Dark Fury : The Coldness of Fear

[Marcus Telcontar]

(This occurs between the events of Sick Cycle Carosel and Dark Fury 13 and is the prelude to the latter)



It was a beautiful autumn day on Arcan IV. The sun shone down, the usual pollution was not present, the air was crisp and delightful to taste. A shower the night before had even washed a lot of the dirt from the buildings of the capital shining and sparkling in the morning sunlight. Some distance away, there were a few yells and catcalls as the soldiers of the New Republic Special Forces were playing various locals in an impromptu game of Smashball. The locals and the NRSF had viewed each other with suspicion when the NRSF had arrived and began basing themselves here, after the night when much of the criminal element was wiped out, but with the NR forces willing to accept Arcan residents, plus their no holds barred attitude to stamping out the remaining criminals as well as willingness to fit in, Arcan had adopted the elite fighters of the Republic as their own.

It also helped the NRSF though Arcan wasn’t a bad place and the locals weren’t the usual thickheads.

From inside a building, the leader of the NRSF and the man responsible for their existence, Major General James Tohmahawk locked the door to his private rooms as he entered. Dressed in the black leather and cloth that was the new uniform, two model B Rail Guns at the hips, he looked young, handsome and fit, the poster image of the NR’s top ranks. He resembled a galactic holoactor, which also helped. However, he was also irritable, violent, sarcastic and deadly in combat like hardly anyone else and did not tolerate any type of fool, politician, suck up or liar. He had his principals and he stuck with them, plus supported his troops to the fullest. As a result, there was beginning to be an almost fanatical following of his leadership. And some of those he could command, like Nathan West and Jyanis Scorpion were the best on offer anywhere.

As the General stepped into the rooms, he began to pull off the uniform and throw it onto a chair that was in the corner, until he was just in his pants. His body was hard and defined, the legacy of a brutal fitness program that would take him to the point of agony and sometimes well beyond. Also there could be seen the scars of combat, unlike his face, his torso was a mess. Old burns, gun wounds, stab marks and lacerations criss crossed his arms, chest and back, with one truly huge scar showing where he was once shot and nearly killed. This was truly a man of warfare, a man whom had been in battles were few survived, a man that had seen what war could do. A master of battle, a man who relished going hand to hand, someone who would allow his Rail Gun to speak for himself, rather than words.

What was more remarkable was that the name James Tohmahawk was nothing more than a sham. This was no human, and as his will relaxed, his face was not soft. It was harsh and strong, showing instead of hiding the years he had been alive. He was not 32, he was not a General and he was not what he seemed.

He was one hell of a lot more. An alien from the Unknown Regions, 109 years, far stronger than he looked and as he crossed to where he had a secret store box, clearly carried an aura of power that would crush anyone who was not extremely strong willed. The lock on the store clicked, to reveal his true secret, one that only 10 knew of, his top commanders, one Imperial a smuggler and also some of the other new arrivals to Arcan IV – the Jedi. On a shelf, there was a 4000 year old Light saber, on a rack there was a suit of armour and hanging from a loop was a scabbarb with a true sword, created by an insane Jedi with and imbibed with the Force itself.

No, he was no mere General. He was a Warlord. A Jedi Master no less. One of the most powerful to arise, only the third Jedi to be granted the title of Warlord. A Jedi Master of true standing, one whom could override the Jedi Council itself if he wished. One whom was reckoned above even the best Jedi of the day, who had once used a name that had swept terror and fear into evil doers everywhere. These days, he preferred keeping his Jedi heritage quiet and to be Tohmahawk. It might appear weird to anyone whom knew the truth, but it was something that suited Marcus Q’Dunn perfectly. Even if Tohmahawk was lethal and feared, it was possible for evildoers to underestimate the General, not knowing what really lurked under the surface.

As Q’Dunn had mentioned to Nathan West, the leader of the Lone Wolves, the NRSF’s top commando force, it was almost funny.

He had only come back from a trip to Trogan that had given him much thought the night before and was feeling quite rested. As he entered the training and combat room he had fitted out, now was the time to contemplate what had happened there while he did some practice and meditation. Today, he was going to do some sword work.

I wonder about that woman He thought as he set up the training droids I wonder what’s she really looking for? What does she really want? The elevator during the height of the incredible storm and then sitting on the beach with her as the sun rose over the city ruins. It certainly was not what he had ever been expecting and he doubted, her either. Ahh Arya. What a strange pairing we could make

One other thing was that he was calmer and more clear headed than he had been in a long time. For a long time, he had rejected being a Jedi, but coming here had seen to that. Now, Arya had taken care of another problem in his mind. He was now beginning to function he should.

“All right then! Droids on!” he commanded, putting aside the saber in favour of the sword. The Jedi Blade already had a sheen of ice on it, showing part of the reason it had been dubbed Icefist. A sword that could deflect a saber, plus it also froze anything it touched except for it’s creator, it was a sword that seemed to exist in the super cold. As an experiment, Q’Dunn had measured the temperature of the ice on the blade. 0.13 degrees Absolute. Yet to Marcus, the blade felt warm. Taken out of it’s sheaf, the blade would make the atmosphere fog as it used and ice would break and fall from it if it hit anything.

He held the sword up in an en-guarde position as the fighting droids, armed with sabers came closer. “Level 9, 4 droids” he commanded. There was a beep of acknowledgement as the master program adjusted to his request. This would simulate 4 Jedi of Knight level, working as a group to defeat one opponent. Quite dangerous except for a true weapons master, there would firstly be two droids attacking, so he would warm up. Both came at him, sabres swinging in unison. He dodged one, parried the other, then swung back to deflect another blow. Swinging the sword down then up, he began to work on keeping the attacks out of sync, so he would have time to parry both. Back and forward the droids and the Jedi began to fight, the Jedi moving as to prevent both droids coming at him at once. Muscles flowed as he almost seemed to dance, moving and darting about. One droid made a mistake, going left when right was the best option, giving Q’Dunn the gap so that the sword tip touched the pad which turned the droid off. It shuddered and then shut down, the other droid coming at the Jedi even harder. There was a few parries until the Jedi forced a mistimed blow that also opened up an opening. The tip touched the control pad, the droid shutting down instantly.

He came upright, wiped some of the sweat off his brow. Easy. Now for the real test…

“Active!”

The command reactivated the droids that had been shut down. The other two droids also came upright, then as a group, they attacked. Marcus leapt over one blade, parrying another as he kicked out, smacking a droid away.

Left, right, down, roll…

Two droids nearly hit each other as he ducked.

He tripped another up as it lunged, the sword flashing to intercept the fourth as it tried to strike an exposed back.

A leap, then he pointed using the Force to throw the droids off their feet. He landed, blocking a sabre that had been thrown.

Again, they came at him in a group, the Jedi meeting their rush with a blistering series of parries, strikes, kicks and attacks. However, he felt the blade of one droid barely miss his back, another went perilously close to his throat. He leaned out of the way, before backflipping clear. He glanced around, before calling his sabre back to his hand, the unusual sabre that was more like an extended sword handle, complete with a shearing guard made from Cortoris and two hand grips, one below and one above the guard. His hand selected the lower hand hold, his thumb flicking the flamesabre to life. In his hands, the sabre would begin to colour cycle, almost hypnotic as it did. That didn’t last long as it then seemed to have flames lick up and down the blade, seemingly like it was on fire. The Jedi rotated the blades he now had with his wrists, the sword and the sabre inscribing arcs through the air, Athona the Fire Blade leaving traces of flame, Icefist a circle of smoking fog. The four droids regrouped, seeming to wait.

“Come on! Come get me!” challenged the Jedi.

The droids complied.

Twin blade fighting took much more skill and concentration, but it was more lethal, especially with Marcus. It was not a skill he used much, but he would practice it, in case he ever did need it. His blades flashed and darted, ice-blue and fire-red, seeming to leap and parry by themselves.

He moved and twisted, leaped and jumped, ducking and weaving from the blades of energy as they sought him out. A leap on a table bought him some time to call out for the practice controller to switch the music system on. What many didn’t knowas that fighting was indeed like dancing, it took timing and control, precise steppings and a natural beat. He didn’t like the typical music, he liked something harsh and noisy. He leaped as a droid tried to hit his legs, giving the bot a huge boot to the head as he came down, shattering the table as he landed….


<font color=green>I love the way you look at me
I feel the pain you place inside
you lock me up inside your dirty cage
well I'm alone inside my mind</font>

He rolled away, both sabre and sword held away from his body as he rolled, tripping another droid up. Coming to his feet, he smashed away another robot with a stroke hard enough to break a human opponent’s arm. Feet lead his dance as he spun, sword held upside down as he went into a spinning defence, whirling away into the clear

<font color=green>I like to teach you all the rules
I get to see them set in stone
I like it when you chain me to the bed
but then your secrets never show</font>

He allowed his breathing to match the music’s beat, his sword play slowed as his mind went deeper into the Force – two droids attacking was met with the sword parrying one, the sabre the other. He felt the music quicken and in response, his strikes became faster, slapping the opposing sabres clear and running forward, kicking a chair into the face of the third droid who was trying prevent him from escaping

<font color=green>I need to feel you
you need to feel me
I can't control you
you're not the one for me
no
I can't control you
you can't control me
I need to feel you
so why's there even you and me</font>

The music broke out in a raucous cacophony of sound, the Jedi accelerated even further, turning defence into ferocious attack. He attacked all four droids at once, madly laying into a whirlwind of sabres, coming out of the other side with a singed shoulder, but nothing worse. One of the droids looked battered, another had lost an arm. The music slowed, the Jedi eased off.

<font color=green>I love the way you rake my skin
I feel the hate you place inside
I need to get your voice out of my head
'cause I'm that guy you'll never find
I think you know all of the rules
there’s no expressions on your face
I hope that someday you will let me go
Release me from my dirty cage</font>

The droid with the missing arm was taking the attack to him, seeming to be offended with the loss of it’s limb. It came in with an overhead smash, coming down savagely onto the sabre. Marcus moved his wrist, intersecting the Cortoris shearing guard with the droid’s sabre, the fibre causing the droid’s sabre to shut off. Surprised the droid didn’t have time to recover when the Jedi smashed it across the room with a fierce side kick

<font color=green>I need to feel you
you need to feel me
I can't control you
you're not the one for me
no
I can't control you
you can't control me
I need to feel you
so why's there even you and me</font>

Back sprang the music into fast beat, back Marcus snapped into attack. He began to use the furnishings of the room as extra weapons, backhanding a chair at one droid, kicking a table into another. The fight was now getting spectacular, with the battering the four droids were now getting. As the music slowed, the droids moved away, getting together to regroup. The Jedi came upright, a snarl on his sweat lined face, sabre and sword held downwards, waiting and ready.

<font color=green>I love the way you look at me
I love the way you smack my ass
I love the dirty things you do
I have control of you</font>

The droids attacked as one wave, the Jedi backing away, set on defence for the moment. He touched the Force and began to speed up, keeping pace with the beat.

<font color=green>I love the way you look at me
I love the way you smack my ass
I love the dirty things you do
I have control of you</font>

He slowly went into a corner, to stop the droids surrounding him. As he felt the wall against his back, he paused, eyeing off the droids, who likewise eyed him off, their logic circuits wondering why he had trapped himself.

<font color=green>I love the way you look at me
I love the way you smack my ass
I love the dirty things you do
I have control of you</font>

It was a almost a standoff. The Jedi breathed in and out, focusing on the Force, feeling it swell and grow, filling him with it’s power, knowledge and control….. he felt it build like a wave coming closer and closer to shore, building power and energy… he felt the wave crest just as the droids made their move…..

<font color=green>I love the way you look at me
I love the way you smack my ass
I love the dirty things you do
I have control of you</font>

He exploded into a furious wave of attack, breaking out of the corner and mowing down one of the droids, the sword slapping it’s sabre away, before the sabre decapitated it. A spin smashed the lifeless piece of metal into the second droid, causing it to stumble and drop it’s guard. The sword skewered it in a shower of sparks and an explosion of electronics shorting out.

<font color=green>I need to feel you
you need to feel me
I can't control you
you're not the one for me
no</font>

The third droid tried to attack from behind, but found also it’s sabre deflected upwards, a front kick smashing it onto a weights machine. The droid tangled up and got cut to pieces, along with the weights machine by the sabre

<font color=green>I can't control you
you can't control me
I need to feel you
so why's there even you and me

you and me
You're not the one for me no </font>


The last droid came at him, the one with the missing arm. An upper blow then a set piece double strike set the droid up for the finality, the Jedi struck one last time, the head of the droid exploding as the flame-blade cut it to pieces, the sword coming across and smashing the torso from the other direction. As the pieces fell and the music finished, the Jedi came out of his fighting trance, breathing hard and dripping with sweat, allowing his hold on the Force to drift away as he relaxed. He looked around, becoming aware seemingly of his environment for the first time. Droid pieces were scattered and the room was wrecked, a computer terminal had a flicker of fire where the screen used to be, several pieces of equipment were shattered, others so brittle after being struck by Icefist, cracking and splintering to the ground. A light fitting groaned and then smashed to the ground, spraying more plastic and glass. There were even a few scorch marks on the walls and the air was cold and misty, from the effects of the sword.

