecha. This planet is mostly industrialized. They can make anything form chairs to AT-ATs, from fishing boats to TIEs. Next is Atmosus. It's a gas planet much like Bespin. They harvast gas and train troops. After that come Aquarus. The planet surfase is 96% water. They are responsable for food and mining. Last is Terrus. It's is about half city and half forest. It is the home to the rich and powerful of the systems. Reeku also has a ship yard. But as to where it is or what it's able to make we don't know."

"What kind of defences do these planets have?" asked Ka'al.

"Each has on planet forses as well as an Imp-class star destoryer in orbit." said Luke.

"Why are we going after this guy any way?" asked Dan.

"He has been building up his forces for some time now and lately he is been get hired guns to work for him. He is up to something big. Your mission is to go undercover as hired guns and find out what he is up too and, if possable, stop it." said Luke.

"So that's why you hired us. To be figure heads." said Ulic.

"That's right. I leave it to you to figure out what to do now. May the Force be with you." said Luke then he left.

[Rogue 4]

Michael led Melinda through a corridor, and to what would be her room, for the remainder of her visit. The room, had to be among the nicest she had ever stayed in in her entire life. It was relatively simple, but it was very elegant, and was well maintained.

Jorj, and Entoo Nee, had gone to make buisness, and dinner preparations, and the droids, had left. It was just her and Michael.

Mel, set the bags down, and laid back on the bed. "You really have a nice home," that last word, home, was something Mel, had never had. She hoped, that someday, she finally would. Someday, I will. She told herself. "and a wonderful Father."

[Master MJade 0]

"Terrus sounds similar to Rykoron." said Ka'al. "If we are to figure out what to do, may I suggest we take a break so that the newcomers can rest and so that i can explain myself better to my friend who at this moment is wanting to blast my head off."

Everyone laughed.

"That sounds like a good idea." said Haladar. "but i wonder if we would remember all that information later?"

"Yes, we will have that information later. In case noone noticed, my astromech driod is here and has recorded the infomation. and we should wait for Aurora. before we start planning"

[^Hal^ 1]

"Unfortunatley, waiting time is something we're running out of," said Haladar, "We'll give her two more days to get here, then we really have to get moving."

There was a general murmur of agreement from the rest of the rangers.

"Okay then. Between now and then, rest, train and prepare yourselves. This one won't be easy."

[E-wing 3]

"No we can wate for Aurora." said Dan "Who knows when she'll get here if she is even comeing. We leave a message for her, Melinda, and Michael should any of them return and want to meet up with us. We had to go now. Any ideas about what to do when we get there?"

[MsSolo 1]

The Angel fighter jerked out of yperspace, slamming Auror'as head into the cockpit yet again. Need to get those damned restraints tightened, she reminded herself.

No interdictor this time, just a second gen star, glowing cheerfully away. Aurora realised with a hideous jolt that she had no idea where she was. THat was the problem with laiunching oneself randomnly into hyperspace, it was impossible to know where one would come out. I guess i should just count my blessings and be glad I came out at all, Aurora thought forcefully, I could have just kept going straight out of the galaxy, possibly. Not a theory she had any intention of testing.

Aurora gave the star another glance, and tapped the navicomp. It had no idea where she was either. If she'd had a better idea of where that interdictor had been. she might have ben able to make a guess at whereshe was now, but no such luck. She could place the general area, but that left way too many variables.

Aurroa felt an inner darkness overwhelm her. SHe was lost. She was alone. THose two statements seemed to sum up large portions of her life, and just when she thought she had almost got it sorted, she was lost and alone all over again.

Bzzzz

Aurora jumped and stared around wildly.

Bzzzz

SHe blinked at the board in front of her. A light was flashing.

Bz... SHe hit a button on the sensor panel.

"Hello?" She sounded young, even to herself, and very very scared.

"Aurora? THat you?"

Aurora stared at her sensor board, then out throgh her cockpit window. There was a ship, elegant in it's simplicity, a small frigate, possibly, but strangly modified and not found on any 'offical' listing.

"Major Tom?" Damn it, that scared quality was still leaking it's way into her voice.

"What are you doing here so soon?"

"Huh?" She pulled off her helmet and rubbed her head. "Major, I don't know what you are on about. I was... I'm lost. I, I tell you more in a minute. Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted."

* * *

Aurora stared at her boss, almost two feet taller than herself. He lent against a bulkhead and stared back.

"Baron Fel?"

"Yessir."

"Rangers?"

"Yessir."

"Ignorant?"

