To put asteroids in TIECD and I think TIE disks, change or add something to Unknown 2, space objects are just for show on the briefing map since they are planets that you can't see during combat. The asteroids are medium sized, not like XWINGs smaller ones, but they'll do fine, you can put many asteroids, I know that you have to put many, or one per group. You CAN'T destroy them, I've tried myself, didn't work. You'll have them in as obstacles, and yoou should really start inside one, just make sure they are spread out alot, or you'll crash, and blow your self up when you crash in one, and if you're gonna put them in in a mission, don't put them in every mission of a battle, it makes it kinda boring to see asteroids every mission, but you might want to have them in some battles. Good luck with it!

Name: Doug Brandei

Rank: Brigadier General

Scandoc Transmission Code (Screen Name): BG Brandei

Sex (M/F): M

Race: Human

Date of Birth: September 3, 1984 (Earth Standard Calander)

Place of Birth (Please include Homeworld): Kansas City, United States,

Earth, Terran System

Marital Status (Single, Married, Divorced, Separated): Single

Family: Mother, Susan Brandei, Father, Jay Brandei

Social Status (Destitute, Poor, Well-to-do, Wealthy, Nobility):

Well-to-do

Significant Events of Childhood & Adolescence: Had a normal childhood,

with the exception of many connections with the Wealthy and Political People of his home

planet. At the age of eleven, went to an Imperial Military School and at eighteen singed up

for the Imperial Navy.

Significant Events of Adulthood: After joining the Imperial Navy began tours of duty in the Hoth, Sepan, Pakuuni, Mylok, Parmel, and Parmic Systems. He was instrumetal in

ending the Sepan Civil War, wipe out the Pakuuni Pirates and build a new platform there,

gain hyperspace capabilities for TIE starfighters, capture the renegade Admiral Harkov,

gain the beam weapon technology, and he personally rescued the Emperor from the Rogue Admiral Zaarin and was awarded the Emperor's Will. He then served under the command of Admiral Thrawn in the campaign to capture Zaarin. During this time he was promoted to General. At that time he transferred to the Emperor's Hammer and became a flight leader in Vav squadron. His callsign was Exarkun. Then, he was appointed part of the Inner Circle and applied for a CMDR position in Intelligence from SDIR Sarkis. He is currently waiting for his new squadron, Watcher and their ship, the STRKC Eye of Odin to be activated. Once he is transferred, will change his name from Exarkun to Brandei as it sounds of more authority to him.

Alignment & Attitude: He is very dedicated and believes all pilots should be active at all times possible.

Former Occupations (if any): None

Hobbies: Baseball, Football, Computers, the Internet, and the Emperor's Hammer

Tragedies: None

Phobias & Allergies: Slight fear of heights

Personal views of the Empire (and Emperor's Hammer): Only through peace and order can the galaxy be glorious and only through the Empire and the Emperor's Hammer can peace and order be restored.

Reason for applying to the Emperor's Hammer Elite Strike Fleet: To bring peace and order to the galaxy.

Other comments or information (optional):

That desert hell sucked everything out of me as I lay haphazardly on the coarse, grainy sand. When my eyes cracked open against the howling wind, and the sunlight sent blistering streaks into the center of my skull, I could not remember a thing. That world had soaked in every thought, every feeling, every part of my past as I had laid helpless, unconscious on its canvas of grit and scorching heat. My past was greedily gulped

in like so much water on the sand.

And then my real life began.

I had nothing but a will to survive, and a lot of stupid, blind luck. My blaster lay on a rock, and all over the rock and all around the rock. Shattered hopelessly by I don't know what. I was even only assuming that it was my blaster. I could remember the words, the descriptions for it and other objects, but how it lost its mechanical existence I still do not know - and will never know.

I travelled blindly, stupidly, for a full day before I stumbled, quite accidentally, upon the means of my survival. I still bow my head in pitiful shame to think of what a

whimpering, pathetic child I was, to lose my wits and my way so readily in those early days.

I stumbled, and fell, and landed upon one of two of the only indiginous creatures that my eyes ever laid witness too on that force-forsaken rock. Some ameoba like creature, parched and gritty and pestilent orange like the sand, exploded under my hand as I tried feebly to break my fall. Thick, orange blood splattered against my face, my hands, my chest... my dry, cracked lips. And so I drank, and found another creature and drank, and for eight years I did not once drink that it wasn't the rusty, metallic tinge of that gritty, oozing blood. No matter how many ways I invented to purify and extract the water, (which, even now, I do not know where it came from other than the veins and arteries and throbbing hearts of those gritty, coarse creatures) - never once could I rid my carved rock cup or

my dry, parched throat of that silvery tasting, rusty-colored liquid.

Meals were worse - an undescribable meat - like sand-paper yet oily and slick. It would ooze sickly down the back of my throat, where it cut the raw flesh so often that I can now swallow glass, it is so calloused and scarred. When I swallow, my spit trickles down slowly through the maze and passageways of my scarred, twisted throat. It is a small wonder that I now use nutritional implants, rather than hope my food has enough

intelligence to navigate that labyrinth.

Eight years of scorching, radiated heat that would bake the surface into a living, writhing creature of distorted vision and mirage. At night, the creature died away to miles and miles of frigid, icy cold and uninterrupted vision - despairing, hopeless vision of an endless, useless horizon, where the sand rolled forward in a great, slow wave of parched dryness. No dew, no frost, no water - ever.

And it happened that after eight years of non-existence, I began my life again.

The morning was hot, crackling dry - when wasn't it? - and those ameoba rocks that I so despised but always sought out - some torturous lovers dance of disgust and intimacy - did not line the concave valley floor. (Not so concave, though, as to provide even an inch of shade for my leather body). I did not know where they had gone... but then it suddenly did not matter, for I was walking forward toward where I was supposed to be. My

footsteps made no sound - for the air was too hot and the molecules refused to vibrate for fear of bursting in spontaneous combustion if they so much as rubbed against one another.

I found myself flat on my face in a pile of dry, dusty grit - the floor of the concave valley had subsided beneath my feet and I had collapsed forward into a landslide of gritty grains, all heading downwards, writhing, struggling to beat out their neighbors and gain the sweet, exhalted cover from the burning sun that only depth and darkness could provide.

When I struggled my way out of the cacophony of desperate sand, I was muffled by opressing darkness. There was no light, no vision... no blistering, scorching sun. I searched behind me, but found the pile of sand had grown to such a depth of delighted, relieved grains that there was no chance of me returning to the surface that way. If I wanted to return to the surface.

I began walking forward, for lack of any other direction. An ameoba slithered by my foot, and I avoided it carefully. I was not yet thirsty, and best to let it live than scare off its kin. The darkness was overwhelming, and I did not know where I was headed, or how long I would enjoy the senses of life to know that all my senses could register nothing. The heat, the darkness, muffled all sounds. Even my heartbeat was silent in the visionless black. The sand so long under my feet registered no impression to my soles, and the only cue of existence was when I tripped and fell to grate my face against the willing rock. I turned carefully to see what it was that had sent me sprawling to the ground yet again, and was surprised to find my hand resting on something cold, metallic. It was long, and sharp, and had a textured, leather grip at one end. I rose to my feet slowly, hefting the weapon carefully from the ground - afraid any motion might cause it to disintergrate into heat and

dust. But it did not, and I tested it lightly in my hands, feeling it motion against my wrist. I knew the word for this thing - it was a sword.

Rather than the heat of my body and the air and the oven sand warming that cool, metallic blade, its icy touch began to run into my sinewy, leather flesh. The opressive heat did not buzz incessantly against the back of my eyeballs any longer - each breath slowly ceased to be a scorching, desperate struggle to gain the oxygen without igniting it in this incredible heat. My vision, too, began to focus on shades of black in front of me. Shadows formed where there was no light - outcroppings and malicious stones preparing to throw my step were revealed well before any danger to my flesh. The cool sword extended into my hand slowly - the leathery grip becoming less foreign by the instant as I began to toy and swing the ageless blade.

Another ameoba rock slithered by, and I crushed it angrily, annoyed, under my sole. How dare this creature cross my path, and expect to live? After I had survived eight years on this flayed rock, how dare it think that it had any right over me? I bent down, picked up the crushed form out of habit. I was not thirsty, and made only a precursory swallow of its life-giving (ironically, since that which gave it life was usually my cause for its death) liquid.

As I marched forward, a sense of annoyance pervaded my being. That I should have to waste my time marching around this black, dark cave at the whim of this planet and sand that would not support me. That I would have to spend my energy to walk and to

move in this oppresive heat just so that he....