The Jedi looked around at the destroyed room and then smiled, satisfied. His kind of a workout.

--

[Marcus Telcontar]

About an hour later, he was in the hallway to an apartment he had not far from the main NRSF base. He had showered (with hot water – he hated sonic ones, something about the frequency irritated his hearing and gave him a headache and besides, water showers were damn nice) and changed into his General uniform. The sabre and sword were back in their hiding place, he had also gotten a few droids to clean up the damage of the room and put the training droids back together and they should be fixed by the time he got back. He had to admit, he was in a very, very good mood, even to the point where a politican got a polite greeting instead of the usual frozen silence as he walked passed. The hallway itself was well lit, bare in furnishings, but still oddly homely, with carpet coverings on the floor and a tan paint scheme on the walls and doors. His was his temporary office when he was not on Defender, the massive flagship of the Special Forces, he had a more permanent one being set up in the still being constructed main base. Security here was not as good as he liked, but it was still one hell of a lot tighter than other places. Still, with his Jedi abilities unknown, he would get the jump on anything wrong by his danger sense. Nothing was alerting him and he even had a pleasant buzz from the Force.

Things were very, very right. About time.

He tapped in his code on the pad by the door leading into his apartment, the door opened to reveal the rooms inside. The first room was a temporary reception area, which at this point in time was unstaffed, it was not a day he would accept visitors or calls. Anyone needing him would use the secret comm. Link, by definition, anyone who had that frequency was someone he would want to speak to. Further in, there was a bedroom, a kitchen, a room witch was his actual office and a refresher. There was also a closest that held a computer rack, filled with some of the latest hi-tech computing power. He had the heart of a slicer at times and he just straight out loved technology and what it could do. He was a highly experienced slicer and there were few networks that could hold him out for any length of time. In return, his own circuits were some of the best and would need a committed slicer months to break in.

He took a seat at his desk, deciding he would get his data pushing done. This was the part of the job he didn’t like, all the data that went into running an army. Sure it was glamorous to lead beings into battle, but there was the mind-blowing desk work that had to be done as well. Every officer found out that data pushing was a major part of their responsibilities, even in a commission like the NRSF, which distained data and actively reduced it to a minimum. Being at the top of the tree however, there was the inescapable bantha**** that the NR High Command wanted. And there was the supplies requisitions, budgets, Senate requests, training timetables…most he delegated to a group of Ithorians, who were good at that sort of thing, but there was still something’s he had to do personally. And there was the top secret items, Intelligence reports, research developments…. Ahh well he thought, picking up a stack of data cards, at least most of this data was actually half interesting. It could have been worse.

The first report was from Nathan West, his 2IC. Reports on the latest Bushwhacker, plus a test on their latest weapons and armour. He skimmed it, added a few notations, then marked the data to be returned to West. The next was a report on TSE and their fleet from Admiral Ackbar… and so it went on, Q’Dunn drilling through the outstanding, adding to some, deleting others, replying to more. Two hours later, he found he was almost finished. Only pausing once to get a glass of water, he had worked fairly hard, getting the dross out of the way and turning his attention to other items, like the running orders for the NRSF for the next month. Now he leaned back, stretching his arms above his head. His legs felt like they needed stretching as well, he decided to do so now, seems as he had finished this part of his tasks. Well satisfied by what he had gotten done, Q’Dunn stood up, bending his back to get rid of a knot, then picking up his glass. He walked out into the kitchen, which had a window that looked out over the city outside. It was still a beautiful day, with only a few clouds. The sun was still bright, the Jedi thought he might take a stroll at lunchtime, enjoy the day.

Yeah, that wasn’t a bad idea. He could go for lunch now. Maybe a nice nerfburger? He put the glass down on the sink, nodded. There was a place down the road that made some damn good food, he would go there. He firstly made sure he had some credits, then moved to the exit of the office.

Two hours later, fed and relaxed, he came back into the office. First thing he did was check for any messages and seeing nothing urgent, he went to the kitchen for a glass of water. He began to walk back to the desk, when passing the open door to the bedroom, he saw he had left a light on. He moved to turn it off, when he saw there was a data chip on the bed itself.


“Mmm? Now why did I leave that there?” he wondered out loud. The Jedi went over, picked it up, turned the light off as he went back to his desk. As he sat down, he slipped the errant chip into the reader, just check and refresh his mind what it was. As the contents came up on the screen, he frowned. It was addressed to Marcus Q’Dunn, Jedi Master, something that no one did. All his other chips were addressed to Tohmahawk, wether the person knew the truth or not. His frown deepend as he read on, his attention completely taken.

<font color=red>

Marcus Q’Dunn, Jedi Master

Be at the corner of Quat and Kwog streets, third hour after dusk. There will be a comm. Link there. I wish to talk for 5 minutes, no more.

Sniper

</font>

The Jedi came completely alert, the Force ability flaring as he looked up, startled. He sensed now there had been someone in here. His fingers leapt to the control board, entering a query at speed. He saw that the front door had been opened, someone had been inside for precisely 12 seconds and had left while he was at lunch. His mind calculated, realised that was only enough time for someone to drop the chip on his bed and turn the light on to catch his attention. That meant someone had been watching him, had waited till he was out and then broken in, all without alerting him, a Jedi or the other security personnel. This spelt out this was no ordinary person that wanted to talk. He looked at the message again, wondering whom this could be. Who the frell would do this and yet knew of his real nature….

Sniper… the signoff was familiar, but whom did he know whom used that… not West, Cross, Drecker, any of the Jedi, Ackbar, which left….

Tondry!!

Now he was definantly on full alert. The last time they had met, the Imperial had displayed unknown Force abilities and had fought Marcus hand to hand, only being beaten when the Jedi had dug deep, smashing the Imp into a red splatter right at

Quat and Kwog. Oh, nice and symbolic…

Especially as there was a final word Marcus had said to the beaten Imp there. The whole message, short and simple as it was, was now like a summons he could not avoid or fight against.

Alright Pierce Tondry, I’ll be there. This better be worth it

Somehow, he believed it would

[Marcus Telcontar]

He got to the corner of Quat and Kwog about 15 minutes early, hiding in the shadows to check out the area. It was quiet and deserted, no one had come past, no speeders, no walkers. The Jedi used the Force to look over the area, scanning for anyone or anything that could pose a threat.

Nothing. If this was a trap, it was something he could not sense. It didn’t totally cancel the possibility of something that would endanger him, but as he didn’t have any tingles or hunches something was wrong, he was confident he wasn’t going to get attacked by any doing of Tondry. So, if that was the case, what did this Imperial want with Marcus? Q’Dunn stood quietly, dressed in stained and patched travelling clothes that made him look more like a vagrant that a Jedi or a General. It also helped that the cloak also covered his guns and his sabre. Dark coloured, he blended in with the shadows and the rubbish to be invisible to anyone.

He stood there patiently and quietly, not moving, but mentally alert and in the Force, relaxed and calm, but still ready if something unexpected happened. Minutes passed as he waited. A cool breeze picked up some paper rubbish, blowing it down the street. A stray animal sniffed at a bin, tipping it over with a clang, digging into the trash for something to eat. Marcus didn’t allow it to distract him, just kept on scanning the area.

Beep-Beep

His head snapped in the direction of the noise, as the call-beep of a commlink from across the road. The stray stared and ran as the Jedi came out of the shadows, ran across the road. Another Beep-Beep gave him an indication where the commlink was, but it still took a third call-beep before he found the device, a older model that was shaped like a cylinder. Marcus grabbed it, then clicked the open channel button. A small squeal of static caused by encryption sounded, which made him wince.

“Tohmahawk” he said. Careful, don’t know whom is on the other end

The voice on the other side sounded distorted, a few octaves out, but still recognisable. “Drop the pretence. Are you alone?”

Q’Dunn sighed. What type of damn fool question was that? “No, I bought my dinner-date with me” he snapped back. “Now are you going to waste my time, or is this something worthwhile? Identify yourself”

“I won’t, not over this channel and not with what I have to say”

“Stick your head in a sarlacc unless you can identify yourself”

There was a pause for a few seconds. “The reason I want to speak to you is because my lilies grow well and are blooming” The voice on the other end was distinctly icy.

Pardon? What the….ahhhhhh. He refers to the last thing I said to Tondry, about Lilaena De’ville. “I’m glad to hear that. Now, what do you want”

“I need you to do a job for me, something that needs attending to but which I can’t do myself”

WHAT!?!?! That was not expected, not in the slightest The Jedi took a few seconds to think this one over before replying, deciding to go with it and see where this was leading. “What is it?”

For a minute, the voice on the other end outlined what he had in mind. Marcus listened, firstly in bemusement then in deeper and deeper surprise. The voice stopped, while the Jedi’s mind went at a million kilometres a second. “Are you frelling insane?” He finally snarled, “This isn’t a job, this is a suicide mission!”

“Listen to me. I would be doing this if this wasn’t for something else I have to attend to. And I will be sending my personal team with you, men I trust and I would never turn my back on”

“It seems like you are to me. Else why are you asking not just a Republic General, but a Jedi as well in on this? It sounds more like you want to be rid of someone who could stand in the way of one of your plans! Well not today, I’m not buying. Goodbye *******”

“WAIT!”

Marcus was about to throw the commlink away and had even cocked his arm. Slowly he bought it back to his face. “This better be good” he snarled in a flat and angry voice.

“I’m going to ask you to trust me. I want my men to survive and that means I need the best person for the job. And that’s you. If I didn’t believe this job couldn’t be done, I would not be asking my team to do it, yet alone some upstart liar that deserves a court-martial for impersonating an officer”

The Imperial’s words sent Marcus’ blood pressure soaring. “Really? And just what is so important that you can’t put off? I’ve got plenty of better things to do than be your cannon fodder”

“Name your price then. I want you to lead my team, so what will it take for you to agree?”

That’s easy. Marcus made mention of the first thing that came to his mind. The silence from the other end was telling.

“No, too much.” For a minute there was a brief barter….

“Fine, 10 minutes. Now how do I know you will keep your word?”

“I always keep my word, Jedi. Do you?”

“Always. Now when do I get further instructions?”

“You have them already, in your apartment. Good luck” The line went dead, with Marcus staring at the commlink. Something wasn’t what he expected… the commlink he suddenly realised was a short range device, good for only 100 meters. And now he thought about it….

The frelling ass! He was leading me by the nose that whole conversation! He got exactly what he wanted and gave exactly what he wanted to give! Frell!! In a bout of frustration, he kicked a trash can, the cylinder flying across the street, bouncing noisily off a wall and onto the ground. A few dogs barked at the racket. Very, very annoyed how well he had been manipulated, he stormed off back to his office.

Minutes later, he turned on the light that lead into the bedroom of his office apartment and it was not a surprise to see another data chip there. Still too mad to look, he ripped his cloak off throwing it against a wall. He slumped into a chair, leaned back. What the frell would be so important that he wants me to do this? And why me? I don’t get it. Scorpion would be better, he’s even got experience….what’s this all about and why me? He had to admit, he was getting a headache. He closed his eyes, breathing out, calming his mind and body, touching the Force. Allowing it’s peace to flow over him, relaxing and empowering. The Force flooded into his mind, giving him suggestions and also telling him it’s will.

Let’s think this through. If he is genuine and the Force suggests there is no duplicity, then there must be something truly pressing. From what I remember, he fought me to make sure his men escaped and lived. So he does indeed put the lives of his comrades highly. So…. What would….. ahhh. Lilaena. Could it be to do with her? Maybe out Imperial has gotten himself involved with that Sith more than he should.Now, if I remember, I saw De’ville at the Bar and Grill about five months ago, we had a discussion and…..now she said….hang on, five months, that would… how long do…. oh ****!!

His surprise was so great, he fell off his chair and hit his head on the wall. Cursing as he untangled himself, he rubbed his head.

Ouch!.... Now…. Did all that run true? De’ville would not have realised I could have seen… oh… The Force! Surely not…. No, the logic tracks clean

In his mind, it was now making total sense. And more importantly, Marcus understood now what that 10 minutes really could mean and lead to in the end.

Fine, but no more leading me by the nose. I’ll do this, but I do it my way. Now, where was this datachip? What else is there I need to know?

[Marcus Telcontar]

He slept in late, after having a late night reading, thinking, planning and also beginning to get some things out of the way also changing his meeting schedules. He was slated to meet the new Governor of Arcan IV late evening, but that meeting he requested to be pushed forward. The Governor agreed, surprised. The Governor, Roget Ramtet was military and both men got on well. Q’Dunn informed Roget he would be leaving for a while and would be handing over command for a few weeks. Ramtet nodded, they both got to business, settling some interworking issues and other problems. That out of the way, next was Jyanis Scorpion, Q’Dunn’s Jedi learner. An ex-Sith Lord, highly accomplished in the Force, a Warrior, the blue skinned Chiss alien was one of the few whom Marcus also counted as friend.