"Yes... SOrry, sir?"

"You don't know why I'm here, or why I called you here?"

"I didn't know you had. I left, well, a couple of standard days ago, I guess."

Major Tom sighed, and ran a hand through his thinning ash blonde hair. "DO you remember the station, where you found me?"

"Yessir. HMSS Sunspot. Huge military space station, built, well, built beofre most records begin."

"Yes. His Majesty's StarShip. Remember how you found me?"

"YOu'd tried to commit suicide using carbonite, and accidentally froze yourself. Sophia still maintains it's a medical miracle we could defrost you, sir. And Tria."

"Well, our nurse and science officers would. What do you think?"

"Damn good luck, on all sides."

"So you don't believe in fate?"

"Not particulary, sir."

"What about, what did you call it, Major's Plague?"

"What about it?"

"What do you know about it?"

"Not much. I mean, it almost killed me, and Tria's now found not only a vaccination but a cure. It was manmade, wasn't it?"

"Yes. It survived a very long time without any hosts, as long as I did. Do you remember what I said about the enemy my people faced?"

"It killed them."

"Yes." Major TOm sighed, and Aurora thought he suddenly looked older than his year, which was ridiculous, since he was technically almost 6000 years old. "I've found it, Aurora. It's even the same strain. Like me, some of them were immune. They didn't manage to quaritine these carriers in time though, they didn't leave them behind as my people did me. My people, my government, my home..." He sighed again, and rubbed his forewards. "DO you know what this means, Aurora?"

"If it gets out Tria's going to make a hell of a loot of money with that antidote."

"Don't be tart. The problem is, that antidote only works on humans, due to the nature of the disease. The Plague, however, affects anyone and everyone. THis entire secotr is empty, AUrora, and I'm willing to bet it was the plague that emptied it. There is evidence of seven diferent civilisations on various planet sinthe area, all of which seem to have been wiped out at roughly the same time. THere's even footage left behind!"

"What can we do?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

Aurora stared out through a viewport. There was a single habitable planet orbitting this star, a beuatiful planet, she could tell even from here. Except, it wasn't habitable any more. The Plague didn't die out, and didn't discriminate between one species and another. Only plants would have survived down there, as on the various other planets Major Tom Walker had discovered.

"The other angels should be here soon. Tria and Sohpia will be working together, again, to find someway of actually wiping out the plague on a planetwide scale."

"How do we keep people out? Patrols?"

"You know as well as I do that no one comes here. The galaxy would be empty by now if they did. Besides, we aren't doing anything." Aurora stared up at him, startled and confused. "You are going to meet those Rangers, and say nothing of this, understand? You will say nothing of this, of me or my past, of the Angels, of anything that could put people in danger should they decide to seek any one of us out. Understood?"

"Understood sir."

"Good. Stay here one standard day, then set off again. Dismissed." He left, instead, leaving Aurora to stare out at the verdantly green wolrd below, and contemplate everything he'd said.

[Doc Ani Jade 1]

After the breifing, Kith went back to the samll cabin he'd been assigned to for his stay at te station. He earched through his belongings until he found waht he was looking for: a datapad with an upload acces to the holonet.

He logged on and downloaded a copy of the information he had received at the breifing to a encrypted information packet. He routed the packet to a secret address used by his controller as a blind drop pont for information.

After doing this, Kith checked his equipment. He went down to the enginerring bay of the Ranger station and tinkered with the settings on his blaster. it now functioned effectively at half the normal noise of a blaster, and wit a darkened blast.

He practiced in the flight simulators, and found a effective counter for the scissors manuever: a reverse throttle hop at half speed.

I'm not technically going to be piloting here, but thing's usually go wrong. It would be usefull if I could fly a ship in a pinch...

[Master MJade 0]

"Ka'al, what's wrong?" asked Am'ni, as she followed a slightly upset Ka'al to her quarters.

"Get inside. NOW." hissed Ka'al.

As the door closed, Am'ni spun an Ka'al. "Damn it. What the hecks the problem this time, Ka'al?"

"First you make a fool of yourself in front of the Jedi Master. And then you go gaga at the strange good-lookin' human male you see. And then the Rangers don't trust the other person thatr i know somewhat well."

"Who? Aurora?"

"yeah. She saved my butt once. She'll show,but-" Ka'al didn't finish the thought out loud. but she's changed drastically in the past few weeks. "Any ways you have eight hours then you play catch up and get taught how to fly a fighter. And dont tell me you can't do it." cutting off Am'ni's protests. "so use the time wisely and get some sleep. If you need Any thing call me on my commlink."