He...? What he...? I shook my head to clear this strange thought. There were no he's or it's or any living things on this planet, but me and the ameoba rocks. The blade grew cooler in my hand, and the thoughts faded with its gentle, soothing relief.

The darkness was peeled away from my vision slowly, starting from the sides and moving inwards. Shades of black slowly resolved into shades of gray and black, and movement of shadows and stillness of rock. I stomped forward, increasingly angered that I wasted my time in this stupid cave under the scorching sand of this barren rock that lay submissive under the fusion sun, its crust being burnt away layer by agonizing layer as I...

... threw myself backward violently, the huge, clawed paw sweeping the air in front of me. There was a huge, rumbling, ground-shaking noise.... of laughter... as I lay prostrate on the rock.

"Welcome," a huge, soundless voice projected, resonating in my bones. "I do not get many visitors to my lair."

Words were foreign to my tongue... it had been so long - and even then, I had not remembered where I had use for words before anyways.

"I... wh...." I stuttered, my mouth aching to form long forgotten shapes and sounds.

"Do we tremble in fear?" the voice asked smoothly... but I could hear the reproach and arrogance, standing out like the red infection of a wound. "Do not fear," the voice rumbled, vibrating the blade and my bones.

I felt, suddenly, something repulsive and disgusting against my forehead, and I shuddered violently as I leapt backwards. That voice, intent and domineering, rolled roughly in a fresh bout of rumbling laughter. "Ahhhhh..." it sighed knowingly. I could

sense the arrogance, the danger, in the sigh. "You are lost, young human," it said solemnly.

"... hu...human?" I muttered, unsure. I was suddenly, in a blind flash, consumed with red, hot anger. How could it know, when I do not? How DARE it know things about me that I did not? I choked the anger down, roughly, preventing myself from lunging right then and there at the invisible, unknown creature. The anger subdued, chilling unexplainably into a cold, icy kernel of hate and loathing. I could feel the air around me warm slightly, as if the red-hot anger had been funelled into the air, like some heat-sink, so that it could cool and harden and focus.

I felt the creature in front of my pull back in... in fear? It did not seem like fear... but like resignation. No! I shouted to myself. It fears me! My anger and my blade!

"Human," the creature rumbled deeply, sagely. "It is not your body that is lost."

I managed, finally, to utter something comprehensible from my mouth. "Do not dare to tell me about me! You are arrogant to think that you can know me - me! Who survived desolately for these eight years without any help on this scorched, arid rock! Do not DARE TO TOUCH MY THOUGHTS!" I raged suddenly.

I expected fear, cowering fear from that immense, unseen creature. I could feel its hot breath whipping my hair in the narrow passage as it let out another, rumbling sigh. "You cannot understand my victory," it said simply, and I could sense that it lowered its head, its body.. its defenses... as it resigned to my cold, narrow rage - my fearful and awesome power.

From where? Where does this power come? I suddenly demanded of myself, but the cold blade sent icy shivers into my hand - piercing my temples with cold, stale hate. The blade raged forward, and I followed willingly, urgently. The cold, icy hate enveloped me as I plunged the metallic blade into the creature's wolflike body, piercing through to its throbbing, pulsing heart. The blade scorched my hand, and threw me back, as if it wanted

no part but its own in this death. The cold fury enveloped my vision, but still I saw. Some trick of the non-light, or of my eye or mind... but the creature.. almost .... did it smile?

Thick, red, flowing blood bubbled from its fangs and hinged jaw, but yet it lived and spoke. Its voice was no less powerful, and the rocks trembled and its might. "For three-thousand years, this planet has been smoldered by the red-hot, defeated rage of

what now consumes you. The icy chill in your bones is false - it is not true relief from this agonizing heat." The creature's monstrous lungs hitched and gurgled as they fiilled with blood. Its voice wavered, cracked, but still reverberated stone. "Drink of me..." it gasped finally, its eyes beginning to whiten with death. "Drink of my blood... drink of true... true relief...from this torturous.... heat." Its jaw closed mightly, and the great, vicious fangs were hidden. I knew it lied - its blood was poisonous and this creature gnawed for my death. Yet...

"It is not your body..... it is ... your soul," the creature gasped suddenly, blood pouring from its belly. Inexplicably, I was drawn towards that poison blood. Through habit or treachery, my mouth yearned to drink of the red, flowing liquid. My throat ached with desire to taste its coolness on my skin. As I drew closer, the rage and red-hot fury inside me whirled violently, agonizingly, through my veins. The icy-cold metallic blade could no longer quench the violent, heated fury inside. I was compelled to drink of the cool, relieving blood of the creature.

POISON!!!! I screamed to myself suddenly, shockingly.

TREACHERY!!!

DEATH!!!

POISON!!!!

TRICK!!! DEFEAT!!!!

The monstrous, grotesque creature let out one final, weak phrase before the blood finally stopped pulsing from its lifeless heart. But to who it talked, I do not know... for I am

sure it was not to me.

"I have defeated you again... though you will never understand."

The rage fled my body, the desire fled my body - all thoughts, feelings and sensations fled my body, and I collapsed in a fleshy, bony heap to the dusty ground. For the first time in my entire eight years, I did not drink the life-blood of that planets offering.

Now, I stand and feel that cold, icy chill again. My Emperor has begun the battle for Endor, and will surely crush the pathetic rebellion. For many years have I flown under the focused, hardened anger that only my Emperor can bestow. I fled the hot rage of that desert place, and found a man who could subdue the fire with icy hate. Slowly, I began to learn to subdue it myself, without my Emperor's constant influence. But forever will he remain my master, as the hot, blind fury would surely have consumed me otherwise. Perhaps, soon, the icy blade I practice will control my hot fury - its hard, metallic point

focusing the rage into the hate and ice that brings my power. And perhaps the vacccuum of space outside the focused existence of fighter combat will marry the focus of my blade, and I will have all that I require to turn the rage into hardened hate. Without my Emperor, I would have been lost to blindness. Now, I see clearly, with the focus of metal married to pinpoint laser. To my Emperor I owe my existence, my power, my focus.

Though it is long since my master's death, I still mourn as if it were just a minute past that I learned of the rebels treacherous destruction. I know that my Emperor did not fail at Endor - my master could not fail. Thus, I live in the existence prior to that time, when my Emperor was to lead me to victory and focus. He promised me victory, and at the existence before Endor I shall remain, until my Emperor returns to unveil his victorious plan for his Empire. Until then, I shall practice my combat, my blade.

My focus.

(Harconan's Story)

Much controversy had spread over the Fleet since Admiral Bill Phillips' selection for CA. It was Harconan Atraites. A former CA:XO. He was demoted to Lieutenant General and CMDR because of Disrespect, but that is another story.

A lot of COs didn't agree with Bill's choice, half probably because so many rumors had spread about Harconan, the other half because they simply didn't like Harc. But Bill knew what he was doing. Harconan had been given many recommendations and Bill felt Harc had changed enough that he would still make a good CA:SCO. Bill of course, is the Science Officer.

* * *

Harconan Atraites was adjusting his Position Badge when AD Bill walked in.

"I need you to do me a favor today.....," said Bill looking Harconan in the eye.

"Sure. That's what I'm here for, eh?" replied Harc with a sly grin. "What is it?", asked Harconan with a raised eyebrow.

"I need you to run down to Vice Admiral Faron and deliver our banner design to him. He should like it, a -------------------- ," answered Bill.

"I know I like it. We worked hard on designing it and it should pay off. Maybe I can get VA Ghost to do the Graphics?", asked Harc with some enthusiasm.

"Excellent.......," was Bill's only response shaking his head.

"I've got to go review some new plans from DEC, I'll catch up with you later," said Bill as he slipped away into his private quarters.

Harconan basically had a day off other than delivering their banner plans to VA Faron, which he was about to do right now, so he headed over to VA Ghost's quarters. He pushed the electronic "doorbell" and waited for a response.

The door quickly slid open and Vice Admiral Ghost's face appeared.

"Harc! What's up?", asked Ghost with some surprise.

"Bill and I just got done designing our CO banner and we were wondering if you could maybe.........make it for us?" Harc put on a "Pretty Please" face and said, "Your a Master at Graphics........:)"

"Well, I'm pretty busy but...........Okay Harc, I'll do it for Ya," said Ghost as he gave in to Harconan's suggestion.

"Great! Just give me a link when it's finished," said Harconan as he patted Ghost on the shoulder.

"Will do," was all Harc heard as he turned to walked back toward his chambers.

Harc was only five meters from the door to his chamber when a LOUD siren began to call. Harconan recognized the sound and immediately rushed for the bridge. The SSSD was under attack and at the moment, caught asleep.