“Mornin’” commented Scorpion as he entered the office.

“Good morning Jyanis. Take a seat. We don’t have time for training today or any of that nonsense”

“Oh? That’s good, I can pick up chicks instead”

“That reminds me – did I ever tell you the similarity between a whore and a turd?”

“No?”

“They both get easier to pick up as they go older”

“Your disgusting Marcus” laughed Jyanis

“Yeah, that’s why we get on so well, you depraved freak”

“Me? That’s insulting freaks. Now, why no training today?”

Marcus leaned back in his chair. “Firstly, I believe you are ready for the trials. There isn’t more I can teach you Jyanis. I release you from being my Padawan learner”

The Chiss’ eyes went wide, both his real one and the cyborg one. “Are you sure?”

“I am. Now, before you get carried away, you will have to be trialled first, but I believe you will pass. Second, you are to take, with immediate effect, Command of all NRSF ground forces, plus assist Drecker with the Fleet. You will report to Nathan West until I get back”

“West?!? But…”

“I know, you outrank him many times, as I might point out you do with me. I have two stars, you have 4. I considered you, but I believe you are too good to take you away from what you really like doing. West is more a diplomat than I am, or you and that’s what’s needed while I’m gone. He gets the data, you get the toys. Deal?”

“Oooh, all the toys? I like that. So…. What about you? What are you doing?”

“I’m going on a mission and going alone. I can’t tell you any more for now Jyanis, except… it’s a big play. There is a good chance I may not come back”

“Ah ****, serious?”

“Very” Marcus stood up. “You have been a good friend Jyanis. If I don’t come back, continue with what we started. And….. I charge you with one thing. If I do not come back, You are to make sure the girl that I look after is delivered safely to a woman named Elieen Cross. This is more important that you might think and you are to ake sure both stay alive” He stuck out a hand, which Scorpion gripped. “Clear skies my friend”

“Clear skies to you too. May the Force be with you Marcus”

The Jedi Master smiled. “And with you too. Tell west I want to see him at my ship, two hours”

He finished his appointments, locked down his personal computers and locked his rooms, arming all the security. Then going back to his training rooms, he packed quickly, spare clothes, ammunition for his Rail Guns, a few extra weapons. His sabre went into the pack and also, he tied the sword to the side, wrapped to look like a rifle in rags. As he was securing the last tie, a knock sounded on the front door.

“Enter”

A tall, slim man entered, dressed in the uniform of the 128th, The Lone Wolves. Commander Nathan West. “You wanted to see me General?”

“Yes I did. I’m going on a mission and while I’m gone, you have command of the NRSF…. And don’t try to argue with me West, if I say you’re the best person for the job, you are. I have talked to Scorpion and he agreed. Is that clear?”

West looked almost offended. “Yes Sir”

“Good. I have transferred daily running orders to you and some of my appointments. If I get back, it should be 4 weeks.”

“Excuse me? If? Where are you going sir?”

Q’Dunn thought about it for a second. “Fondor”

“Holy ****! What the frell are you doing going there?!?”

“Got a job to do” The Jedi took out a set of sunshades from his top pocket, placing them over his eyes. “The payoff makes taking the chance worth it”

“But, it’s a Sith Empire held world…. Is this wise?”

“No”

“Then… why?”

With a straight face and with all seriousness on his voice, Marcus replied. “It’s one of those Jedi things, Nathan. It’s not easy to explain and it’s not logical, but it’s something The Force wishes for me to do I believe.”

West just stared at the Jedi Master.

“Maybe if you ever trained to use the Force better than you can, you will understand. I’ll tell you though, if I get back, the payoff will be worth it. Trust me on this one”

“Looks like I have no choice. When are you leaving?”

“Now. I only wanted to speak to you first. Now… “ he extended his hand, which West looked at, before reaching out slowly for. However, woth a sudden snap, the palm struck upwards hard, the Jedi leaning back to allow it to go above his head. Marcus replied with punch, West blocking. Both men dissolved into aseries of punches and blocks, the air filled with grunts and slaps as both men sought to hit each other. Quite abruptly, Marcus launched a kick that barely grazed West’s chin.

“Ah frell, got me!” They both dissolved into laughter, breathing hard from the short spar.

“I’ll show you some better moves when I’m back, deal?” said Marcus, moving over to his pack and shouldering it.

“Deal. … amd Marcus…”

“Yes?”

“Good luck Master Jedi. Force be with you”

The Jedi Master Marcus Q’Dunn smiled over his shoulder, waved and exited the room.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Staring up in the sky, he allowed the rays of the strong sun to soak into his face, enjoying their heat. He wasn’t a lover of cold weather, which to him was the only drawback of Arcan – the place could be downright miserable. Here near the equator of Coruscant, the Imperial Capital planet, it was nice and coolish – coolish being a relative term, considering Marcus was born on a planet that was hotter than Tatooine and always preferred several degrees more than the average human could stand for any periods of time. As he paused, he was jostled by passengers coming off the commercial shuttle, who cursed in their various languages. The Jedi completely ignored them, taking his own sweet time to recommence walking towards the standard Imperial checkpoint. He had nothing to worry about that, even with the fact he was Jedi and also had a Republic General’s id – he also had several other fake id’s which would allow him to pass even the strictest checks. In the days it had taken him to journey here, firstly lift hopping in small freighters and then to the bigger commercial craft, his appearance had changed, from trimmed and clean cut General, to scraggly vagabond, unshaven with stained and patched travelling clothes and boots. He had a bed roll, a travelling sling, the sword and it’s sheath tied to his back.

“Next!” The bored official called out. Marcus strode forward, actually impressed for once there were no huge line ups as he went past the security scanner. It pinged.

“Stop here please. Declare all weapons and other items”

“I have one sword and I have the licence to carry it” said Marcus, handing over his id and a datachip.

“Indeed you do. What’s your purpose for coming here… Hunter?” asked the official, looking at the id for a name.

“Business. There’s an escaped smuggler I’m contracted to find and bring to the Hutts” he said casually. Behind him, there was a hiss of disgust and a muted “Bounty Hunter!” said. Marcus turned to look at the human group behind him. A “What to make something of it?” look silenced them.

“Very well, you have the licence and the required data. I presume you are aware of the laws of operation for a Bounty Hunter on Coruscant?”

As if a serious Hunter would obey those “Of course”

The official handed back the Jedi’s id. “Have a good stay. Next!”

Marcus grunted in acknowledgement, turned and walked away. Too easy. On a planet like this, it was simple to beat just about any entry security, due to the planet’s size and population. He could waltz in here any time he wanted virtually, even given The Galactic Empire had a quite presence here. One thing they would learn was that you just could not control a populace like this, even if you wanted to. It was even somewhat funn,y here he was walking unchallenged when he knew there would have been guns coming from everywhere if he even hinted he was Tohmahawk. Marcus Q’Dunn meant nothing to no-one. But I bet these fool Imperials would run screaming if they knew anything about me. One of these days, I must get a Turbogeek id and have some fun.. Even if having fun at someone else’s expense wasn’t really a Jedi kind of thing to do. It would just be funny to walk up to one of the Imperial Commanders, scream out he was Turbogeek and see their reaction. Most likely, there would be a heart attack, given with what fear the Turbogeek name could envoke.

He got an air taxi, ordered to go an address. With a few credits, the driver was more than happy to go where he wanted. The trip itself took about two hours, which Marcus lused, just looking at the spectacular buildings, the teeming craft flitting their way about, the occasionally glimpsed masses down below. Barely two years ago, Coruscant was the centre of the Republic, Now, he thought sadly, it was home to a jackboot regime that one day he was going to do something about. Something spectacular and unexpected. But for now, the time was not right and his was a waiting game and he could only look on as the heel tried to crush further. One day however…. One day. The Empire would realise this planet didn’t want their oppressors and would throw them off, when billions of screaming beings rose up as one.

Not now. But soon.

Eventually the air-cab pulled up at the platform Marcus had requested, the fat Aquish turning it’s tentacled head and grunting something.

“Another 500 credits if you wait here 15 minutes. I need to be dropped off somewhere else after this” The voice was startlingly not Tohmahawk or even those few others knew to be Marcus. It was almost musical, light in tone and strangely accented. It was actually his real voice. Something he almost never used. The walking squid squealed it’s approval, Q’Dunn getting out quickly with his items and running to the doors that entered the building they had arrived at. A few floors down and there was the room to an apartment, one of this many “safe houses” that he used in varying places. He checked to make sure he wasn’t being watched, opened the door and leapted in, the dorr closing behind him.

“Right…. Now where were…. Ahh yep” he muttered, turning on the light and throwing his packs on the bed. He stripped off, tossed the clothes into a sonic cleaner, had a quick shower to get the stink of travel off him, got dressed, then opened his pack. Inside a scan proof box was his Rail Guns and the holsters, plus his lightsabre, an absolute giveaway whom he was. Which up to now, he had kept hidden. The sabre was put under his top, the guns strapped to his hips and then covered with loose clothing. The pack went back on his back with the now covered up sword, then he ran out, the apartment resecuring as he left. Back out to the air-cab, whom was still waiting patiently. The Jedi jumped inside once again.

“Roa-d’lin complex. Then that will be all”

The Aquish squealed his understanding then, flew off. It didn’t take long, only 20 minutes before a tattered traveller climbed out of the air-cab, paid with a handsome tip, then turned to regard the building that towered above him as the air-cab flew off. Well, that’s the easy bit done. I got to the place Tondry told me to meet his team. Well, better go introduce myself – I guess this is going to me most interesting to see what they say.

[Marcus Telcontar]

The lobby of the Roa-d’lin complex was unexpectantly posh. For some reason, Marcus was thinking the meeting place would be a dive in some seedy part of the planet, not this clearly upmarket … hotel? He was feeling now rather exposed in the stained clothes he was wearing. Since when was this place so upmarket? Last time he was here, it was a dump.

“Excuse me? Can I help you?” A uniformed human had come up to the traveller, polite but still with a look of distaste.

“Yes you can. I have no recollection of this place being rebuilt. When did this happen?”

“A year ago sir. The whole area was redeveloped and the scum kicked out. Now… what will you be wanting?” asked the human, with a voice that probably would be the same if he had trodden in something nasty.

“The bar. A good seat and a meal”

The look on the human’s face changed as a high denomination credit chit seemed to materialise in his hands. Suddenly, he suddenly began to treat Marcus rather well and spoke somewhat with more respect. Who needed mind tricks when there was credits to influence weak minds? The human bowed, then guided the undercover Jedi to a rather nice restaurant, where the waiter gave him a rather nasty look, until the escorting human gave a signal, which Marcus interpreted as being “This being has a lot of money and is spending” The waiter obviously spoke the language of money well, his attitude also became fawning. A good table, some decent food and a nice glass of a sweet ale later Marcus was leaning on the bar, pipe in hand and enjoying a smoke of pipeweed. His packs were on the floor as he considered what to do. He needed to make contact with this Tau Team, but he had gotten to Coruscant a day early. Might be a good idea to case out the area…. His attention was caught by a fairly large human male, well dressed and he was making a move on the rather delightful woman at the bar. Marcus snorted quietly, listening to the pick up lines, then closed his eyes, letting the Force flow through him.

Well, well well. I’m not the only one early

Quite abruptly, the woman farted noisily. She and her companion were startled, but not as much as the male who saw his potential bedroom partner yawn and collapse to the floor, sound asleep. “What the…” he exclaimed.

“Bartender, I’d like a Duster. Bring it to table 32 please” said Marcus, using his Tohmahawk voice. The barman nodded, Marcus bent down and picked up his packs, stepping over the now snoring woman and ignoring the man, who was now staring at the cloaked being walking to table 32 with a great deal of sudden interest.The Jedi sat at the table, leaned back and relit his pipe, inhaling as the duster was placed on the table. A nod and a credit chit later, the barman left. Marcus puffed on the pipe for a moment, before trying this beverage out. He swallowed and then held the glass up to view it at eye level.

“This has to be a joke. Tondry drinks this piss?” he muttered, eyeing off the foul concoction. “I’ve had some foul **** in my time, but this takes the prize” He took a sniff, then put it down, revolted. As he was thinking about calling a waiter over for a water to wash away the taste, the large human from the bar came over. Marcus gave this human a look over once again from under his hood, before picking up the duster and drinking every foul drop and placing the glass on the table, wondering when he would projectile vomit as a result.

“Like another one stranger?”