And that Ka'al left the room, leaving Am'ni staring after her.

[Doc Ani Jade 1]

Zeth took the turbolift up to the fith deck to grab a meal before he turned in, but stopped short when he heard the alarm balring pout of the control room. He stopped over to check out the commotion.

"Master Skywalker, ou're needed in the command center. We have a transport that's snooping around the station...and it looks familiar. Yes, it's registered as the Indomitable Star...a known ship of one of the Imperial Warlords. Coruscant control doesn't sem to have a problem with them...looks like somebody was bribed big time." said the lieutenant on senior watch.

As Skywalker arrived off the lift on the floor, he turned to Kith.

"Right now, we're having problems with the power feeds on the main weaponry...can you keep them busy? And right now being early morning by CST."

"Master Skywalker, though I'm not a pilot by nature, I do as you wish. I'll hold them off for you..." replied Kith.

He sprinted down the lifttube and dropped down onto the flight deck and sprinted toward an un-occupied fighter by the front. Kith hit the crash weebing and put in for a cold start on the engines of the XJ X-wing. He tore out into the blackness of space, and checked his sensor board.

Looks like they have some fighters...4 TIES, but a new design...Looks like the basic cockpit, but with three diagonal spaced back...nice design.

He put the unused energy to his front shields and quadded up the lasers, not knowing how much punishment the fighters could take. Right before he reached firing range he dumped a torpedo blind and shot up 90 degrees, the gs crushing him back into the accelerator couch. He leveled out and dived on the enemy fighters,stitsching one with the blast. The engines on the ship detonate, teraing the fins off and rdestroying the fighter. Kith checked the radar, and saw that his torpedo had miraculously hit another fighter...

He chekced his scopes again and saw the remaining two fighters had been taken out by two Rangers from the station, arriving quickly. However, as he fired upon the slow moving transport, he noticed his blast weren't having any noticeable effect. As he pulled back for another run he saw his fellow rangers fly in a beautiful sequence, and collapse the starboard shield on the transport. Kith pulled around and rolled up on his port s-foil to target the unshielded side...and wondered too late why the transport hadn't fired yet.

A quad blast tore intohis forward shields, destroying them before they could recharge. As Kith swung around and headed back to the base, hoping his engines would hold up, he saw the diagnostic message croll across his screen. ok, I think I can make it back...but this fighter is totaled.

After Kith got clear an E-wing unloaded a magazine of Proton toepedoes right unto the side of the enemy, tering open a hole into the ship.

As he shut down the fighter and climbed out, Kith saw a troop shuttle race out of the cargo bay of the transport. It vectored around the Ranger fighters and sped toward the hangar bay of the station. He hit the comm button on the wall and siganled for all the Rangers to assemble at the hangar. He took out his gear and waited for the enemy to land...

[Master MJade 0]

As Ka'al walked to her quarters the alarms suddenly went off. Ka'al took out her communicator.

"Master Skywalker what's going on?" asked Ka'al as she ran to the hanger bay.

"Imperial Warlord's ship out of hyperspace and we believe that it is going to attack Coruscant. Can you help Kith with defence?"

Kith thought Ka'al. seems to be doing a good job at impressing people "yes sir i'm on my way to the hanger bay. what's his call sign?"

"i don't know." replied the Jedi Master.

"okay, Ka'al out." said Kaal as she ran to her ship.

"let's go 'Storm", she called to the astromech driod making adjustments to her fighter. Starting the engines ka'al went through her checklist. All systems go. thought ka'al as the Shadow fighter erupted from the Hanger bay...

[^Hal^ 1]

Haladar was in the lightsaber practice chambers when the attack alarm sounded. He quickly disengaged from his routine and then sprinted down to the hangar. However, by the time he got there, he could see Kith standing there, with an assault shuttle coming in for a hard landing.

"What's goin on," shouted Haladar over the roar of the shuttle's engines.

"Some imperial warlord attacking. I don't know how they got past the defenses. I managed to nail all the fighters, but this shuttle got in to land," replied the young man.

"Not a problem," said Haladar.

Haladar pulled his lightsaber off his belt and moved towards the ramp of the shuttle. It quickly lowered and troops started running out. Swinging his lightsabere, Haladar sliced several in half, and then flipping over a few, ran onto the shuttle.

"Hold them here," he yelled to Kith over his shoulder.

Onboard the shuttle Haladar ran forward, killing troops as he passed them, making his way to the bridge. He entered and deftly sliced the heads off the two pilots, without damaging the shuttle. He then went back out down the ramp, where Kith had just finished off the last trooper.