"Sir, there are CRLs and many other Rebel craft, starboard!" yelled a bridge officer from an unknown whereabouts.

Harconan saw the GA sitting in his Command Chair listening to young new recruits sizing up the battle. He seemed surprisingly calm.

"Sir, shall I ready my Guardian?", asked Harconan anxiously.

"Yes, here's a chance to earn yourself a medal," replied the GA with a slight smile.

"Sir," said Harc with a nod as he headed off to his personal ship, the TIE Guardian.

Within about a half-hour, Harc was well into the battle. He had already taken 8 Rebel craft, a variety of X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, Z-95s and B-Wings. Harc was about to call it quits when he heard a cry from his intercom.

"HELP!" An entire squadron of Rebel B-Wing had headed straight for LG Lee!

"Oh ****" said Harconan as he turned his ship towards Lee.

Lee had managed to outmaneuver 3 B-Wings into the Sovereign but there were still 9 fresh B-Wings to take care of. Harc quickly took out 4 B-Wings and Lee got 2 more. Finally, the rest of the B-Wings gave up and looked for another target.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harconan saw Major General Curraalt in his A-9 with four Advanced-Concussion Missiles about 2 klicks away headed straight for him. Harc gave a warning and Curraalt was able to juke out 3 of the missiles. One still remained and was gaining speed. In desperation, Harc clicked off his shields and lasers, put throttle to full, and headed straight for the remaining missile. Harc put his hands on the eject lever as sweat poured down his face.

Only 0.13 clicks away from the missile, Harc ejected out of the Guardian and the missile was destroyed saving Curraalt. Curraalt then picked up throttle and destroyed the original X-Wing that had launched those cursed missiles.

Harconan was soon picked up by an Imperial Rescue craft and taken back to the Sovereign.

After a week in a bacta tank, Harconan was formally awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in the battlefield a week before. After talking with Curraalt a bunch of other CAs and COs, Harconan began to head out of the awards chamber when the GA Ronin tapped him on the shoulder.

"You owe me 100,000,000 credits for that Guardian pilot....." Grand Admiral Ronin put on a big smile, and gave Harc one more congratulation.

The End

As you can see above, I am now a Squadron Commander in the Emperor's Hammer Strike Fleet. I didn't start out in that position, or get to it without hard work. Here is my story:

I was the oldest male child of a fairly prominant Kuati couple. My father was employed by Kuat Drive Yards. As his oldest male child, it was assumed that I would eventually take a telbun (the Kuati version of a "mail-order bride") and follow him in business. That was not for me. Inside I felt the warrior's call and sitting in a board room or studying engineering made me restless. For these reasons, I went against my parents strongest wishes and enrolled in the Imperial Naval Acadamy.

Upon arriving at the Academy, the new cadets were given numerous tests. It was soon clear that my eyesight, reflexes, and ability to think clearly in a 3 dimensional space make me a natural pilot. In the pilot program, I did not dissappoint. I routinely won the various contests held among the cadets and proved myself to be the best pilot in the class. While I did not graduate at the top of my class (mainly due to my lack of drive in the classroom, and perhaps too much time spent in the flight simulators) I was in the top 1 percent.

My first postings were routine, but I performed well in my role as a TIE pilot. After proving myself in some real combat, and beginning to acquire a reputation as a bit of a hotshot pilot, I was transferred to Admiral Harkov's battle group. As is well known now, Harkov proved to be a despicable traitor and I took pleasure in being among the forces that

brought him to justice. However, while under Harkov's command, I had my first contact with secret envoys of the Emperor.

These mysterious men would usually appear just after I had recieved a mission briefing and give me additional orders. They were not contrary to the other "normal" orders I had recieved, but usually involved the inspection and capture of vessels that had caught the Emperor's eye. I quickly learned that it was a bad practice to displease these envoys and made every effort to succeed in both the "normal" and "secret" missions.

Unknown to me at this time, the Emperor had begun to develop a elite squadron of pilots whose sole purpose would be the capture of enemy ships. He envisioned having two flights of Assault Gunboats, and one of Tie Advanced to provide cover for the gunboats and their ion cannons. This squadron was to be named Shadow Squadron.

Meanwhile, I was continuing to serve in the Imperial Navy. In the months to come, I served under Admiral Zaarin until he too turned on the Emperor. I then became part of the mission under Vice Admiral Thrawn that wiped Zaarin out.

Upon completion of this honorable mission, I was approached by an envoy of the Emperor. He said, "The Emperor has a special use for one with skills such as yours. Come with me, a shuttle awaits...."

I was taken to personally meet the Emperor. It was the proudest, and most frightening, moment of my career. There he gave me command of Shadow Squadron. He placed me in the Tie Advanced because he said my skills were best utilized there. I did not argue. Shadow was not a normal squadron. In addition to being exceptional pilots, we were sent to a crash course on commando tactics, hand to hand fighting, demolitions, and other special skills that we sometimes needed to carry out missions without support from ground troops. The Emperor and Lord Vader even began to train some of us, myself included, in what they called the Force. Although we were nominally based on board the Executor, we spent extended periods of time away from the ship while on assignment. We also did not report to any of the Wing Commanders aboard or the Commodore. Apparently, this had been made clear to them by someone and there were no conflicts.

Instead, we reported to the Emperor himself, although we often went through Lord Vader when he was aboard.

We were present at the Battle of Endor. Although it was not our normal mission profile to simply destroy enemy ships, and the Assault Gunboats were not especially well suited for that type of engagement, the Emperor deemed our presence necessary. During the battle, we were contacted directly by his personal counselors on a special communication freqency. We could not coordinate with the other Imperial craft even if

we had wanted to, such was the secrecy of our squadron. The Emperor's counselors would pick out certain craft for us to take out, normally rebel pilots that were being particularly effective.

The battle was going well, when suddenly the shield surrounding the Death Star collapsed and rebel craft flew into the superstructure. I asked our commanders if they wished us to pursue. They responded that we should not, and ordered us to carry out an attack on a Calamari crusier that was beginning to pound on the Executor's shields. While I did question the order, I also wished to defend our mothership.

It was all for naught. The Executor's shields fell, and a lone rebel A-Wing crashed through the bridge, crippling the mighty ship. It fell into the Death Star's gravity, and both were engulfed in a gigantic fireball. My Emperor was gone. I could feel the lack of order sweeping through the Imperial forces that remained. The unthinkable was happening; we were being routed. Without the Emperor's direction, several of Shadow Squadron were killed. Realizing that victory was impossible, I ordered my squadron to retreat to our own special rendezvous point. I was covering their jump out, when I was clipped with ion cannon fire from a rebel ship.

There was nothing to do but wait for capture now. The Lambda-Class shuttle that was approaching no doubt carried a crew to capture me. Then I thought, "These rebels are expecting a normal Imperial Pilot who can fly, but not fight with his hands. Suprise, suprise....."

Still I knew it would not be easy. I heard the docking clamp attach to the Tie Advanced and waited and tried to remember my rudimentary lessons in the Force. The top hatch opened. A rebel trooper pointed his blaster at me and fired. I somehow blocked the blast with my hand and directed it back into the shuttle. I didn't waste much time wondering how I had done it, but leaped up into the shuttle. The guard who had fired on me was stunned, and there were only two more guards and the pilot. The guards were groggy from the small amount of the stun blast they had caught and I dispatched them quickly. The pilot got up, and from his fighting stance, I could tell that the rebels didn't teach this pilot how to fight. A few seconds later, and I was in possession of a Lambda-Class shuttle.

As much as I hated to abandon my craft, I knew I could not restore power in the short ammount of time I had before the other rebels realized what had happened. I stuffed the four rebels into the T/A (there wasn't much room left) and set course for the rendezvous point that the rest of Shadow Squadron had left for 30 minutes ago.

As I came out of hyperspace at the rendezvous point, I was planning how to get Shadow to believe I wasn't a rebel before they blasted me to bits. I needn't have worried. All that was at the rendezvous were blasted Assault Gunboats and T/A's. I didn't know what happened to my squadron and I probably never will. Most likely, some rebels noted their escape vector and trailed them to the rendezvous. However, there were no destroyed rebel ships and I had a difficult time believing that Shadow Squadron could be completely destroyed in under 30 mintues without destroying any of their attackers.

With nothing else to do (the Emperor had not given us the rest of the fleet's rendezvous point, so sure was he of our success) and nothing but rebel bases in the navicomputer, I manually set up a jump to the only space port I could remember the coordinates for offhand----Mos Eisley.