You have got to be kidding me. I’d drink a bowl of Gungan snot first”Are you paying?” he instead replied

“Yes, but not this place. There’s a place about two blocks down that serves the best ‘dusters outside of Chandia”

That wouldn’t be hard “If your buying, sure. One moment, I need to return this to the bar” He picked up the glass, walked over to bar, where the woman was still sleeping. He placed the glass down, then very, very deliberately upended the ashes from his pipe over the face of the woman. Placing the pipe in one of his pockets, he shouldered his packs, before walking to the door of the restaurant, where the large human was waiting. “Lets go” Marcus said.

They both walked for a distance in silence, before they did get to a dive of a place. The human lead inside, seemed to check some things that Marcus couldn’t make out, before opening a door and going inside, the Jedi following him. The human waited until the door closed, before letting out some of the anger he had.

“That was your doing, wasn’t it” he snarled.

“What, the woman? I have no idea what your talking about” replied Marcus, before farting loudly.

“Listen here General..”

“No you listen here” snapped Marcus, reverting to his native accent “I don’t like wasting time and if I see my contact a day early, then I will make contact. Got a problem with that?” He continued to look over the room as the human glowered at his back. “Where are the rest of the team?”

“Coming”

Marcus turned around, dropping his hood to his shoulders and exposing his face for the first time. The human did a double take, before narrowing his eyes.

“You look nothing like that pretty boy General” he stated.

“Disappointed? Sorry, I don’t bat that way” The human glowered in return as the Jedi placed his packs on a chair. “I take it you are Nick Weimar?”

“Yes, Master Q’Dunn. I must say for a Jedi, your more like a juvenile brat”

Marcus’ attention snapped onto Weimar, his surprise quite obvious that the Imperial knew his real name. “Who said I’m a Jedi?”

“Pierce did. Now listen to me, Jedi, this is my operation and you are going to do as I say. Understand?”

“YOUR operation? Then why the hell did Tondry get me here?”

“How the hell do I know! Now you listen up. I don’t like you being here and you going to do what I tell you to do, got it?”

“**** you”

“And you too”

Marcus stared with a great deal of hostility at the Imperial who wasn’t exactly all that friendly himself. “What am I supposed to be doing then”

“Protecting our backs”

“Aren’t you all a bit old for babysitters?”

“Shut up smart ass. MY operation, you do as I say whether you like it or not. Now, your now on my time, so basically you can shut up and if you don’t like, you can go to hell. Now are going to wait here while the rest of the team arrives, got it?”

Marcus didn’t reply except with a heated glare.

“Good. I’ll be back in a few hours, make yourself at home or meditate, whatever the Jedi do to pass time” Weimar turned on his heel and walked out, slamming the door behind him. Marcus stood there, a frown on his his.

“What bug crawled up his ass and died?” he muttered.

“Excuse me?”

Another voice in the room drew the Jedi’s attention to a tallish but slim man, whom had witness the argument. “Just wondering what bug died up his ****” he stated.

“Oh….. your not like I expected a Jedi to be” This man’s voice was quieter. “Lucious Vadgrin or Fingers if you want to call me that”. He also stuck out a hand, which the Jedi accepted and shook

“What were you expecting? Yoda?”

“I don’t know… certainly not like you sir”

Marcus eyed off Vadgrin, rather thinking he could get to like this one. There was an air of quiet confidence that reminded him of Nathan West. “Well, I’m one of a kind. Marcus Q’Dunn. How many has Tondry told?”

“Three of us sir. We have been told to make sure you are identified as General Tohmahawk however and not tell anyone else”

Really? This is interesting “Good, James will do then. So… is Wiemar always like that?”

“No, did you do something to annoy him?”

“Well… maybe. Depends if the woman in the bar was someone special”

“Woman in….mind explaining?”

Marcus told him what happened in the bar.

“You did that? No wonder he’s pissed!”

“Ladies man?”

“Call sign is Hemline, work it out”

Marcus grinned. “I’ll remember that. What about yourself?”

“Slicer”

“Yeah?” Q’Dunn also wasn’t exactly a bad slicer himself and was rather fascinated by computers and what they could do. “Okay… so you mind telling me what this is all about?”

“Pierce didn’t tell you?”

“Lets say I want to make sure what he said and you know are the same….”

While they talked, Marcus had to admit…. He was rather liking this one. What a pity he was an Imperial.

[Marcus Telcontar]

“…and then we basically shot through in the gap we had!”

“Yeah sure….. did they trip up?”

Laughter greeted the rejoiner and a muted “**** you *******!” , followed by a good natured scuffle.

“Okay, that’s enough, fall in!” Announced Weimar as he walked into the warehouse that 12 men were already gathered in there. Marcus was sitting quietly to one side, having gotten there earliest with Fingers, who had recommended for him to stay in the background, which given that to these Imperial special forces men, wasn’t a bad idea.

“Hey Weiner, you look like ****. Did ya get your money’s worth?” More laughter.

“Ha ha. Finished?”

The reply was just a few smirks

“Good. Has everyone studied the mission profile?” Nods and mutters. This group switched from knockabouts to full professionals in a blink, Marcus noted. Much like West’s Lone Wolves. “Good. We move out in hour. Now, there is one change to the orders and it involves who’s leading”

“Excuse me? Who’s leading? What’s wrong with Targeter?” asked someone to Marcus’ left

“Yeah, where is the Boss?” asked a man whom the Jedi had learned was call signed Torch.

“Well, that’s the reason for our guest behind you all” Heads turned to regard the cloaked and rag tag human form that was Marcus. “The Boss has been called somewhere else and I’ll be leading out. For a replacement, we have” and Marcus could tell Weimar was still pissed the Jedi was here “James Tohmahawk”. Marcus nodded, his hood moving as he did. A few mutters and murmurs. Then…

“Excuse me? Tohmahawk?” exclaimed Torch

“Yes, that’s me” replied Marcus, using his Tohmahawk voice and accent.

“Hey, what the frell does the Boss think he’s doing? This is a damn Republic soldier!” exclaimed Torch. This time the glances coming in his direction were a good deal more probing and questioning.

“This true?” Asked one.

“Yes” He tried to make it blunt so there wasn’t more of a commotion

“Well I’ll be frelled, the Commander of the Republic’s Special Forces! Damn!” said another one, holding one of the biggest rifles Marcus had ever seen. Similar statements were also sounded out.

“Hey, your not like defected or something?”

“Are you for real?”

“What are you here for?”

“Hang on, one question at a time” said Marcus, hold a hand up “Yes, I am that Tohmahawk, I’m here to help you guys come back alive. And as for why and how I came to be here and Tondry ain’t, ask your XO”

Eyes turned to Weimar. “The Boss got called on personal business and he organized Mister General” said with a fair bit of loathing Marcus noted “to take his place”

“****, is he that good?” asked a dark skinned soldier.

“Make up your own mind when we get into action” said Marcs, getting somewhat irritated at being the centre of attention. “Does everyone else know what we are supposed to be doing?”


Weimar rankled, but nodded. “Yes. Fairly standard data dump and bug out. We hit one of the shipbuilding databases, get what we can and then get out.

Fairly standard?!?! “Mate, that’s a pretty big call, saying this is standard”

“And? We hit some of your friends on Kuat for the same thing a month ago” stated Weimar, sounding somewhat satisfied.

Ouch. They did that hit? He stared at Weimar, as the Imperial continued “All right, you know your positions, lets get to Flashburn and get out of here!”

--

The shuttle raced through hyper space, as Tau Team and their ring-in made final preparations. Marcus himself had adopted a grey camouflage cloak that covered both him and the weaponry he had well. The sword was hidden on his back, the saber was likewise hidden away. However, the Rail Guns were evident, especially as he was now doing a final check on their operation.

“Hey man, why you bringing pop guns for?” asked the largest one of their group, predictably call signed Tiny. Typical of soldiers everywhere, there was always a “Tiny” in every group.

“I wouldn’t swap them for anything you had here” replied Marcus.

“You really should. Those things are going to be useless out there. Sure you don’t want something else?”

“I’ll bet you, you’ll want a set by the time this mission is over”

“Cut the crap man. How can a pop gun be useful?”

“Willing to bet?” challenged Marcus

There was some laughter. “Hey, leave the General with his toys. We’ll show him some real weapons!” smirked Weimar, coming into the bay with what looked like a small cannon. Marcus rolled his eyes and just got back to his own preparations. In the 3 days it had taken for the shuttle so far to fly to Fondor, he had found out from Fingers that Weimar was hostile out of professional pride. “He doesn’t like the idea that Tondry saw fit to get a Republic soldier, know what I mean?”. The others were mainly of the “so what” type and it was even looking like being some friendly rivalry building, especially with Tiny. The Jedi had decided that there was two courses of action, either he could sit back and basically hide, or do his level best to fit in. He chose the latter. He was greeted with suspicion, then caution, curiosity, then some form of acceptance.

“Have to remember, these guys are the elite. They don’t accept others until they prove themselves” Fingers had commented. Which wasn’t all that hard, all of them had heard of the Republic’s Special Forces commander and…

“Hey man, hope we get to see you in action sometime” said Tiny. “We heard you can kick some, even if you do use toy guns”

“Well, hopefully not today. I’d rather we get in and then get out without a fight” replied Marcus, slamming home the rail gun’s clip. Weimar gave the Jedi a disgusted look, then moved elsewhere.

“Man, WHAT is Hemline’s problem?” asked another soldier, call signed Fish.

“His last date fell asleep on the gravy stroke” replied Marcus, an answer born out of reflex and the constant insult battles he and Scorpion had. Laughter broke out.

“Anybody tell you, you have a gutter mouth?” smirked Fish

“No, but your mother said I have a sweet tongue”

Cat calls and other rude suggestions rang out, Fish grinning and replying with a rude gesture.

“Your really not what I thought you would be General” commented Tiny.

“Why’s that?”

“Not even the Boss frats like you do”

“If I had my way, I’d be on the front lines all the time. The grunts know what the score is and I have a low bantha**** tolerance. And…” said Marcus, holstering his guns “… I’d rather have guns pointed at me than sit in a room full of freaks and politicians. Hearing a Bothan whine about your latest spending plan for 5 hours, now that is evil for a soldier to be subjected to. Now, can you pass me that box over there…?”

An hour later, they were ready. Weapons hidden in scan proof bays except for Marcus and Flash, dressed in tech uniforms, except for again Marcus and Flash. Flash had a pilot type suit on, Marcus in his weather beaten clothing that made him look like a smuggler. He was now in the co-pilot’s seat, with Flash glowering in the pilot’s one. Now if Weimar didn’t like Marcus, Flash absolutely hated the Republic officer. Then again, as Fingers told him, Flash seemed to hate everything, so vile was his temper. As Marcus got familiar with the shuttle’s layout, the proximity alert went off. Flash immediately dropped the craft, which was called the Flashburninto real space. The rotating clouds of hyperspace changed into streaking starlines, then to stars with a planet racing to them as they reverted. A second later, the planet loomed large and the sublights cut in, the shuttle beginning to wing it’s way towards a group of lights some distance from the planet of Fondor, one of the planets that were at present possessed by the evil that was The Sith Empire. Warships could be seen all around, space bound defense platforms, a few work stations and a shipyard. All in all Marcus thought, this was a place where you hesitated to come to, even with a big fleet. And they were one relatively defenseless shuttle. Right now, the Jedi was very much wondering who was the insane idiot who ordered this job be done in the first place.

“Your on” snapped Flash as he adjusted the shuttles trajectory.

The call light was blinking, which indicated someone was hailing them. Marcus reached over and flicked the comm. Unit into receive/send mode.

“Unidentified shuttle, this is Fondor Control, give your name, cargo and purpose” said a fairly important sounding voice.

“Fondor Control, this is shuttle Sunspark under the command of Captain Fireblack, we have a few engineers and troops, armaments and relevant computers for the planet surface. Authorization code is now in transit and clearances” replied Marcus, rolling through the prepared script. He also reached out cautiously to try and sense if there was any suspicion or danger. A few seconds later, the voice responded.

“Shuttle Sunspark, your codes and clearances are logged and in order. Hold your present course and land at Dock 54. Fondor Control out”. Marcus leaned back, relieved. Whoever inserted that clearance into the TSE databanks did a good job. They’ll let us in with the equipment we need and not question it! These Tau Team humans are smooth operators, and brazen too. Walk in through the front door and I bet that’s how we’ll waltz out. I’m starting to wonder if what I just did will be the only thing I get to do.

Flash tapped a few buttons on his board. “Okay Tohmahawk, get out of my cockpit, you’re done your bit” the Imperial snarled. Oh charming, thought Marcus, this guy really had a anger management problem – but he did as the pilot requested, moving towards the back again. His job was to keep Fondor Control off the scent when they landed, interfacing with the officials.

“That’s what you Jedi are best at” Weimar had sneered before they had left Coruscant. “Go do your mind **** thing and make sure no one gets a sense something is up”. Great. But then again this team knew their jobs and places, so he was baggage to a degree. At least he wasn’t staying on the shuttle.