"Good job.. Kith, right?" said Haladar.

"er.. yeah, that's me," said the man.

"Well, looks like we've got one more assault shuttle for our cause. I'll have to get you a commendation fo your good work."

"Okay... thanks."

With that, Haladar left the bay and went to write his report.

[Andy 60]

Ulic and Kyp rushed back as quickly as they could, after going back to pick up Ulic's fighter.

Their sensors had detected the arrival of the Class II Imperial Star Destroyer, that had arrived a few minutes ago, but by the time they reached the station it was swamped by enemy fighters.

"Great." Kyp said, "We leave for a day and all hell breaks loose."

Ulic knew he was trying to make fun of the situation, but he also knew that this was serious.

He switched the commlink off the private frequency, so he could talk to all the allies in the area.

"Okay guys, we're back now, and we have a few surprises for these TIEs." he said. Not too sure about the starship though... he thought to himself.

"Hey Kyp," he said, "you know I'll be very upset if you wreck my ship."

"You can trust me, buddy" Kyp replied, and then banked to the left to intercept the group of fighters going after the command deck of the station.

"Rangers, this is Storm Rider III. You go after the fighters, I've got the troop transports covered."

he thought one might already have landed, but that couldn't be helped now, so concentrated his efforts on the remaining three.

He increased redirected some shield energy to the engines, then sped off towards the transport closest to the base.

"Watch it Storm Rider, you've got a couple on your tail" came a voice over the commlink.

"Don't worry, I got it." Someone else said as he heard two explosions behind him.

With the transport within missile range, the two TIE escorts must have realised they were being followed, and split away and looped back towards Ulic. As they did that, Ulic let off two missiles simultaneously, as they shot off towards to transport, one of the TIEs foolishly tried to attack it, and ended up disintegrating as the missile hit it. I hope all the pilots are that green.

------

Kyp spun the YT-2000 around and caught a glimpse of a transport loosing control after one of Ulic's missile destroyed it's thrusters.

He continued his spin and used the the two forward laser cannons, and the top and bottom quad lasers, which had been linked up to an auto targeting computer, to shower a group of 6 TIE fighters. Only two of them survived the assualt but after just a few seconds they were quickly picked off by one of the Rangers that was nearby.

------

Meanwhile, Ulic had managed to destroy another one of the troop transports. There was just one left now, and the fighters were acting more aggressive, his shield recharge was set to maximum, but they were still only at 10% and decreasing every minute.

He looked over the tactical display unit, and then signalled the closest two allies to him.

"Rangers Two and Three, I'm dying here, I need some cover."

He glanced over at the sheild reading - 5% This is bad... he thought.

"Ranger Two copies, coming to your aid."

"This is Ranger Three, I'm in a spot of trouble of my own, I'll get to you as soon as I can"

Well, ones better than none...

"Thanks for your help, I just need some cover, I have practically every fighter out there after me" Ulic exaggerated.

He looked down at the display panel. 10 seconds till transport is in range, shields at...

Sith! he yelled inwardly.

With the shields gone, red warning lights started flashing.

7

6

5

Another warning light flashed - the engines were leaking fuel.

4

"Are you still th..." The commboard sparked and died.

3

2

The laser cannons erupted into flames and sent fire streaming down the right hand side of the ship.

1

0

The missiles were away, speeding towards their target.

"I can't help any more, my ship's been shot to pieces" he started to say, but remembered his commboard was dead, like almost everything else on the ship.

He flew as close as he could to Ranger Two and sent the same message as text directly to it's Astromech via a standard comm-datapad.

He redirected every ounce of power left to engines and about 5 minutes later landed in the Ranger station hanger, and surveyed the unbelievable damage to the ship that was pristine barely an hour ago.

Several people were in the hanger also, one he recognised as Haladar.

"Looks like you took a it of a beating there" he said.

"Yeah. I see a shuttle landed here after all."

"We took care of all the troopers," Haladar said, "we though that was it, but then the Star Destoyer launched a full scale attack."

"I manged to get all the other transports for you." Ulic said

"We saw. You did pretty good piloting that with all those TIEs after you."

"That was the worst I've ever piloted in my life." Ulic said, and left the hanger.

[Doc Ani Jade 1]

Kith checked in with the control room and found some information.

"Well...the station's automated defenses have come online. I hear they're enough to keep the capital ship out there busy until the Coruscant fleet gets here. It looks like the defenses were sabotaged, nd were fixed quickly..."