In Mos Eisley, I heard many rumors in the various cantinas. The most intriguing was one of a self-appointed Warlord Zsinj who was commanding the SSD Iron Fist, which was the sister ship of the Executor. After asking the right questions to the right people, I found out where I could contact some of Zsinj's people.

I was excited at the opportunity to rejoin the Imperial Navy. Once again I would command other craft in battle. Upon reporting for duty with Zsinj, I thought that there seemed to be something wrong. There was something familiar about the manner of the troops, pilots, and other officers under Zsinj.... They were remarkably similiar to those I had "served" with under Admirals Harkov and Zaarin. They were traitors. But how could they be traitors, now that the Emperor was dead? Did the Empire die with him? I did not think so, but couldn't imagine that the Emperor's legacy was the likes of Zsinj and his dogs. However, I bided my time, since I had no where else to go. I served with them for quite

some time, and my disgust grew.

One day in the officers mess, I heard someone at another table say "Emperor's Hammer." I had not heard this term before so I listened more closely. Two officers were discussing something called the Emperor's Hammer which they said was located in the outer rim in the Aurora system. This suprised me because I had thought that the Aurora system was not a system, but just a star with no planets. Still, the way these two officers spoke of the Emperor's Hammer as a bunch of "goody-goodies who cling to the memory of the Emperor" made me want to learn more of this group.

I arranged a transfer to a cargo piloting group of Zsinj's fleet. My fellow "officers" were somewhat surprised at my transfer from the TIE ranks to what amounted to piloting a garbage barge. I think they simply assumed that I was a coward who couldn't handle real combat. Little did they know...

After a few months I found myself piloting a transport so packed with cargo that there was no troop contingent on the transport, just myself and my co-pilot. Since we were piloting a cargo of scrap metal to the resmelting plant, we did not have a fighter escort. This was my chance. I had kept my fighting skills secret from all. Thus, my co-pilot had a very surprised look on his face when I slipped a vibroblade between his ribs. I dumped my cargo and the dead co-pilot and set my course.

I figured that simply flying into the Aurora system, unannounced and unscheduled, was probably a good way to get shot down. So using an alias, Dean Stell, I signed on as a crewman on a freighter bound for Aurora. Once reaching Aurora, I "took a break" and found a security officer. I told him who I was and that I wished to report for duty.

Naturally he was quite skeptical.

After a thorough debriefing, the security types were satisfied that I was in fact some sort of pilot due to my knowledge of starfighters. However, apparently Shadow Squadron was so secret that the Emperor's Hammer had no record of it. In fact they had no record of me at all, not even of my attending the academy. My background must have been erased

when I joined Shadow Squadron.

Since they were very suspicous of my background, my loyalties, and my explanation as to my whereabouts for the last two years, I was not surprised when I was not given command of a squadron. I was not even made a Flight Leader, but was relegated to the status of Flight Member.

Although I was displeased with this, I knew that if I worked hard to prove my worth, I would be promoted. As a member of Flight Group 3 of Yod Squadron in Wing IV aboard the SSSD Sovereign I strove to become as active as possible. I completed several battles to prove myself in combat.As a change, and to impress my SQCO (then) BG Dark Raptor, I worked on a banner for the squadron although I am not terribly artistic. I also

made some good friends within my squadron. General Perry and I got along well, and we talked of the day when our true worth would be noticed and we would be promoted. Our Flight Leader GN Moch left under unusual circumstances and we got a new FL, GN Hawkeye. Hawkeye was a great FL and he and I still stay in touch. In the weeks to follow there were some changes in the roster as we got a new FL, GN Riker, and my friend GN

Perry was promoted to FL of Epsilon 2. I was happy for my friend.

In the meantime, I noticed a chance to join the Dark Brotherhood of the Jedi. This was my opportunity to continue the training begun by the Emperor and Lord Vader. I have applied to the Shadow Academy to hasten the learning of new skills. I also joined the Aggressor Wing to better hone my piloting skills. Sooner or later I would be noticed.

After actively soliciting for FL spots, I recieved several offers. WC/LG Devin of Wing I aboard the SSSD Sov offered me command of Epsilon Squadron and WC/LG Gunner offered me command of Slayer Squadron aboard the SSD Avenger (another sister ship of the Executor). Although it was a difficult decision, I chose to go to Epsilon because it was an active squadron, while Slayer had no pilots. Also, going to Epsilon would be a reunion of sorts with my friend GN Perry. At first I was apprehensive about how Perry would take the news, and hoped it wouldn't hurt our friendship, but I had nothing to fear as he was very professional and defused what could have been a awkward situation.

Now I have regained what I had before. I am a Squadron Commander taking my flights into combat. Perhaps in the future I will rise even farther.....

It was late mid-morning cycle aboard the Super-Star Destroyer Avenger, almost time for the mid-day meal when Kevin "Rogue" Colton reached his destination. Strolling casually through the halls he checked his chrono and hit the comm button. "Rogue here." The door opened and he walked into the largely empty office.

"How 'bout this huh?" Raemes Sarkis gestured approvingly around him. "I know it's not done yet still moving some of my stuff up from my barracks, but what do you think."

"Looks good, and a short walk from the barracks. Looks like you've carved a pretty good niche for yourself."

"I know what your thinking and forget it, I'm not turning in my wings to fly a desk."

Rogue smiled. "I hope not, that thing wouldn't last long out there."

"Too true. As for the location, the detention center is just down the hall. Soon the prisoner surveillance equipment will be routed to this office, it will be invaluable to interrogation."

Rogue looked around quickly, appraising the subtle construction. "Looks like Imperial Intelligence is just about ready to go on-line."

"Yes, but that's not why I called you up here." That got Rogue's attention he stopped looking at the packing crates and focused on Sarkis's desk.

"Is that why?" He said pointing to the data pad on Sarkis's desk.

"Yes, Intel has an urgent mission that we have been assigned to complete." He typed something on the data pad and began reading some of a file. "Four days ago a member of the Hammer defected to the New Republic."

Rogue interrupted. "Why did it take so long to find out?"

"He cleverly found a bug in our central library system, the bug has been removed but not before the defector erased all of the records and holos of existence." Sarkis looked troubled. "The reason I called you up here is not because of some lowly defector, I need someone I can trust. The defector has somehow, stolen the plans to the TIE Protector." Sarkis let that sink in. "And his most probable action is to sell them to the NewRep's."

Rogue thought quickly, he couldn't tell precisely, but something felt wrong about this. "How did the defector escape?"

"That was one of the first things that was erased from the system, but it didn't take long before the work crews noticed a shuttle missing. So let me give you what we have so far, then we can work together to alleviate the problem." Sarkis brings up his check list. "All we have is a callsign, ILKO Spawn." He looked at Rogue seeing if this would get a reaction. "Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, but I can't remember where I heard it before."

"ILKO was one of the master encrypt codes that we used to transfer data between Coruscant and the first Death Star construction site at Horuz. With this as well as the job done on our central library system, I think its safe to say that we are dealing with a master slicer who has an affinity for old encrypt codes."

"No kidding." Rogue said sarcastically. "So, have you questioned the other members that came in contact with this, ILKO?"

"No."

"No? Then you don't have any..." It hit Rogue like a turbolaser blast, and he realized what felt wrong about this. "ILKO had help, possibly from the inside."

"Now you see how trust comes in, although the thought sickens me as well ILKO could have had someone else on the inside. Nobody just steals info from the EH and walks away unnoticed. That fact that ILKO succeeded at all is enough to suggest that there could be other double agents around. And questioning members could attract unwanted attention."

"So where do we start."

"With food, I'm starving." Sarkis presses the comm button at his desk. "Galley, send two of today’s specials up to my office. And some Whyren's Reserve, I suspect this might take some time."

After a short lunch of some indescribable stew and Corellian whiskey, Sarkis and Rogue were getting increasingly irritated with the Avenger's flight logs. "This is no use there are no flight records for shuttles for the past week, ILKO must have erased them all." Sarkis threw his mug across the room in disgust.

"Wait a sec, what about maintenance records?"

"Yeah, you're right." Sarkis quickly started typing on the data pad. "All right! Here it is, Shuttle ST-834. Last preflight fueling, 4.2 days ago, but that still doesn't tell us where he went for sure. I still think Coruscant is our best bet. Wait." Sarkis keyed up a menu. "We allow personal ships aboard after a through inspection, we then give then appropriate transponder ID's."

"Yeah, so."

"Well let's see if they match up."

"Wait whats that last one?" Rogue asked.

"Let's see." He typed and nothing happened. "Let's look in 'more info'."

Sarkis looks it over. "Let's see what we can learn about GN Wyndok." Nothing happened. "Well I'd say we have ILKO's back-up man. Let's go down to the hangar and check it out in person."