Two hours later, the shuttle was hissing and cooling after an ordinary landing. Marcus had already greeted the official inspectors, guided them through the shuttle, allowed them to view what he wanted them to and did the data work while Tau Team uploaded. His mind was now very active, deflecting any curiosity he could sense by The Force from the group. And, he noted to himself, doing a good and proper mind **** on the humans in the docking bay. His eyes also logged the various items he could see, making sure he could give a good detailed report for the NRSF datafiles. The trip for the spying information was by itself becoming worthwhile, already he could spot defenses and military encampments on the way in that would be of interest. And something else. Something he didn’t quite expect that told a lot. On some of the minds he could touch, there was an undercurrent of resentment to the Sith. That was something to consider and for the NRSF upper command to discuss.

The Jedi watched as the Tau team began to move off towards where they would disappear into the base and go to where they were slated to hit the shipyard records. Flashburn itself began to whine up as Flash was slated to get back into space, to receive the stolen data via a special uplink Fingers would set up and then hightail. The rest of the team would get out as they could, current plan being a shuttle Marcus would acquire and a transport order. For an ordinary person that would be difficult, but for a Jedi working on unsuspicious minds, not difficult at all. The whole group should be able to get out without anyone knowing what had happened.

In theory and with the Jedi being reasonably familiar with covert ops, theory was looking good. He waited five minutes in a pilot’s lounge off to the side of the docking bay, before firstly locating and going over to the Deck Officer.

“Excuse me, but are there any shuttle I can get hold of in about three hours?” he asked

The officer regarded Marcus like he had just asked for a dead fish. “Why?”

“The shuttle we came on has had to go back to skyhook 3 to get a hyperspace drive problem. My lads are on a fairly tight timeline andwe can’t really wait for something to come up in the normal order. Think you can help us?” he asked in the most reasonable and pleasant voice he could, while hitting the officer with the force of his will. You will give me a shuttle

The deck officer consulted a datapad. “What’s your original shuttle’s name?”

“Sunspark”

“Hmm, well, it’s been logged for repairs, I suppose your valid. Yes, I have an old Lambda, that do you?”

“Perfect. Thank you sir!”

“No problem, your ‘bird is over there”

The Jedi eyed off the slightly rag tag craft, assessing it. Yep, that would do. He did a bit of data work to sign authority over to himself, then went to the craft, which was called Stig. Odd name he reflected, wonder what it means? What he did have to admit was that even if the shuttle was a bit old, it had a black paint job that was quite good. Few scrapes here and there, but he could quite imagine this thing being quite natty a few years ago. He unlocked and unsealed the ramp, before entering and looking about it. Again, old but more than serviceable. To be honest, he was getting a good feeling about this one.

Two hours later, he had gotten the ship prepped and was outside, leaning up against one of the landing struts and drinking a cup of tea he had wrangled, having something to eat. It was still quiet and there was no indication anyone had realized something was wrong. It seemed that things were going well, it was getting close to the time Tau Team would be beginning the data theft. As he continued to scope the area, on the fringes of his Force senses, he picked up a sudden flare of emotion. Suddenly frowning, he looked about, seeing what that emotion surge could have been. Not seeing or sensing anything out of order, he shrugged and went back to the food. Must just be keyed up, he thought.

But a minute later, he heard high energy engines getting closer, then appear at the mouth of the bay. Five drop ships had arrived. Marcus frowned again, watching as the craft landed. Unmarked. He leaned his mind out to sense what this could be for, but before he could work anything out, the ramps dropped and heavily armed Imperial troops stepped out. A lot of them.

I have a bad feeling about this!

The Jedi casually went back into his shuttle, then placed the cup down and swallowed the rest of the food in a big hurry. He grabbed the secure channel headset he had been given to communicate with Tau Team in case of emergency.

“Fingers and Hemline, are you expecting friends?”

The answer came back from Weimar “What are you talking about?”

“How close are you to getting your data?”

A pause.

“Five minutes”

Marcus looked out at the Imperial troops, who were now getting some sort of orders by their commanders, thinking fast. Something was suddenly wrong, very wrong. Like…..

Like I just sensed someone with that Imperial group think something about Tau Team and traitor!

“Hemline, get your team out”

“What? We cant, not until the uplink is done!”

“Hemline, this is a full ArchAngel situation. I repeat, this is an ArchAngel situation”

“What the bloody hell are you talking about?”

Ahh ****, ArchAngel is the NR code… what the hell is the Imperial one???

“Hemline, there are Imperial troops here. If your not expecting them, then we have been sold out”

A sudden silence, then an explosion of swearing. “Are you certain?”

Damn it. An ArchAngel situation was a NR code for a Jedi with a bad feeling. What the hell did you say to Imperials who didn’t trust Jedi anyway? What could Marcus say to convince Weimar what he now saw?

And the complete certainty he felt that they had been ratted out?

[Marcus Telcontar]

He watched for another minute, watching another two shuttle come in and disgorge more troops, trying to think fast what to do.

I’m on a enemy planet, that’s not good. I don’t seem to be discovered or known, that is good. The team is in the depths of the base, bad. But if they don’t know about me, then they don’t know the number of people here. These Imperials will know the target Tau Team were after if I am right, so they will be intent on a trap….

The Jedi grabbed a datapad that had a Tau Team schematic of the target area, a data centre that was set aside from other areas, probably well guarded, but with all the ventilation shafts and access ways, not too difficult to infiltrate.

Tiny was going back guard, Blackman over here, others here and here. Weimar and Fingers were the only two to get to the actual computers themselves, so that means the team os scattered a bit to make sure they didn’t draw attention to themselves and to create a shifting defense pattern if they were attacked. Or to scatter and disappear if….hmmm….

He almost opened the channel to talk to Hemline again, but he stopped just as he was pressing the button. If these were Imperials, it was entirely possible they knew the frequencies and encrypts. Not likely, but possible. Possible wasn’t good enough in this situation. The map went into his pocket as he stepped caually out of shuttle, resecuring the craft as he did. A quick scan around told him there was no one watching him, so he sprinted for the nearest exit.

A Jedi could move with incredible speed if they had to and a Jedi Master doubly so. Marcus gained the exit in 4 seconds, shot down the deserted passageway, skidded to a stop at the entrance of a ventilation shaft ripped it open and darted in. Even if he had to crawl, his hand and feet barely seemed to touch the sides of the shaft as he hurtled along. Am oment later, he came to a stop catching his breath, then progressed more slowly, opening up the comm. Again on it’s tightest beam setting.

“Hemline”

“Yes?” The Tau Team agent’s voice was laced with tension.

“How long until the transfer is complete?”

A pause. “Two minutes”

****. “Recall Tiny and Cinders. Tell everyone else to scatter and make their way back to the docking bay. I have a shuttle in the clear for us there”

“What…”

“Don’t argue with me, do it. I’ll be there in about 30 seconds. Out”
About 20 seconds later he arrived at a grill that if the map was right, would lead him to the data centre. He peered carefully out, then satisfied it was, he raised one of his feet, then savagely kicked the grill. It buckled, then broke to pieces with a second kick, the Jedi leaping out as the pieces fell to the floor. Hemline and Fingers were the only occupants in the room and they were obviously expecting him through one of the doors, not from a vent.

“What in seven hells do you think your doing?” snapped Hemline.

“Have you done as I asked?”

“Yes, now explain”

“There is about 200 Imperial troops gathering in the hangar and I think more are coming. Are you expecting them?”

“No…”

“Now listen to me. An Archangel is a NR code for Jedi assistance needed or a Jedi with a bad feeling. Unlike you idiot Imperials, the NR tends to listen when Jedi sense something’s up”

“Listen to ME Jedi, now if you think your so smart, you tell me who would sell us out!”

Good question “I don’t know. But your Boss and I are going to have an interesting discussion when we next meet. Most likely it will be my fist, his face”

Weimar was now looking furious. “The Boss would never do that!”

“Did I say it was Tondry? I was simply going to thank him for getting me into this mess!”

“Which we don’t know is for us” replied Weimar

“And I’m telling you, it is. Now how much longer is it until the data is finished uploading?”

“20 seconds” replied Fingers, intent on the computers.

“Good…. “ He didn’t continue as Tiny and Cinders ran into the data centre.

“Hey Hemline…. What’s going on?” asked Tiny.

“Our General here has a bad feeling”

“Yeah, well so do I. I saw Geer just before I got the order to come here”

That caught Hemline’s attention. “Are you sure?”

“Yes boss!”

“Oh ****” Weimar seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, Marcus rather curious at what the name Geer meant. “We got a problem”

“Who’s Geer?” asked Marcus.

“We call him Disposal. He deals with traitors and…”

“Traitors?!?!” exclaimed Marcus, with a fair bit more force than he realized, with the sudden querying looks he got. Quite abruptly, it clicked and he grabbed for his rail guns. Hemline and Fingers exchanged glances, just before the computers beeped.

“Transfer complete” said Fingers.

And then the Jedi’s danger sense flared. Cursing, he reached outwards with his mind to see what was wrong.

“Hemline, they cutting us off. We have troops on all corridors leading out, Ventilation shafts are blocked” He sighed at the disbelieving looks. If this was the NR, they would already be running for an escape. What the hell was it with Imperials and their reluctance to trust the Force? A small beep announced Hemline had an incoming comm. call.

“Hemline”

There was a voice Marcus couldn’t understand coming from the unit, but the expression on Weimar’s face said it all. And the muted swearing after he signed off.

“What’s the story?” asked Tony, who was getting distinctly nervous

“The rest of the team are out and are able to get to the shuttle the General got for us. Between us and that however….” He glanced at Marcus. “I owe you an apology”

“Stow it. I promised Tondry I’d make sure the lot of you got out alive and we are going to. Is that pilot of yours on his way out?”

“Flash? He would be hightailing as soon as he got the data.”

“Tell the others…. This is the code for the shuttle. It has valid orders to leave, so they should be able to get out.”

“And what about us? We’re not going to be able to just walk “

Marcus got a glint in the eye that was not normal, the rail guns clicking with the safety switches being turned off. “I suppose you lot were also trained to fight as well as sneak about?”

[Marcus Telcontar]

“Are you kidding?” exclaimed Tiny, hefting the thing he had that was laughably called a hand held gun. It was more like a hand held cannon. “The question is are you sure your pop guns are up to it?”

“How about we find out? Hemline, Fingers, find us a way out”. Marcus didn’t wait for an answer, running up to the entrance of the data centre, Tiny following.

“Did I mention that guy really isn’t what I expected a Jedi to be?” said Weimar.

--

The first soldiers were slowly coming up to the entry of the data centre, cautious, but also confident. A few others took positions and were preparing to spring the ambush when the doors whooshed open, a single dark figure coming out, holding what seemed to be two silvery hand blasters of unusual build. The trooper in charge took one look.

“Lay your guns down!”

“No, you surrender now or die” came the reply in a oddly accented Basic. Surprised, some of the troops looked at each other and hefted their blasters, making it quite clear what they thought of that. The figure seemed to shrug. “Okay. I did warn you…”. Abruptly the figure raised one of the guns, aimed and fired.

CRACKBANGPOW!

The commanding trooper seemed to detonate and fly apart in a fine and gruesome spray, disintergrating as a thumb sized hollow point projectile, fired by the rail gun with a muzzle velocity of 4000kph struck his chest. Other troops copped the horrific spray, some ducking, others recoiling in shock at the sheer violence and the fact there was only a smoking set of legs left.

CRACKBANGPOW!

Another trooper exploded into atoms.

CRACKBANGPOW!

The shot missed, but tagged a column which shattered, spraying shrapnel and cutting down two other troops. Return fire started up, but even with blaster bolts beginning to fly, but it seemed weak to the frightening and unknown weaponry this appartition was using. It was almost like a point and delete from existence interface to reality. From the doorway, Tiny stood, becoming more and more slack jawed as he watched the improbable wave of hell. Sharp whip cracks filled the air, drowning out the wet pows of humans being wrenched apart. It was hardly 20 seconds, it seemed like hours and in slow motion before the survivors of the mind blowing assault broke and ran for their lives. Tiny remembered what he was there for, firing his portable E-Web repeating blaster into the retreat and causing his own mayhem. A sustained crackle and then a row of detonations occurred, sending more body parts and shrapnel flying as Marcus depressed the triggers on the Rail Guns, emptying the clips in one final projectile spray. A few more blaster bolts from Tiny and the corridor was clear, except for the noise of confused and retreating men and the drip of something not particularly nice off the walls.

“Holy Frell, what the hell are those things?” exclaimed Tiny, his eyes looking over the guns Marcus was at this point reloading.

“NRSF model 2 Rail Guns. Want one?”

“Oh hell yes… “ He was obviously was going to add more, but Hemline appeared. He looked around, startled, at the carnage.

“Bloody hell…. What did you guys do? This is worse than a meatworks!”

“I want his guns” said Tiny sounding like he had a severe case of lust.

Hemline took a moment to survey the damage. “His guns… did this?”