He looked around the docking bay, at the ruined ships and the enemies that had been captured from the shuttle. he had an idea...

"Wait, I think I have an idea...in the planning sessions we decided the easiest way to do this mission would be to pose as a group of pilots planning to jion Count Reeku...we could actually use the uniforms of the people from the shuttle, and somebody more...creative...than me could create a cover story. So what does everybody think?"

Kith saw the other Rangers think about the idea. He went back over top the X-wng he had piloted and surveyed the damage to it. Not quite as bad as the yt-2000...but this ship won't be flying soon. Boy is Master Skywalker going to be mad.

Serves him right for asking you to fly. came the voice of his alter-ego, Tal.

You're an infiltrator first, person second, and pilot last...

And for the first time in his life, Kith didn't listen to the voice of Tal...

[Andy 60]

Ulic sat on the floor next to his ship, trying to prepare it.

The station defences had come back online now, and the red turbolaser fire was streaking out towards the attacking Star Destroyer. He watched silently as the starship slowly manouvered around, still firing with deadly green bolts, occasionaly hitting the hanger sheilds. He carried watching until it lept into hyperspace and the sation had finished clearing away the remaining few fighters.

"You look tired, you need some rest" a familiar voice said.

"I was stupid trying to do that myself." Ulic admitted.

"Go and get some rest," Kyp said. "I'll start work on your ship."

"What about Blind Rage?" Ulic asked.

"Just minor damage" Kyp said, "It looked a lot worse than it actually was. The worst bit of damage was the ramp was stuck shut, and I had to climp out the top hatch."

The two mercenaries laughed.

"I suppose you're right." Ulic said.

"You know I am." Kyp assured him.

"See you tomorrow morning then."

"Yeah, See you at breakfast."

Ulic left and went straigh to his cabin on the YT-2000, just over the opposite side of the hanger.

"What have we got here then?" Kyp said. Although he was really talking to him self, the WED model repair droid came round the ship and bleeped a reply to him.

This will take a few weeks at least. Kyp thought to himself. And that's not including time to get the specialist parts we need to fully repair it.

Kyp shook his head and went inside to get the computers fixed first.

[Master MJade 0]

After landing back in the hanger bay, Ka'al exited her fighter.Sith, on top of being tired, pissed off at the world, i'm not going to gett anysleep any time soon with all the damned paper work to work on. Same as at Rykoron. Quarter of the time fighting the enemy and three-fourths of the time doing paperwork.

"Ka'al! Are you alright?" asked Am'ni, who seemed to scence, at the end of her question, the answer. " Nevermind. Why don't you wait and fill out your report later after you have slept?"

"i might do that. But first let me find out when we leave for our mission."

At this Ka'al saw Haladar leaving the hanger.

"Haladar. When are we leaving for our mission.?Because i would like some rest before we leave and i also need to fill out the incident report."

[E-wing 3]

Michael, Melinda, and Jorj stood in an empty field.

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Mel.

Michael had not said a word since they had goten there so his father anserwed Mel. "We are waiting for the Consul of Ancients. They are doing Michael a great favor by comeing here to preform the ceremony."

There was a gust of wind. Mel shut her eyes so as not to get dust in them. When she opened them again they were not alone. 13 people stood before them. Each wore a cloak. They begain to speak in a language that Mel didn't understand. Michael responded to them. Then they were quite. Little glimmers light started to appare from all over and collect into a ball in front of the middle Aing-Tii.

"What's going on?" asked Melinda.

"Those are bits of energy from all the Aing-Tii that think Michael is worthy of this honor." said Jorj.

"But there must be thousands!" said Melinda.

"Ya, Michael is well liked among the Aing-Tii. Also the more people who belive in him the more effective the ceremony is." said Jorj.

Then the glimmers stoped. The lead Aing-Tii said something and then the ball of light (now very big) shot toward Michael. It hit Michael and there was a bright flash of light. When the light went away the Aing-Tii were gone and Michael was lieing on the ground.

"Michael!" yelled Melinda and she ran over to him. "Michael are you ok......speak to me!"

"I'm ok.....that was just really painful." said Michael.

[Doc Ani Jade 1]

Two days later. (alright E-wing...)

An assembly of the Rangers ahd been called at the docking bay of the station. Master Skywalker spoke to the group one last time before the departure.

"Over the last two days, the plan has been worked out to fine detail. You will take a T-9 escort transport, and a squadron of captured TIE Advanced. I chose this TIE model because they are high-quality, yet ont overly rare.