Sarkis and Rogue go to the secondary hangar, just in time to see a MURT leave. They both run for the nearest control console. Sarkis enters in some data while Rogue tries to get a closer look. "That's got to a higher weapons rating than 1. It's covered in guns." Rogue remarked.

"It's course is consistent with Coruscant." Sarkis said. "If we hurry we might still be able to catch him before he goes to lightspeed. Let's go." Sarkis takes off for the CORT, Rogue follows him up the ramp.

"This is yours?"

"No, a friend's. It's got Ion's and enough juice to catch that MURT." Between Sarkis and Rogue they quickly disabled the fleeing ship. An assault shuttle captured it and brought it back. Sarkis and Rogue came down the ramp to see who came out of the MURT. The hatch hissed the door opened and a Hammer's Fist Stormtrooper came out and approached Sarkis.

"Sorry, sir. When we got on board he was already dead. Shot himself right in the cockpit."

"That must be a mess." Rogue commented.

"Have someone clean it up immediately trooper."

Rogue couldn't hide his surprise. "Why? He's not going anywhere."

"No but that ship is. We're going to take it to Coruscant, right after I check the ship's log. I think it will be very useful."

"I hope so, we don't have that much time. I'm going to prepare my gear."

"It won't take long, I'll get my stuff ready as well."

Sarkis was just shutting down the data banks on the MURT as Rogue entered the cockpit. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Rogue asked.

"Not precisely, but I found the name of a ship, the Slicer. That should be enough."

"Yeah we wouldn't get much from Wyndok." Rogue sat down in the co-pilot's seat and started the preflight check. Both men had gotten rid of the Hammer uniforms and donned casual clothing so as not to attract attention. "This thing better be cleared for entrance to Coruscant, or it'll get ugly."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Why not?" Rogue asked.

"I'll explain when we get there." With that Sarkis throttled out of the hangar and prepared the ship for hyperspace. "That traitor to the Empire will soon know what it means to have the 'Hammer' brought down on him." The cockpit exploded with light and became the mottled blue sky of hyperspace.

They arrived at Coruscant in reasonable time, and approached from the largely darkside. The only light from the sliver of the planet showing and the running lights on the ring of Golan defense platforms. "Well they have Golan's, any planetary shield?" Rogue asked.

"Not round the clock, the energy produced from running the shield all the time created incredibly unpredictable weather phenomenon. They prefer fighter escorts, what with all the heavy space traffic." The comm warbled and a man's voice came on.

"MURT Reactor, this is Delta control. Hold at the outer perimeter, we have light traffic today so the wait should not be long."

"They call this light traffic!" Rogue exclaimed, looking over the 250 some odd ships holding position. "I bet the Freighter Captains have stress hazard pay."

"2nd highest suicide rate in Coruscant." Sarkis said matter of factly.

"What's the first?"

"Flight controllers. Coruscant is the most heavy populated world in the galaxy, so you can imagine that they need supplies carried in almost round the clock." The comm clicked on.

"Reactor, state your destination."

"Imperial city, downtown." Sarkis answered.

"Come to approach vector 3.47 and hold until your escort can intercept."

"Roger that Delta control." Sarkis cut the comm and adjusted his course. "I was born here and I come by occasionally. It really burns me up having NewReps running my homeworld." Two New Republic A-wings flanked the Reactor.

Rogue laughed. "Those antiques are escorting us down. Why don't they just skip the formalities and let anyone in."

"They can close this planet up pretty tight when they have to." They came into the light side as they entered the atmosphere. The Imperial City was clearly visible although their course had them come over the Manarai mountains. As they approached the city the comm warbled.

"Reactor, this is your escort. You will be putting down in hangar 495 just south of downtown."

"I copy escort, we'll follow your lead." Sarkis closed the comm signal. "We should be able to access some ownership records at a data center downtown. We'll check on the Slicer, then see where it leads us." Sarkis approached the hangar, at which point the A-wings broke off and allowed them to land. Sarkis skillfully maneuvered into a nice spot where they could leave in a hurry if needed. "Keep the pre-flight keyed just in case we have to haul jets." Rogue and Sarkis exited the MURT and headed over to the nearest data center.

"I hope you remember your way around." Rogue said marveling at the size of the city, it actually looks bigger on the inside.

"To tell you the truth, it doesn't much matter. You could live here your whole life and never see it all. The important thing is to remember where you park." They both laughed as the approached the data center console.

Sarkis got into the records department and searched for the Slicer. "I think we may have something the owner is listed as deceased but it gives a forwarding address."

"Sounds good to me let's go."

"Check your blaster this isn't exactly a garden spot. It's in the lower levels of the city." Rogue checks his blaster, Sarkis does as well, then leads the way to the turbolift.

The turbolift lowered them into the darkness of the lower levels of the Imperial City. "The only law in the lower levels is survival of the fittest..."

"So shoot first and ask questions later, yeah I know this isn't the first hell hole I've been to." Rogue commented as he confirmed his blaster's kill setting and removed the safety. "They all seem to get under your skin though, no matter how many times it happens. You just know that around any corner could be some wacko with a blaster who might get lucky and kill you for your credits." With that the turbolift door opened, into some twisted otherworld. Nothing like the comparatively clean streets above, these were much smaller unkept ones. A side from a few blinking faded neon signs, the streets were entombed in a never ending night.

"I think it's this way." Sarkis said as he turned to the left and started down the alleylike, street. They walked side by side scanning the area for danger. After what seemed like an eternity they reached their destination. "Here it is." Sarkis and Rogue both drew their blasters. Sarkis hit the comm not expecting an answer. They waited, and the comm came to life with a man's voice at the other end.

"Who is it?" He demanded.

Sarkis looked to Rogue he silently mouthed 'play along'.

"Uh, we were just..." As he was speaking a control panel opened up and a display appeared.

"What took you so long? Come on in and let's celebrate!" The voice said. "Here's the code."

Rogue and Sarkis exchange puzzled expressions. "I'm going to go ahead, what he doesn't know won't kill him."

"That's odd the colors are off must be too cheap to maintain it." Rogue said.

Sarkis was about to enter the code when Rogue suddenly stopped him. "Hey, what the!" Sarkis yelled.

"This isn't right." Rogue had done this trick before. "I've done this myself, let me see your vibro-blade." Sarkis handed it over and Rogue used it not to cut but to carefully pry the panel loose. It came off surprisingly easy. He let it fall to the floor exposing the real control panel underneath.

"Wait, this looks familiar..." Sarkis asked.

"Well, that's the control for a detonator, see the 'T' is for time and 'R' is for remote detonator. That particular code would have set it off before you finger could release the last digit. My guess is it's set up to enough explosives to reduce this area to fine atoms." Rogue begins keying it for 30 seconds, then turns to run. "What are you gonna wait here and make sure it goes off, lets go!" They run down around the corner and shield their eyes from the obviously bright explosion.

KAAABBBOOMMM!!!

They rush back over blasters drawn. Rogue peeks in through the door, looks to Sarkis and nods. Then they both rush into the now doorless apartment. After a quick check they find that it is empty. "Do you think that voice was ILKO Spawn?" Sarkis asked.

"I'm sure of it." Rogue answered definitively. "And not only that but we don't have much time to stop him from making a deal with those plans."

"Wait, now it's getting clearer..." Sarkis said. "This was here to..."

"Eliminate Wyndok. ILKO was too greedy to share in the profits with him."

Sarkis nods in conjunction. "So now he can, go on with no strings attached. No doubt he will know when his trap has been sprung. Man, I've been with Jabba for years and saw this kinda thing all the time. Looks like I've been in the Empire too long, I forgot all of my street skills," Sarkis smiled after saying that.

"Well, we'd better look around for something to tell us where he is, there's got to be something there's no reason for him to know we're on to him." Rogue and Sarkis begin to search the apartment. "He made a mistake, I know it. All we have to do is find out what it is."

After about twenty minutes of searching they never found any physical evidence as to his whereabouts. Then Sarkis found a data pad in a countertop. "Got something."

"What's on it?" Rogue asked.

"Credit records."

"His or does he slice friend's money on the side?"

"His, you got junkfood, and holonet bills here." Sarkis said.

"Anything unusual?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, check this out." He showed the datapad to Rogue, and listed at 10:00PM every night for the next week was reservations at the Sabacc King casino for two.

"That's got to be his contact point. And I know how we get to him."

"We don't even know what he looks like!" Sarkis replied.

"Trust me. Cross-reference the Security Force schedule with the time, I want offduty, Captain's rank and up." A devilish smile began to form on Rogue's face. "I have a plan."