Marcus didn’t reply with words. His hand suddenly moved and he fired down the corridor four times where he had sensed someone coming. Hemline swore.

“Fires of Calan! What the hell is that?”

“Rail Gun”

Hemline eyed off the guns. “The Boss said something about those things. Come on, Fingers found us a way out. Tohmahawk…. What was your call sign again?”

“ArchAngel”

“Yeah okay…. You go point. Tiny, tail end. This way, before they come back with something to combat the general’s toys”

--

The two hooded beings looked on as the troops came back, blood splattered, fear in their eyes from a force they had no idea existed.

“It seems we will have to deal with this problem for them” stated one.

“Let them try again. And while they do, we shall study what is causing this” replied the other.

“Do you believe it is someone using The Force?”

Cloaked being two paused, then shook it’s head. “No. This would be a Dark Side power. I sense no Jedi. This is but a weapon, which even if it is powerful it is no match for The Dark Side”

--

[Marcus Telcontar]

Weimar actually was the first one to reach the cross corridor, Marcus finishing off a short hand to hand combat with some troops he had run into. Tiny was next, sliding to stop as a barrage of blaster bolts lit the area. Tiny leaned around the edge, opening up with the Rail Gun Marcus had handed to him a few minutes earlier. The Gun cracked four times, firing explosive body projectiles at a control point that was around the corner. The loud explosions, then one enormous WHOOPH, accompanied by the walls shaking and an air blast.

“**** Tiny, what the hell did you hit?” screamed Weimar, scraping himself off the floor.

“Errr….. “ Tiny looked back up the corridor he had fired down, seeing wreckage and flames “I think it was a personnel carrier…. Hey Hemline, can we ask the General to get some of these permanently?”

“Sure!” gasped Marcus as he ran up to the other two Imperials, Cinders in tow “Fact is we have bigger ones. The Jedi wasn’t sure if Tiny had an orgasm of not, but he certainly looked disgustingly happy. Q’Dunn was rapidly finding out Tiny had an unhealthy obsession with guns. “Makes up for his lack of dick size” said Cinders quietly to Marcus, who smirked. He was finding out he was enjoying this running firefight, taking a glee in combat he hadn’t had in some time.

“Which way Fingers?”

The slicer looked up from the datamap he had. “Left”

“Go!”

Tiny went first, the rest following… but with Marcus coming last as he had suddenly felt something in the Force. Something wrong. He kept running, while part of his mind began to analyze what the disturbance was. 250 meters later, they came to a open area, criss crossed with bridges and walkways. It was fairly dark and for once, deserted. The small group had seemingly gotten past the containment lines and were clear enough to go to ground and move unseen for a while.

“Okay, where next?” asked Marcus, his face creased in a frown. Something is not right here….

“About 5 klicks away, they is a hangar bay. We can slice into their networks and find the best way to get out of here there” replied Weimar.

“The others got away clean?”

“Yes, got confirmation. Flash was well away, the others got up and high enough with that shuttle you got us so the pursuit was ineffective”

“Good, although we’re pretty screwed”

“Well, I’ve got an idea. We sneak into the pilot’s area, Finger’s slices some orders for us to do some patrol runs, we then fly out and get ourselves something bigger and better in orbit. How’s that sound?”

“Yeah… yeah, that could work. Better that what I… DUCK!!!!”

Weimar’s combat training took over, ducking just a fist seemed to come from nowhere. Two black shapes almost seemed to materialize, attacking the small group with speed and ferocity. Tiny tried to aim, but found the Rail Gun booted from his hand. Weimar tried to retaliate, but took a huge blow to the ribs, skidding back on his butt. The attacker advanced, only to be met with a flurry of blows from the Jedi. The Black figure backed away as Marcus fired blows high and low, moving his body up and down as well o give himself a wider attack zone. A counter attack from the figure was met with a wrist grab, which forced down it’s guard, before a huge kick sent it flying. The second figure attacked straight away, only to be swept aside as Marcus without turning used the Force to push it back about 10 meters. He was side on to them as the two regrouped, studying what this grey cloaked man was. Twin sabers came out, twin dual blade Sith Lightsabres, both bright red. Q’Dunn’s hand whet to his belt, withdrawing his saber, Athona, but keeping it unlit.

“Get out of here” Marcus said to the Imperials.

“But….” Began Tiny.

“GO!!” roared Marcus. His feet seemed to move of their own accord as the first Dark Sider swept in. The Jedi Master leapt and corkscrewed, going over the attack and landing with a thump not far away. His thumb went to the activation button, pressed it. With a whoosh more like a burning torch, the flame-blade came to life, shimmering and hissing. The colours began to change, but the noise didn’t. Not the normal hum, but the muted roar of an angry gas fire. Indeed, it seemed more like a flame than a beam of plasma and light.

“Holly ****…. You mean he’s really a Jedi? You weren’t ****ing with us?” said Cinders in an awed voice.

“Hey man, I’m only going on what The Boss told me! I didn’t really know either!” said Weimar. “Now let’s do as he says and get out of here!” The Imperials ran for it as Marcus deliberately turned his back on the Sith.

“You were unwise to come here!’ said one of the Dark Sider’s

“**** you too” replied Marcus. Which was clearly not what the Sith were expecting. Nor were they expecting two seconds later, the sheer ferocity of the attack wave that Marcus unleashed. It broke upon them like a hammering wave and they were almost broken by the suddenness. Both spilt and moved away, Marcus sliding to a stop, eyes hostile but wary.

“What is this? A Jedi that attacks?”

Marcus remained silent, just staring off both his adversaries.

“I wonder if the Jedi also uses the Dark Side?” sneered the other.

“Why, maybe he does! Join us and we can be brothers in the Dark Side!” The Sith attacked with a few blows, The Jedi parrying. The other attacked straight other, the flamesabre leaping in defense, Both Sith backed away again.

“Why yes… this one could be open! What did you say you name was, Dark Brother?”

Marcus suddenly exploded into action again, this time attacking one of the Dark Siders, a windmill of blows until he suddenly felt himself being pushed away by the Force. With a fair bit of anger, he skidded to a stop and flung the lightsabre at the one who did the push. The wind milling blade was snatched with a laugh out of the air….

Why is my hand hurting?

The Sith screamed as the Jedi arts that had built the saber came into their own. Designed to disallow a Dark Sider from ever fouling the blade with their hands, Athona had an ancient spell placed on it and now, as it was touched, it flared a brilliant white. The Sith tried to drop the handle, but found itself incapable. A wave of heat seemed to burst from it, the Light Side itself consuming the Dark Sider’s arm in a burst of pyrotechnics. The cloak of the Dark One seared, flashing into orange flames, while the other Sith stared in horror as the other was burning, howling in agony. Marcus felt like his gaze was being drawn away, to look at his inexplicably hurting palm, the palm that had held the same saber that was now blazing with reaction to a touch of a Dark Sider…

At his own hand that was smoking and blistered!

With a great deal of shock, he had realized. He had flung the saber with hatred and death on his heart…

They sensed the Dark Side trying to make a claim on me! And I didn’t! I was too caught up in the battles to realize where my mind was going! By the Force…. I am too close to the precipice! The Dark Side nearly sneaked up and took me! I would have died if I had gone further, Athona would have burnt me too!.

His shocked eyes came back level where the tortured Sith was well and truly alight, sjin peeling back and horrid cries of pain and fury coming from a throat tortured by heat. Sickening crackles and pops started as human fat began to literally boil, the eyeballs bursting with a sound that churned the stomach. The other Sith quit suddenly roared, raised a hand and unleashed a volley of energy, which caught the Jedi off guard and sent him flying away. Another burst caught him right in the chest, before he could regain his feet in desperation, struggling to get his mind back under control. The Sith came at him saber lunging. Marcus did the only thing he could by reflex, one of his palms coming up as he was still kneeling, calling the Force itself to stop the hand that bore the blade, locking it before it could strike. The Sith snarled and replied with his own strength, pushing hard against the Jedi, striving to drive forward and Marcus came to his feet, palm still facing outward. He bent his mind again, this time pushing the Sith away by the Force.

A Jedi is calm… a Jedi is peace. A Jedi shall not know anger or hatred, a Jedi shall not know emotions…. A Jedi shall not use the Dark Side for that is where death his… He took a breath, his mind relaxing, becoming clear, rejecting the Dark Side, rejecting the temptation. His hand moved to where the handle of the Sword he had carried was, the blade coming clear of the scabbard with a steely hiss.

“The Dark Side leads to death” he said in a calm voice,… in his own true voice. “Only a servant of Darkness could want something like that”

“You killed my apprentice” snarled the other.

“Then let that be your lesson. You can not harness the Dark Side and expect to live”

“And you will kill me?!?”

“No… I am A Jedi, a servant of Light. I will not kill you”

“Then… I WILL KILL YOU!!!” and with that, the Sith charged. Marcus bought the sword up to his face as if in salute, then blocked, Icefist ringing as if it had struck metal. It smoked along the edge where the saber had struck, trailing as the blade came down to block again. Again it came up, again it rang clearly, before the Sith backed away, bewildered by the fact of this sword that seemed more like a saber. The air around Ice fist got colder as a sheen of frost crusted the blade. It seemed to leap of it’s own accord, the Sith barely blocking in time, but managing to parry. The two combatants began to move, the Sith pressing the fight, Marcus backing away. The saber slashed head height and into a pole, cutting it. Another slash was blocked, the Sith saber being pushed into another pole. Again a new more attacks and again the saber cut another pole, where the Jedi’s head was a second before. Marcus managed to suddenly knock the Sith backwards with a huge blow, taking a step backwards has he did and coming upright, his voice soft and calm.

“You have killed yourself”

The Sith snarled, before looking up as the gantries whose supports he had cut groaned and came down. Marcus, on the edge of the fall area, leapt clear. The Sith did not…. The noise of crashing metal and one scream, cut short rent the air as the Jedi watched with no expression. Also with no outward display, he walked to where the first Sith’s body was still burning, but now he was clearly dead, only bones and white hot ashes remaining. The Jedi looked down at where Athona was on the ground, still glowing. He reached down and picked it up, the glow ending in a blink, the saber feeling cold in his hand.

Yet again, I see the dark Side can try to ensnare me for destruction. It still tries to call me….

And yet, he had resisted. And now he saw the trap he had placed for himself. More concerned with weapons and armies, more thinking of wars and not watching what he was becoming.

There is much to think of this. But first…. I must escape. I hope the others were able to do what they said….

He looked up, got his bearings. A shout took his attention, there were more soldiers appearing. The Jedi bent his mind to escape and with the Force giving his feet wings, ran for the exit of the cavern.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Ventilation shafts and access tunnels. When your trying to sneak, they were your friend. Of course the controllers of Fondor knew that. That why there was all sorts of detection devices in those area, just to pick up someone like Tau Team or the Jedi. Which is also why the remaining Tau team soldiers were right now marching bold as brass as a group, in stolen pilots uniforms, with valid orders to report to hangar 23 and to do a patrol. Which was also why after dealing with the two Sith, Marcus had doubled back, created a false trail and was right now waiting in the shadows, listening carefully to two troops nearby and planning how to subdue the troops.

“I wonder what all this is about” said one

“Dunno, but at least it’s not one of those drills…. Hey, there something wrong?” He said that as the first trooper quite suddenly dropped his gun, looking like he was in a great deal of discomfort, face going beet red. Even more confusingly, the first trooper’s feet was now about 5 units of the ground. “What the….?” Quite abruptly, he felt his own pants tighten, what felt like a giant hand grabbing his underpants and pulling upwards. He squeaked in pain, dropping his gun. Both fell to the floor in useless heaps.

“A Wedgy. Now what in the Force possessed me to do that?” wondered Marcus as he stepped out of the dark area he had been in. As he was sizng up which trooper was more his size, one of them tried to go for his gum. Marcus whipped around, lightsabre in hand. With one clean blow, the saber belted the trooper’s chin, knocking the man out. The Jedi slowly turned to the other trooper, who was still gasping and now wide eyed at seeing the saber.

“Clothes. Locker. Understand?”

The terrified trooper nodded dumbly, to scared to speak.

Now with his own clothes wrapped up and in a pack he scavenged, the sword also disguised in rags and the saber tucked away, he was now walking calmly through the ventilation tunnels, faking the voice of one of the troopers he had subdued and convincing Control that patrolling the shafts was a good idea.

No one should find those two for a few hours and they wont be doing any alerting, not since I put them into a healing trance. Now if I remember, the proper hanger is towards the north…

A call beep from the Tau Team comm. link stopped him for a moment. Switching off the Fondor control link, he answered.

“ArchAngel”

“Status?”

“Under cover”

“ETA?”

He had a quick think. “An hour”

“No faster?”

“Not without drawing attention. Do you have the chance to get clear?”

“Yes”

“Get out of here”. Not wanting to hear what came after, he clicked the comm. off and put it away. At least the rest of Tau Team would get clear, leaving only him behind.