Those of you who are not comfortable with flying as TIE pilots will cover as support crew for the pilots. The transport is outfitted to be operated by a bridge crew of 4, in an emergency. After you depart, the destination will be Atmosus. There, Count Reeku receieves new troops, and it is also the least inhabited planet, keeping prying eyes to a minimum. From there, it is far harder to plan...

Any questions? No? Good. The NRI support crew is here, and can help on the mission, or stay with the transport."

He finished, and the Rangers carried their gear into the transport. One of the NRI members decided to pilot the ship after the Rangers had a difficult time agreeing on the best pilot for the course of action.

After the ship flew out of the hangar bay, the pilot stopped to orient the transport. Pulling the hyperdrive lever back, she launched the ship and the Rangers toward the first exit point. Early on in the planning seesions, it had been agreed on that it would be too obvious if the Rnagers departed directly from Coruscant space.

Kith walked down to the hangar bay of the transport and looked at the squadron of TIEs, recently captured from an Imperial cache, and made to look worn with paint and micrometeroites. He ran his hand along the sleek exterior of the fighters, and inspected the fighters as well as he could.

Especially considering I've never given too much thought to flying before I came here...

As Kith turned to leave back to his cabin, he saw Am'ni walk out of the turbolift.

"Hey. How are you doing?" asked Kith.

"Fine, I guess. you?"

"Same here. Um...want to grab a cup of caf or something?"

"Sure"

[Master MJade 0]

Ka'al watched as Am'ni and Kith walked off. well now at least they look like a good couple. Dammit, stop worring your about as bad as ypour grandmother. Anyways since I have no qualms about flying an TIE fighter, and volunteered to fly one, i might want to hit the Simulators to poolish up on those pieces of junk.

As she went towards the door to the corridors, Ka'al watched as the smugglers or whatever they were start to back track there logs.

"Exuse me, sir" said KA'al.

"what?" said Ulic.

"f you need any help i'm sure my astromech will be willing to help."

As Ulic stared off at her, she left the hanger.

[E-wing 3]

It had been 2 days since the ceremony.......

Michael and Melinda had been enjoying them selves but something was troubling

Jorj...... He had never meet Melinda before he was sure her some were before.......

Jorj was looking through his computer files late at night. "Found it." he said softy.

"Found what." said Michael coming up behind him.

"I thought you were asleep." said Jorj.

"I had a feeling I should be awake now." said Michael. "So what is it that you found?"

"Remember how I said I knew your girlfriend from somewhere......" said Jorj.

"You say a lot of things." said Michael. "I have learned to only listen half the time."

"Funny. Look at that picture." said Jorj as he pointed at the computer screen.

Michael looked at the picture. "It's a picture of Mel. So what?" said Michael.

"This picture is from my archives. It's dated pre-clone wars. It can't be Melinda." said

Jorj.

"Then who is it." said Melinda.

The two men looked up at her. "Doesn't anyone sleep these days. Let me guess....... You

had a feeling."

"No. I'm not that well trained. I sensed Michael." said Melinda. Michael smiled. "So who

is she."

"Don't know. All I have on this picture is a date and a planet. But considering the fact that

she looks so much like you and the age of this picture I'd say it's most likely your

grandmother." said Jorj.

Melinda just stared at the picture. "Where?" she asked after a long time.

"Naboo. Witch is funny considering what other famous Force user blood lines are from

Naboo." said Jorj. Michael hit his father in the arm and gave him a 'Your not to tell

people about that' look. Melinda didn't notice.

"I have to go there." said Melinda and she turned and started to leave, but Michael

stopped her.

"I know this is important to you but your tired." said Michael "Go back to bed. We will

leave first thing in the morning." Melinda looked at him for a minute and then nodded

her head. Then she left for bed. Michael turn back to face his father. "So much for are

vacation."

***

The next morning they were ready to go.

"Your not leaving in your E-wing?" asked Jorj.

"No I'm going with Mel in her ship. Backup will follow us in the E-wing. He'll wait at the

edge of the system for my signal in case there is trouble." said Michael and he gave his

father a hug. "I'll see you later." Then he walked up the ramp.

"Ready to go?" asked Mel with a sleepy voice. It was apparent that she didn't get much

sleep last night.

"Ya. Let's do it." said Michael. He took the controls and flew the ship out into space. He

then set the corse for Naboo and engaged the hyperdrive. "Did you send that massage to

the Ranger station telling them what's going on?"

Melinda didn't respond to him. He look over to see that she was fast asleep.