The trap was set, Rogue and Sarkis entered the bar at 9:30 to set up their plan. Unable to get reservations they had to stay at the bar or casino area. The dinner area was in the center with the a bar area to the left with an entrance. They were sitting around at the bar trying not to attract attention. "We should look for him when he takes his seat so we know when to make our move." Sarkis said. Rogue looked around, he saw that most people were deep in conversation at dinner. Then he saw ILKO come in. He stuck out like a flaming jawa.

"I see him over there, taking the seat facing the entrance." Sarkis looked towards the left bar. Middle aged, average height. "I'll tell you what, if I had seen him aboard I probably wouldn't have remembered. Too average for me to make note of him..."

"No kidding, and if I wait by the entrance and you give me the signal I can drag him the contact into the restroom right behind the waiting area. No one will see him come out of course."

"Perfect, now let's go over the possibilities one more time." Rogue took a drink of his Corellian ale. "There are three guys, that might be the contact."

Sarkis set his empty glass down at the bar. "Yeah, a Commander 35, and two Captains 26 & 27 years old respectively."

"Luckily he couldn't know what they look like because the risk would be too great." Rogue looked around one more time. "You know what the signal is let's wait them out."

10:25 Rogue is sitting at the far end of the bar looking at ILKO Spawn to see if he caught an eye on anyone. Sarkis was watching the entrance from a sabacc table. A man about 35 walked in alone, he looked around and then sat down at the bar. They were beginning to wonder if he was going to show. Then a man about the description of one of the Captains walked in, he looked into the dining area looked right past ILKO and didn't flinch. He must only have the name for the register. He headed toward the register, Rogue picked up his drink and gave Sarkis a 'bottoms up' gesture. The man was let into the dining area just as Sarkis picked up his drink and excused himself from the sabacc table and headed for the man.

Sarkis was about to pass the guy and the restrooms when he bumped right into the guy spilling his drink on him. "Oh, geez. I'm sorry mister." He points to the restrooms. "Let me help you clean yourself up." Before he could answer Sarkis pushed him into the restroom head first.

Rogue chuckled to himself as he put his drink down and started for the dining area.

Sarkis wasted no time speaking he slit the guys throat, and threw him into a stall. Took the mans Security ID and a large wad of credits, and stuck them out the door. Rogue passed just as the ID&credits came out, he smoothly placed them into his breast pocket and started for ILKO Spawn's table. He walked to the table and sat across from him. "Captain Trent Yandrall, good to finally meet you." He looked at him and set a data pad on the table.

"Did you bring the advance?" He asked.

"Yes, as we agreed." He patted his pocket, trying to play along. "Did you bring the plans?" As he asked he noticed Sarkis leave the restroom and walk over to the bar.

"No, but I can get them." He placed a data pad on the table. It displayed a floating image of the TIE Protector. "10,000 credits now, and we'll arrange the rest."

"Nice." He then reached into his pocket and slid the credits across the table. He flipped through them smiling genuinely. "You can count it if you want."

"That won't be necessary. The council would never pay for the plans as I wanted."

"They would just want you to hand them over most likely." Rogue commented. A waiter approached.

"Sir, would you like a drink."

"Yeah I could use a flameout."

"Very good sir, and you." He looked at ILKO.

"Just another flameout." He said.

"Be right back." The waiter went to get the flameout.

"So." Rogue continued "Why don't you just had the plans over, you would be helping the New Republic out?" He nearly gagged saying it.

"I got those plans for one reason, credits! And I'll be damned if I'll just hand them over to you the Hammer or anybody!"

"Calm down, I was just curious." He looked over to Sarkis as the waiter brought the drinks. "How did you get them anyway?"

"Sliced into their central library system." He was boasting of course, the scum. "I just found a glich and attacked it, that was one of the closest guarded programs so I figured it was worth grabbing."

Rogue took a drink of his flameout, it burned his tongue and freezed his throat on the way down. "So it is, how much were you thinking it's worth?"

"100,000 credits easy."

"75,000 and you've got a deal." Rogue put in.

"90,000 more than I have now, or no deal." He looked serious.

Why do we have to put up with this. "Fine you got a deal, we'll arrange it outside." As they left he also had him pay the drink bill, the cheap punk. Luckily Rogue had a few credits of his own. As they exited Sarkis followed suit. They went to the turbolift and Sarkis entered just before the door closed. He drew his blaster. "Ok ILKO, you're going with us to our ship." Rogue said. He then took the credits from him. "Thank you. These will come in handy."

"You double-crossing New..."

"Oh, we're not New Reps." Sarkis said. "We're from the Hammer."

ILKO started to raise his fists but Rogue countered with a tracheal notch and forced him into the turbolift floor easily. "This can be easy, or very painful your call?" He continued to hold him.

"Ok." He choked. "I'll go." Rogue let him up and ILKO began holding his throat.

Sarkis still had his blaster on ILKO. "What do you want to do with him?" Rogue asked.

"Hmmm, let's take him to the Reactor. I'll do a brief interrogation, then we grab the plans and get back to the Fleet. Let's go." And Sarkis went in the direction of the Reactor, with Rogue and ILKO following suit.

"I ain't gonna tell you a damn thing!" ILKO proclaimed.

"That's what they all say," Sarkis said with a sly grin. "Anyhow, in the end, it doesn't matter what you actually tell me, just what you know is good enough." Soon, the three of them arrived at the Reactor. Rogue then proceeded to tie up ILKO.

As they got into the main cockpit area, Sarkis took out his vibro-knife. He turned to Rogue and said "Get some reactor coolant from the hold..." and then turned to the tied-up ILKO. Rogue came back with a jug full of coolant, and Sarkis smiled, and then said "Okay ILKO, this interrogation will be lighter than usual. No real dismemberment, but still quite a lot of pain. Whaddya say?"

Again, ILKO remained defiant. He said "Ha! Nothing will come outta me!" and proceeded to spit on Sarkis' shoes.

Sarkis looked at ILKO smugly, and then said "You're a slicer, aren't you? Slicer's value their hands you know..." then he walked up behind ILKO. He motioned Rogue to bring him the jug of coolant. As Rogue stepped forward, Sarkis took one of ILKO's hands, and used his vibro-blade to make a giant gash on ILKO's palm. ILKO screamed in pain.

"MY HAND! MY HAND!" he started crying.

"That's not all. This is a trick I learned from the holo-films..." and Sarkis proceeded to pour coolant from the jug down onto the slashed hand. The searing pain of the coolant meeting the exposed flash was almost too much for ILKO. He started to ask for mercy...

"Well, where are the plans?" Sarkis asked.

"They're up in the New Republic Main Library. I hid them in the central computer. The passcode is 'Sovereign Protector.' It's all there, I swear. Please let me go..."

Sarkis then proceeded to touch ILKO's head. He said "He's telling the truth" and put his vibro-knife away.

"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Rogue asked, and then pointed at the gasping and bleeding ILKO.

"Well, as one of the doctrines of the New Order proclaims, 'Enemies of the Empire must be silenced,' or something like that. To that extent..." and then Sarkis drew out his blaster and shot ILKO squarely in the head. "Another thing Intel boys like to say: 'No witnesses.'"

Sarkis then went to the back of the Reactor to grab his bag. He took out two IDs and said "Rogue, you are now 'Roger Kiley,' and I'm 'Nic Ramses.' Welcome to the upper circles of Imperial City" and he threw the second ID to Rogue. "Let's get going. I hope you know your NewRep manners..." and they both left the Reactor.

The difference between the upper and lower levels of Coruscant was almost too much for Rogue. The sudden transition between scum-sucking filth and seedy bars to well-dressed citizens and the modern utopia was just odd, if not overwhelming. Rogue turned to Sarkis and said "Okay Raemes, explain..."

"Look, the New Republic Main Library is that really tall looking tower right about...there" and Sarkis pointed out a huge tower in the distance. "You'd think that with a name like 'Main Library" it would be some stuffy place where only the socially inept or the bored hang around. Interestingly enough, it's a cultural hotspot. While the Imperial Palace is still the greatest building in the Galaxy, only a select few were allowed to go inside it, the elite were allowed to live in it." Sarkis winked at Rogue then. "But seriously, the Library has a huge database of literature and art. It's a cultural phenomenon, and thus rich people like to hang around it. Some snob-nosed politician may be holding a party there, so you'll get some 'schmoozing with the rich' practice here...."

"Whatta assignment. One minute you're avoiding someone else's vomit, another you're drinking wine with some NewRep bureaucrat." And with those words, Rogue and Sarkis arrived at the base of the New Republic Main Library.