Which is going to be interesting. Hostile planet plus they must be working out a Jedi is here by now. So how am I going to get out? The thought occupied him for some minutes as he kept walking, pretending to be on his guard and searching. An hour later, he had a fairly basic plan, which was basically steal the fastest thing he could find and run. Faked orders were probably not going to work, not with the entire base being locked down. Also given that by the time he had gotten one of the ships in the hangar he was now on the edge of prepped and flying, it would take valuable time. Not to mention the funny looks he was getting from one deck monkey, who was glancing at him and also speaking to someone to his side. The Jedi enhanced his hearing to find out what the deck monkey was saying.

“…. I’m telling you, I recognize that guy over there!”

“Yeah, bethcha going to tel me he’s some sort of Jedi, right?”

“Jedi… That’s it! He is a Jedi!”

“Oh come on, no Jedi would be dick enough to be here”

“I’m telling ya, I’ve seen that face before!”

Huh? But no one knew he was a Jedi?

“Oh yeah? Where?”

“I dunno, some holo about….. !!!”

Utterly astounded, Marcus froze in surprise before it clicked. No, he wasn’t known as a Jedi… but someone who looked a great deal like him certainly did. The deck monkey pulled out a gun and fired several well aimed shots, the Jedi being forced to pull out his saber to parry some of the deadly shots away.

“See? I’m right! Let’s get him!”

Marcus swore viciously, before calming his mind and touching the Force. The bastard of a monkey had forced him to break cover. Frell. Now he looked like he was going to have to fight his way out of this one. The sabre blade began to dance and leap, deflecting and returning blaster bolts

Quite abruptly, a two man fighter leapt upwards, it’s wingtip lasers blazing. It laid into the startled deck crews, blowing up anything that got in it’s targeting crosshairs. The Jedi by reflex ducked, then came back upright slowly. Well, the Galaxy can still surprise me… what in frell is going on here? The answer came quickly, the fighter coming closer but quite clearly defending him. And the hatch for the second crewer was open. Marcus didn’t have to be asked twice, taking two steps and leaping, using the Force to direct and power his jump. With a thump, he landed on top of the fighter, threw his pack and sabre inside, before beginning to climb in himself. Before he was even part way in. the fighter jinked and accelerated, firing it’s way towards the hangar exit while a startled and yelping Marcus hung on for dear life. By brute force, he managed to get in the full way, slamming the hatch shut. The howling of the air rushing past stopped, The Jedi sittin g in the pillion pilot’s seat, gasping and wide eyed.

“Welcome aboard flight one of Tau Team Transport. You pilot today is Hemline, so sit back and enjoy your flight!” said a manically grinning Weimar, glancing around to the still wild looking Jedi

“:Holy Frell! I told you guys to get the hell out of here!” exclaimed Marcus.

“Hey, didn’t the Boss tell ya? We don’t leave no one behind, even moron Jedi like you!” Hemline turned back to the controls, beginning to laugh. Marcus snorted, then also began to guffaw, the tension of the moment releasing.

“WOOOHOOO!! We got out of there!” yelled the Jedi

“Hey, don’t count your chips early” said Weimar “We still have to make hyperspace”

“Yeah, I bet you have that covered, yes?” Marcus replied, shifting in the seat and retrieving the rather uncomfortable sabre that he found he was sitting on.

“Oh, could have, could have” said Weimar, coyly.

“Ahh, must be good if we are going to get out of the defences of this place”

“It’s reasonable. Tiny and Fingers should have it by the time we reach space. Okay, strapped in? Here we go for it…” The fighter was leaned back in it’s tail and with a blast of sublights, it ripped like a fire pillar into the sky. G-Forces pushed at the Jedi, which to him was quite pleasant. The bumps and thumps smoothed out as the air became thinner, dropping in to the silk smooth cruise of vacuum. Somewhat curious to see what was scrambling to cut them off, he was expecting to see the fighters and cruisers… but not expecting th see they were all heading for a second point, some distance away, where a second fighter was also emerging into deep space.

“A decoy?” asked Marcus, gazing at the scope

“Yep. By the time they realised it’s a rigged droid, we should have met up with the others”

“Met the others? Where?”

Weimar paused. “Unless I am very much mistaken…. About 100 km ahead. Already beginning to sneak out”

The Jedi looked at the scope again. He had to refocus the device to see exactly what Weimar was suggesting, but he did see it after a moment. “A… bacta tanker?”

“Yep. And we shouldn’t have any delays once we are out of the gravity well, the jump co-ordinates are already factored in…” A brief flare from the side signalled the rigged decoy exploding, the TSE interceptors destroying the wrong target, while the real one go a lead they couldn’t catch. Up ahead, the bacta tanker’s motor’s flared, then it shot into hype space. A few minutes later, the fighter did too.

[Marcus Telcontar]

The fighter drifted away, shortly after Weimar and Marcus had transferred out and into the tanker. It only had a limited hyper drive and was completely useless – but it had served it’s purpose. They had got away to a point one light year away and for all intensive purposes, uncatchable. Two fighter’s occupants waited while the outer hatches closed, before removing was quite noticeably trying not to grin, the emergency breathers. Weimar was quite noticeably trying not to grin, Marcus just plain not bothering. He was about to hit the inner hatch release when Weimar stopped him.

“Hey.. Jedi. I owe you one”

“You waited for me on the planet. That’s payback enough”

“Mate, if I had listened to you down there, I might not have needed to. We Imps aren’t trained to trust Force users, you know what I mean?”

“I do. Don’t worry about it, Weimar”

“It’s Nick”

The Jedi paused, then outstretched his hand. “Marcus”

Weimar glanced at the offered hand, before reaching out with his own. The two grasped, the huge hand of Weimar engulfing the almost artistic hand of the Jedi, but capable of a grip and power exceeding the larger Imperial. Now standing in front Weimar, it was notable just how average in size the Jedi was, seeming a good 20 kgs lighter and 10 cm shorter, but he also had a sheer presence that seemed to make Weimar shrink.

“Okay Nick, what’s on the plan now?”asked Marcus

“Basically, I guess we drop you off somewhere and we….. I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to The Boss. He’ll want to know”

“Well, you need a place to stay for a bit, look me up at Arcan IV. I’ve got plenty of rooms there”

“I remember that. Now you rebel scum, Where do we take you…?”

Marcus thought for a sec, before a decidedly evil grin came over his face. “Well, how about we firstly go have a bit of celebration?”

“Oh? Where?”

“Ahhh, I know just the place….”

--

6 days later.

In a room in an apartment on the planet Arcan, a lone figure was sleeping. The room itself and the rest of the apartment was untidy, the floor littered with alcohol bottles and food wrappers. It had been three days since Tau Team had departed, after spending 24 hours being thrown out of bars and chasing skirts, eventually coming back here and trashing his place. The Jedi didn’t mind, he was one of the people doing the trashing. There were always plenty of droids he could get to clean up.

As he began to stir and wake up, his waking thoughts was drawn to something in the infamous Jedi Bar and Grill that that he had fallen asleep thinking about.

Tau Team had followed the now General Tohmahawk in, Hemline cigar in mouth, with Fingers and Tiny looking over the new toys the “General” had organised (Fingers a rather interesting data pad, useful in code cracking and data shifting, Tiny carried the case of a NRSF Mini-Gun, complete with a few boxes of ammunition, plus also anything else the team wanted from the NRSF stores. Allowing Imps to scavenge through a top secret warehouse normally was a stupid thing to do, but Marcus had a feeling whatever was taken would go to good hands only) and true to his call-sign, Nick “Hemline” Weimar was casing out the various women straight away. The Jedi had to admit to himself that there was a few good lookers about tonight, not that it concerned him to any degree.

“Hey, whoo! Who’s that in the green over there, you know who that is?”

Marcus turned his head to look at a lone dark haired woman, sitting at a table by herself. Dressed in a flowing green dress, it took a few seconds for the Jedi to make a connection to a name, which rather surprised him. What was she doing here? “That’s Elieen Cross. You could try her, but you’ll probably get your own arm used as a suppository”

“Yeah?” Weimar looked over the woman, whom Marcus noticed as very, very beautiful for the first time…. Even despite the fact they had teamed up twice in the last year. Which struck him as rather odd he would even think that in the first place “She available?”

“What, you like to play dangerous?”

“Hell yeah….” Weimar had gone over while Marcus and the rest of team had commandeered a few tables, setting up for a rather noisy party. As expected, Weimar was back a few moments later. Surprisingly, in one piece.

“Luck out?” asked Marcus

“She said married”

This absolutely shocked Marcus, his head whipping around to stare at the woman who was still sitting quietly by herself. “Your kidding me, right? Mate, I’m telling ya, that woman is about as ferocious as a Krayt dragon. No body would get close enough for a kiss, let alone anything else! I seen her beat up a whole company and she can smack down even Jedi Masters. There is no way she’s married”

“Even has a ring on her hand. But your right about one thing… she’s worse than a Krayt dragon” The Jedi turned back to Weimar, noticing he seemed to be a bit out of breath and moving as to avoid aggravating something tender. He winced in sympathy.

“Groin shot?”

“Best I’ve ever been hit with. Damn man, I didn’t even see her move!”

“Told you she’s dangerous….”

And as Marcus opened his eyes, to see that the sun was shining outside his windows, that was even somewhat disturbing that Cross was married…. And to his surprise, he was even disappointed. There was only one other woman he had ever met like that… beautiful and appallingly deadly

I don’t remember Helenias telling me she had a sister…. Cause if I didn’t know better, that’s what I would have thought Elieen is. Come to think of it, I know absolutely nothing of her history, apart from the fact she is also Lord Fire Blade. Maybe while she is here, I’ll try to find out more

Yeah right. More likely end up being beaten to death with his own arm. Not, if he looked at it, was he even considering any thoughts apart from curiosity – A Jedi did not even think about such things as love or relationships. All he could think was that whomever her husband was, it was his gain and the Jedi Order’s loss. Ahh well, such was the ways of The Force.

As he had slept fully clothed, there had been no need to get dressed. And he was not really hungry either, all he had been doing was having a light sleep. Since he returned, he had been resting – and very, very much unlike him, had not reported in, had not told anyone where he was apart from Nathan West. He hadn’t read reports, he hadn’t taken calls…. He had in fact, for the first time in years, just been sitting at his window if it was day, or on the roof it was night and just allowing life to pass him by. He was in his mind, letting things go. Marcus Q’Dunn was being nothing more than Marcus Q’Dunn, not living a lie, just being himself.

It was one of the most mind clearing experiences.

Ever since he had realised how close to the Dark Side he had danced, The Jedi had simply been reconsidering his life. There was a lot to rethink. Too many things he had done wrong, too many paths trodden that were not true. He was in fact coming a decision, he knew the course of action and he was coming closer and closer to doing it.

Cause I feel it’s the right thing. So many years I have lived life to my true capacity, not lived to I should be. It must end. I must be all I can be and there must be no compromise

He moved around the mess of the apartment, before he came to one of the chairs. And stopped.

There was a small comm. Link, the same as Tondry used to first contact him that had not been there when he went for his sleep. And quite abruptly, the call beep went off. Marcus grabbed it and flicked it on.

“You want me to fill my end of the bargain?”

The voice was as he remembered. Exactly.

“Yes” he replied.

“Whitetown. Go there, I’ll be waiting”. And the comm. Link clicked off.

“Whitetown… I’ve heard of that place. Let me think… southernmost settlement. Far from anyone… okay. Seems reasonable” he said out loud. Fifteen minutes later, he was changed into an old set of travelling clothes, worn boots, a grey cloak and a back roll. The rail guns were this time tucked away, as was the sabre, with the sword hidden in rags he carried by hand. He had a private speeder he had stored in the basement, which he went to. A small two person model, he also included some cold weather gear, for after seeming where Whitetown was, he believed he would need it. He also checked the maps out to see what was the best way – there was one “road” in or out. Typical for a truly isolated place like that one.

An hour later, he allowed the craft he was in to truly race, clear of all population centres and also of other traffic. It ripped along, the Jedi almost closing his eyes as he allowed the Force to guide his hands over the control surfaces and yoke, guiding his movements and reactions for the journey ahead of nearly 4000 km.

--

7 hours later, the terrain had turned mountainous, tree lined and snowy. Above the valley he was now flying in, mountain range towered thousands of meters higher, snow covered and shining in the bright light of the daylight that he had been chasing in the flight. Locally, it was getting towards dusk, the sun beginning to cause shadows to every now and then lay across the road that the Jedi was flying along. Here, bare 20 km from his destination, he had slowed down, with the path created not for speeders but for ground vehicles. It was almost a walking track in places. But for now, he was flying about 100 km/h, enjoying the view and thinking about what a Jedi should be as he flew and for a critical moment forgetting to be mindful and on his guard as he might have been if he was impersonating Tohmahawk….