It was an impressive tower. Dwarfed by only the Imperial Palace itself, it still retains the architecture of the Palace's designer: cold dark materials adorned by the bright lights of the rooms inside it. Sarkis and Rogue saw the multitude of socialites entering the building. As they stepped forward, a New Republic Security Officer stepped up in front of them.

"Let's see some identification gentlemen..."

Sarkis held back his instinct to simply shoot the NewRep, and smiled, "Sure, officer. Wouldn't want to be found in violation of the law." Sarkis flashed his identification. The NewRep grabbed it and examined it carefully. "Say, your face looks kinda familiar..." said the Officer.

"Well, do you not realize who I am? Nic Ramses! The hyperdrive was my great-great-great-great-great grandfather's brain child! My family is a high-profile family, I'd be suprised if you didn't recognize me! And don't verify your ignorance further by not recognizing Mr. Kiley, a fine young actor in many holo-dramas, too numerous to name now..."

"Well, okay Mr. Ramses. Sorry for not recognizing you..." and the NewRep guard gave Sarkis his ID back. He moved aside to let Sarkis and Rogue through.

"Jedi trick?" Asked Rogue.

"Naw, I haven't made Master yet. That was just from years of hanging around Jabba. When a fat slug commands enough authority to kill just about whomever he dislikes, you should try to see if you can get some of his authoritative voice. Anyhow, we'll just slip in to the Control Station, get rid of some people there, and then get the plans. This should be a smooth run. After getting the plans, we exit through a party as to cover out tracks and make it harder for them to catch up, we get in the Reactor, and we fly away. How's that sound?"

"Sounds solid. Let's go," and Rogue took out his blaster.

The Control Station was different than most control stations. Instead of a rectangular room with the computer dominating the walls, this room was circular, with the computer taking place as a huge tower in the center. Consoles lined the walls and were connected to the massive tower that displayed bright colors and hummed as it was crunching whatever data was fed into it. Sarkis counted to three and then keyed open the door with the fake ID. He and Rogue stepped in, and did their duty...

There were a number of NewReps caught unaware by the two men sporting blasters and using them. It took the NewReps a while to gather their sense and try to sound the alarm, but it was too late. The chaos has already begun...

"Cover me," Sarkis told Rogue, and he proceeded to walk over to the Central Computer. Many NewReps approached him, but none could stop him. Everytime one stood in his way, he would simply shoot him in the head.

Rogue used his merc skills to simply shoot everyone else quickly. He quickly took aim, squeezed the trigger, and moved on to another target. He did this with extreme efficiency, and between the two of them, they quickly killed about ten NewReps. Rogue went over to Sarkis as Sarkis was fiddling around with the Computer.

"How's it going?" Rogue asked.

"Just dandy. Found the file, decrypted it, and copying it right now. After copying, I'm gonna do a general file-wipe so that the NewReps don't have any hope of retrieving it. Smooth sailing from here..." and as he said that, a NewRep Security Officer who happened to have walked by was carefully inching closer to Sarkis and Rogue...

As he raised his blaster, Sarkis turned around and pointed at him. Soon, the man screamed in pain and grabbed his hand, which just had its thumb and middle finger bent back via the Force. Sarkis signaled to Rogue, and Rogue shot him as the man was wincing in pain...

"Dark side power?" asked Rogue.

"Yup," Sarkis quickly replied.

"Felt a tingle. Should've paid attention..."

"Look, I almost fell for the keypad-bomb trick today, and you saved my skin. That's what partners are for: when one screws up the other saves the day." Sarkis grinned as he said that, and then said "Job's done. Let's see who's at the party..."

The party was quite elegant. Rogue wasn't use to seeing so many well-dressed people drinking fine wine and snacking on hors d'oeuvres, but Sarkis was slightly sneering.

"Aargh, I was one of them, then the damn NewReps, or Rebs back then, had to screw everything up..." Sarkis commented. Rogue simply nodded, unsure on how to reply.

"Here's the plan: we got some extra time, so we can mingle around a bit. Take these." and Sarkis handed an earpiece and a mike to Rogue. "I think you can figure out the earpiece, slip the mike into your shirt cuff. Raise your arm like as though you were coughing or scratching your chin in deep thought, and speak into it." Sarkis demonstrated the procedure. Rogue slipped on the gear, and tested it. After confirming that it was working, Sarkis said "Well, if you ever get involved with VIP escort duty, this is what you do. Anyhow, let's enjoy some free food and drink."

They both split up to circulate freely about the party. Rogue helped himself to some wine, and watched the various people, and listened in on their conversations...

"...don't worry, nothing is going on in the Outer Rim..."

"...you must be joking, the New Republic is stronger than ever..."

"...yes, the Empire is dead, we have nothing to fear..."

"...after Bakuura, I'm not sure what I think of the Empire anymore..."

Rogue got sick. All of these people who are completely unaware with the going-ons of the galaxy. They just sit at home with their credits and enjoy listening to the tainted news. Rogue knew better. The Emperor's Hammer will restore the former glory of the Empire. It will show them NewReps a thing or two. "No danger in the Outer Rim. Keep thinking that, and you will be caught even more unawares when we finally strike..." Rogue promptly looked up afterwards, and saw an interesting sight...

"Uhhh, Raemes?"

"Yeah Kevin?"

"Are people giving you funny looks? Generally avoiding you?"

"Yeah, I've noticed that. I guess military grade deodorant isn't enough for these NewReps..."

"Y'know how you've always said that you were called 'Eagle Eyes' in the pre-Endor days? How you would spot small but extremely significant details that no one else noticed?"

"Yeah, what about it."

"Well, I think you need them 'Eagle Eyes' to be checked..."

"What for?"

"Well, if you look on the ceiling..."

Sarkis looked up. There, he saw his "Wanted" poster. Lists his crimes, has the EP flag, and even talks about "breaching New Republic Security and endangering numerous lives residing in Imperial City..."

"Hmmm, this could blow my cover..." Sarkis joked. He then spotted several guards coming his way. He said "Rogue, grab someone. Make them a hostage. Hold a gun to his or her head. NewReps value lives a lot, and they'll let you back out..."

Rogue heard that last order, and saw a suitable target. He grabbed this person from behind and held his blaster to the head. He said "Anyone comes closer, then my itchy trigger finger gets relieved..."

Sarkis came up to Rogue, and stopped, staring at the hostage.

"Let her go. Just blast our way out of here, but DO NOT SHOOT HER!!!" Sarkis emphasized that last point, and drew out his blaster...

Rogue did likewise, and started shooting at the many NewRep Security Officers who were coming into the room. The rest of the socialites panicked and ducked for cover, which made it easier for Rogue to shoot all of the guards. After killing all of the approaching guards, the socialites began to flee the room. As the room was cleared out, he saw Sarkis talking to the woman...

"Raemes..." she said. "To see you after all of these years..."

"It's been a while since Jabba's..."

"And since you tried to kill my father..."

"Look, I made my choice, and I don't regret it..."

"Well, I can see that you're still flying, your 'third love' as you used to say. By the way, he died last year..."

"I'm sorry..."

"His decaying health played a key role," she paused, "You realize what this means, right? I'm inheriting his position, he named me as his successor..."

"He made a good choice..."

"I know what you said last time, but the offer still stands..."

"I made my choice already. We will restore Order, and recreate the New Order. We will rise again, this time with the Hammer..."

"Well, I have no choice but to turn you in now..." she looked at him. "But, you've done me a good turn a couple of times. Only setback by letting you go is that we don't know the exact specs of your Grand Admiral's ship. No big deal, so..." she then got up, and moved out of Sarkis' way, letting him pass. Sarkis motioned for Rogue to get back to the ship, and himself wearily made his way there. He turned his head...

...only to see that she was gone.

He turned back, and proceeded to the Reactor.

Most of the trip back to the Avenger was quiet. Sarkis simply piloted the ship, while Rogue uneasily kept his seat. He turned and finally asked...

"Okay, what's the deal. Who was she?"

"Kev, if I ever get to head Intel, ask me about a 'Patrice Bianchi.' I'll explain everything then..."

"Okay, sheesh."

Upon reaching the Avenger, Sarkis went directly to the Grand Admiral's office to turn in the ship specifications and his debriefing report. Sarkis walked out to see Rogue getting prepared to get back to the Relentless.

"Well Kev, this was one helluva assignment. Glad to have you along for the ride..." said Sarkis.

"This'll be a great story to tell the rest of Dagger. Take care of that Wing of yours..."

"Oh, I have a feeling that something will turn up, and when it does, I want you by my side to take whatever is coming on..."