And hence he was not able to react fast enough as a person in white camouflage gear stepped out onto the path, pointed a missile and fired. The rocket came at the speeder, missing the cockpit by a breath, to tag and blow apart one of the thrusters mounted on the vertical tail plane. The speeder went out of control, spearing hard into a group of trees, bringing down branches and snow with a deafening crash. A secondary explosion blew apart a base of a tree, brining it down on top of the wreckage. As the snow from trees around the wreck settled, the echoing noises drifted away into a total and chilling silence.

Nothing stirred at the crash site, not a hint of life could be seen by the dozen or so camouflaged soldiers, who were now coming out of hiding and coming forward, guns aimed and ready for anyone that could have possibly survived.

Which, given the mess the speeder was now in, was unlikely.

--

Blood.

Something burning. A electrical ozone smell. Touch. Pain.

Pain!

He opened his eyes, feeling like they weighed too much to lift. Crash balloons surrounded him, slowly deflating. The harness that had kept in the seat bit into his left shoulder, his left leg seemed to be…. Numb. He took a deep breath and it was all he could do to not scream at the searing agony. His mouth tasted of blood. Pieces of plexiglass were scattered all over him, as he moved slightly he could hear some slide off. One of his hands didn’t seem to want to respond. His whole body he realised felt battered and bruised and for a moment, he had no idea how he ended up like this. One moment he had been flying and then the next… the next…. Next

White figure. Missile. Frell, ambushed!

Something told him he had been tricked. There was no Tondry at Whitetown, there was only whoever was out there, moving to finish him off. It meant whoever had tried to ambush Tau Team was now trying to get him in revenge. Someone must have figured out it had been Tohmahawk who was with Tau Team. And now someone must be lashing out at him. How they did could wait. Firstly he had to get out of this somehow alive.

His mobile hand reached to the release of the harness, hitting it and releasing the straps. Immediately he felt the trapped arm become mobile and one hell of a bolt of pain as he leaned on the quite clearly broken ribs. He bit his lip, searching for the calmness and peace that was the Force, the Force that could deaden the pain, to allow him to force the numb leg to move, to allow him to reach out and locate the …..10, 11… no 12 men moving to circle the crashed speeder.

Three in front, 9 from behind. The front three may well catch me as I try to get out, they have to be dealt with first

One of his hands reached for one of his rail guns, the other went for his sword.

--

The three in front stopped about twenty meters from the wreck, aiming their weapons, ready to shoot anyone who might try to come out. A few seconds pause, then quite abruptly, there was a sound of a whip crack, then one of the ambushers was blown apart in spectacular fashion. The other two, frozen by the suddenness and the fact they were now wearing a good deal of human splatter on their clothes and faces, meant they didn’t react fast enough as the whip crack sounded out a rapid fire dozen times, leaving only boots, shreds of body parts and redness across the snow.

--

The other ambushers paused as the others disappeared into red mists. For them, it was a fatal mistake.

--

Marcus dropped the rail gun, smashed open the remains of the canopy and with his good leg, managed to leap outwards and clear. The sword was now looking more like a blade of ice and it danced as he came down to land awkwardly, but not enough that he already was in position when the first shot came at him. Ice fist’s blade caught the blaster bolt and in a flare of light, it reflected back, snapped frozen and now a deadly high-speed dagger of ice. It missed the shooter, to bury itself 15 cm into a tree trunk. The Jedi pushed off with his good leg again, jumping hard and high and high, deflecting and returning a blaster bolt back at it’s origin. The now frozen plasma struck the trooper in the eye, he keeled over virtually decapitated. Another jump bought him close enough to another ambusher, who was cut into two snap frozen pieces by the flashing blade.

A shot from behind was met by the whirling sword, which then flew through the air to impale the shooter in the chest. As that ambusher fell like a statue to the ground, the Jedi held up a hand, concentrating in the Force. Two blaster bolts were blocked by the Force and his hand, before the gun was taken out of the attacker’s hand, to be reversed and shooting it’s former owner dead.

4 down in a few seconds. The remaining 5 ambushers barely had time to get cover and in fact one didn’t, shot as he tried to get behind a snow bank. The Jedi felt in the Force, there was only four left, scattered and singled out. Their transport wasn’t far way, with no one in it. In a blink of a card draw, the odds had changed, instead of an ambushed Jedi, there were now 4 ambushers who only had one chance to survive.

“Whoever you are, your only chance is to surrender to me!” Marcus yelled. “Surrender and live!”

The reply was a blaster bolt, aimed at his throat . The sword danced again, sending the bolt flying away and cutting a branch in half. Just a s quickly, the Jedi leaped upwards…. And seemingly, didn’t come down.

Four sets of eyes and ears scanned for the being they had been sent to kill, wary of the sudden turning of tables. One was looking cautiously around from the tree he was covering behind, when a small noise and a scrape made him look up. Snow came down on his face, blinding him, so he never saw the sword drop downwards, skewering him and turning him into a frozen object. Marcus landed on the ground, reaching over and pulling the sword out of what was now basically an icicle, so brittle with super-cold that the human shattered as the sword was tugged on. The Jedi moved away quietly, struggling to walk with the numb and seemingly useless leg, but with the Force his ally, still managing to move at a high pace.

One of the remaining failed ambushes cautiously looked over a snow covered bunch of bushes, trying to see where his target was. A white ball of snow smashed into his face, which made him splutter and stumble backwards, not seeing the knife that was now flying, lodging itself in the ambusher’s chest with a thump.

Two left. Both of them managed to combine, guns pointed outwards as they tried to move in the direction of their escape craft. As they made the road, a snow drift they stepped over erupted, the sword of the Jedi spearing one of the two as Marcus came out of his hiding place in a rush. The single remaining ambusher however managed to kick the Jedi in the chest. A huge jolt of agony nearly crippled him, the pain from the kick to the ribs blasting through his system like a shockwave. Marcus hissed a breath in, calling on the Force as he came on guard, the sword no longer in his hands, but stuck in the chest of the one he had speared. The Jedi eyed off the attacker, then blocked two highly quick punches, and replying with one of his own, which only inflamed his broken bones once again. The last attacker seemed to realise the Jedi was now vulnerable pulling out a wicked looking blade, before leaping at Marcus, knife slashing. The Jedi managed to step back and allow the blade to whoosh past, only to stumble as his legs seemed suddenly weak and almost gave out.

This is it…

He called on the Force once again, knowing there was no other chance and even that seemed slim as the ambusher leapt at him, the blade this time swiping his throat. Both men rolled in a heap, the Jedi now intent on stopping the knife from doing damage again. Ribs and other injuries screamed with firey pain, his grip on the Force was loosening…

Now!

The mind reached out, touching the sword. It came out of the body it was in, flew high, seeming to glow with a light of it’s own as it spun in the air. The attacker heard something behind him, turned and saw what seemed to be a bolt of lightning crashing down on him….

The sword dropped on the ambusher and with barely a sound, cut deep and into the heart. The ambusher shuddered, then collapsed on top of the blood smeared Jedi. Marcus groaned as the full dead weight squeezed his chest, before he managed to roll the carcass off himself.

And there he lay, staring upward, gasping heavily as he struggled to recover enough to be able to sit up.

“Oh man…. I feel….” An abrupt explosion sounded out and he twisted around. A ball of flame was rising above the trees from where he bad sensed the speeder from before.

What the…? Oh, I think I understand Bunch of expendables sent to get rid of me, then set to die even if they succeeded….

He was feeling awfully weak. He hardly noticed the sword was still glowing as he reached over, pulling it out of the smoking body of the last attacker. Marcus had a bad attack of vertigo, falling over the dead person. He closed his eyes, waiting for the attack to be over.

Leaning heavily no the sword, he managed to get up, not failing to notice the rather worrying amount of blood he left over the dead man. He ripped a piece of his clothes off, putting it to the wound on his neck to staunch the flow of blood. He tried to move back to the crashed speeder, but he simply found his feet would not obey his brain, tripping up and falling face first into the snow, the sword underneath him…

That’s it, he thought. I can’t go any further. I’m too weak.

I’m dying.

There was a curious peace that came over the Jedi, closing his eyes and accepting it was all over. He was one with the Force. He was a Jedi. He was leaving and he would be reunited with the ones he loved whom had died before him. He would see Helenias finally again…. Too tired and in too much pain, he breathed out, accepting his own death

Marcus….

He was hearing things. He could have sworn that was Helenias’ voice.

Marcus… look at me….

She must have been waiting for me as well. Haven’t I only just died? He pondered.

… look at me….

He was experienced a curiously light floating feeling. No more pain. He could move. He looked up. And absolutely gaped. There was a being standing in front of him, shimmering with a bright light that dazzled his eyes. A fierce looking being, He was surrounded with fire and clothed in white.

.. Your task is not finished.

My…. What? He said, surprised

…. Callista. You are to stop her training a new apprentice to take your place. The time of the Opening is near. Take the Amulet and destroy it, seal the evil away forever…..

This was not what he was expecting. The amulet, that jewel he kept with him… no was presently with – where was it? He hadn’t thought about it for a year.

…. Finish your task….. Do not rest until it is over…..

He just stared as the flames around the being dimmed, then the being itself dissolved with a burst of light – but as it did he, saw an image of a woman, sleeping in a bed peacefully, his wife – he stared, finding himself looking down on her, reaching out to touch her face. Fingers touched warm flesh as she woke, opened her eyes and smiled…

Reality came back as he took a shuddering, pain laced breath. The sword under him was warm, not cold as usual. The Jedi rolled off it, seeing it was glowing brightly. He felt life in his limbs, warmth flooded through him as his mind reached out to the Force automatically.

What in the Galaxy had he seen? And that image of Helenias, it was like she was still alive?

He could think of that later. Right now, he just knew he had to live. Dying was not an option. Somehow, Somehow, he found the strength to drag himself upright, some how managed to move back to the wreck of the speeder. He realised he reason why his leg was numb was because it was broken, he could feel the way it moved wrongly and even could feel the bones grinding. He didn’t want to think about it. The ribs felt like fire with each breath and movement. Somehow, he managed to get a backpack out of the wreck, he go the cold weather gear on, strapped his rail guns to the outside, the sabre hanging from the belt.

And with that done, he dragged himself to where the road was. Now with darkness falling, he knew resting would be fatal.

I’m not going to die in this place, he thought. Calling on the Force to aid his weaken body, he took the first step on the long, cold road to Whitetown. Step, by slow and painful step he began to walk, leaving the wreckage, the bodies and his sword, still glowing, aside and forgotten. There was only one thought on his mind now.

Live.

Seconds went into minutes, minutes dragged into hours. Night came in all of it’s bitterness.

Live.

The dawn came. He was single purpose now, not stopping for anything, knowing that if he did, he wouldn’t move again. The vague warmth the sun gave helped as it warmed what felt like frozen flesh, however the deep and biting cold was still in him. It numbed his body so he could hardly feel a thing, dulled the pains till they were nothing. Step by step, he walked, stumbled. Fell. Screaming at himself, he dragged his body upright and continued on. Night was coming again. He knew he had to find Whitetown had to find help. He would not survive another night and he had to live.

Snow began to fall. A wind began to blow. A full blown storm began. He kept going, seeing the mirage of a house coming to him as there was a break in the snow… not knowing if it was real, he went for it. Not knowing if it was occupied, he came to the front door. Not knowing if the old man who opened the door could help, his body gave out, utterly and completely exhausted by the long walk and the struggle to live, his breath coming in gasps as his mind clung to life by the barest of threads…..

--

In a far away place, a woman, sweating, dishevelled touched her new born son for the first time. She cried as she held the new life, cuddling the most precious of things to her breast

--

A small girl slept peacefully in a room on a huge ship, oblivious to the galaxy and the role she would play in it’s future

--

A man in a NRSF uniform cursed as he tried to get through a mound of paperwork

--

A young golden haired woman looked out over a cold landscape, wondering what her future would bring

--

On another planet, a huge hand reached out and then clenched into a fist

--

A withered old crone also slept, resting for her tasks and her plans, which were coming to fruition

--

In a bed far away, a lone woman awoke suddenly and in a rush. She looked around the room, looking for the person she thought she sensed…..

“No, not thought. I did” she said. She could still feel the lingering touch of fingers on her cheek. She could have sworn that she had had just seen, for the briefest moment as she came awake, the man she loved. He was battered and bloodied, but alive…

Helenias Q’Dunn, known to the Galaxy as Elieen Cross drew her knees up to her chest, hugging them close with her arms and resting her chin on the knees, almost disappointed that all she had seen was a vision and the touch was just an illusion, wishful thinking and longing for a man she had known was dead for 10 years.

But… if he was dead, had seen him die….then why for this one brief moment was he so certain he was alive? And why was she now almost certain…that he was right under her nose, right now? Today, she was going to find this Tohmahawk and she was simply going to ask directly.

But as she continued to think, that vision and that touch…. It just seemed so real….




<a href=http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11423>To be continued………</a>