"Sure thing. Just call, and I'll fly there." With that last statement, Rogue and Sarkis shook hands. Rogue's shuttle lifted off, and Sarkis walked back into his office. He paused at the door to look upon the plaque that read "Wing Commander of Wing I: Lieutenant General Sarkis..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rogue pressed against the wall and checked his blaster charge, half. Ironically the blaster's life would probably outlive his own. He could hear the rebel officers closing the gap to his location, he blindly fired into the corridor as he ran for a door. He pressed the open button, nothing happened. A rebel officer rounded the corner and Rogue cleanly ended his existence with a well placed shot. He failed however to get the two behind him, the next thing he saw was the deck hurling toward his face. He knew he was dead or dying, but there was no pain, a certain overwhelming calm. Followed shortly by titanic anger, as he ripped the helmet off his head and the scene became a bland generic box. "That would never happen if this were real!" Rogue screamed.

"I told you, the simulator's a little different." Raemes Sarkis, Supreme Director of the ID put the Close Quarters Combat Simulator on stand-by.

"That's not what I mean." Rogue placed the sim-gear back on their respective places. "If that were real I would be able to have felt them with the force. No simulator can measure that."

"Yes, but the CQCS is still an effective tool, it's invaluable to our Hammer's Fist Stormtroopers' training." Sarkis opened the door to the main hallway. "I had a prototype installed on the Storm Wind because I thought our intelligence officers could use some practice." The FRG Storm Wind was the command vessel of Imperial Intelligence. "We can program it to any specifications, with this operatives can practice infiltration of any base if we have basic schematics of the layout."

"So your going to program it for my next mission right?" Rogue was scheduled to go on a solo-mission on a planet loyal to the New Republic.

"Yes, but as you pointed out, to members of the DB this simulator may not help much. When you have the dark side as an ally, who needs a blaster?" Sarkis rounded a corner in the hallway.

"I think we should still have this project move forward, it helps to easily memorize the layout of a base." They arrived at Sarkis's office. "That to a member of the DB who can remember almost anything will give us an edge."

"My thoughts precisely, more are being built all throughout the Hammer's ships and systems." He tapped a control at his desk and the screens that showed the interrogation rooms slid aside and a large display showed a nav chart of New Republic space. "What do you know of your mission?"

"Just that its a new base, in New Republic space." Rogue answered.

"The Chad system, on the planet of the same name as a matter of fact. This mean anything to you?"

"New bases aren't exactly a wild change from their usual activities, so no."

"Its something very important, and hush hush." Sarkis stated.

"Who told you?"

"No, one." Sarkis stepped toward the display as it zoomed in on the Chad system. "I mean look at it. This isn't an out of the way installation on some forsaken rock. This is a planet already loyal to the New Republic." This is why Raemes Sarkis is the head of Imperial Intelligence, his attention to every detail. The display showed pictures of the base, it contrasted wildly with the beautiful nature of the world. "So we need to find out whats going on here, spies will take to long to establish identities on such a loyal world so I want you to go there and learn all you can."

"I'll need a ship that's cleared for..."

"No, they must suspect nothing. And they get all they need on planet, so smuggling you in on a supply shuttle is out as well. I have assigned you a TIE Phantom for this mission, it will allow you to land undetected."

"Defenses?"

"Real light, so I don't know what to expect. They no doubt want to make it look unimportant. That's about all we know so you should practice the mission in the CQCS a few times. Then tomorrow you go to Chad."

It was early-morning cycle and Rogue was going over the pre-flight inspection of the T/Ph he was taking. The noise in the hangar was at an all-time low as his was the only mission for the day. A few techs were looking over Sarkis's personal TIE Guardian, but other that that the hangar was empty. "So, all the wings there?" Sarkis joked as he entered the hangar.

"If you can't tell, I'll pronounce you insane and take control of Intel." Rogue smiled as he jumped off the right wing. "What brings you here in the middle of the sleep cycle?"

Sarkis looked worried. "I have just one more piece of equipment to give you."

"I already got enough data cards to copy the entire EH holonet, what else could I need?"

"This." Sarkis held out a small credit chip.

"Wow, I can almost buy a drink with this!" Rogue said sarcastically as he looked it over.

"We don't have much info on the base so if you get caught press and hold it for two seconds, it will trigger an intense warning bell from the probe we have in the area."

"Are you gonna come get me if I do get caught?" Rogue asked.

Sarkis grinned. "This time."

"That's the risk I take, facing danger at every turn, armed NewReps ready to burn me down, but not to worry I have a 'Magic Credit'." Rogue laughed out loud and turned toward his ship.

"Good luck."

"Thanks, this should be a cake walk." Rogue entered the TIE Phantom and rocketed out of the hangar.

The planet Chad was calm on the light side. The need for absolute stealth forced Rogue to enter the atmosphere in a sparsely populated region. Then using the cloak capabilities of the fighter, he was able to set down undetected and ahead of the rapidly approaching thundershower near the base which rested in the dead of the night side. He was about five klicks away from the six-story base when he noticed the flitters. Flitters are small airspeeders, useful for patrolling a land-based complex such as this. He watched patiently, timing their patterns. The thundershower was overhead and it had started to sprinkle. Distant lightning lit up the sky as Rogue began his advance. He was wearing a half n' half background camouflage that he and Sarkis had ordered special. Many of the experts didn't think it would work but Rogue had used them before, even without the advantage of the force. Rogue covered as much ground running as he could, but as he had timed before when an airspeeder got close he would dive to the ground. This allowed the grasslike camouflage on his back to mask him. The front was a flat black that even wet was as dark as any night. The storm was in full fury as Rogue drew within one point five klicks, the term 'raining nerfs and neks' came to mind. He would have worn the new prototype for the morphing camo, it shifted to keep him almost invisible, but they had no trials in rain yet. He had just dove to the ground as an airspeeder got close, he froze clutching his blaster if it were needed. The speeder slowed hovering about twenty feet in the air to his right. Rogue could tell through the force if he had been spotted, he wasn't. The flitter continued along its patrol route. He covered the remaining distance very cautiously.

The base had three entrances, one main and two flanking the east and west. He chose one of the former and waited for the two guards out front to check in. A comm warbled and one of the guards turned it on. "Yeah this is the east entrance." The guard answered, there was unrecognizable chatter on the other end. The guard shut the comm off and Rogue made his move, he threw a small rock in the opposite direction as he slit the closest guards throat with his vibro-blade. The other guard turned just in time to see his partner fall to the ground.

"What the...!" He went for his blaster. But Rogue tracheal notched him to the wall and smashed him into unconsciousness with his own blaster. Moving quickly he pulled the two men into the nearest utility closet.

Rogue entered the hall in the guard's uniform. He had to kill the other guard, he didn't enjoy killing the helpless but for an Imperial Intelligence agent there can be no mistake. If the guard could identify him his Intelligence career would suffer. He also would have preferred the uniform of a tech, they were much more common. But the guard's would have access to almost the entire base. Rogue casually walked to some of his suspected information sites. As he walked he remembered something Sarkis once said. 'An agent must be a ghost, silent, unknown, undetectable, and deadly.' Rogue thought those words were some of the most important he had heard. Finding nothing on the ground floor he worked his way up.

It wasn't until he got to the fourth floor that he found what he was looking for, an information center. With his blaster concealed in his hand behind his right leg he entered. He wordlessly shot dead the three techs and sat at an info screen.

Rogue noticed all the quotation marks and wondered what the point was, obviously they were not exactly what they seemed. Was this a decoy? What's a C&R anyway? He would believe that this was an R&R, on any other night Chad would be a beautiful place to visit. He shook his way through his curious nature and began copying as much as he could on all his data cards. As the data was copied it was displayed on screen. Rogue stopped it when something caught his eye, there were shuttles coming in five days. Remembering that this base needed no supplies he checked their contents. It was under 'New Recruits'. There was only a list of numbers most in sequence, except one under 'special assignment'. He looked at this file as was abruptly shocked into dizziness. Rogue just sat mesmerized by the screen, if he had been standing he would have fallen to the floor in shock. The screen displayed one line...

"I don't..." Rogue shook his head in disbelief. "I saw her dead. I was there when they buried her." And yet he knew it were possible, he hadn't remembered much immediately following the crash what with the heat. He continued the copying trying desperately to refocus his attention. He was then shocked again under the heading 'Limited Access'. It displayed pictures of a underground hangar area. It had at least eight squadrons of rebel fighters. A/W's, B/W's, and E/W's. "Uh oh." Before he could even finish saying it out loud an earpiercing siren began to wail.

"Intruder alert! East entrance breeched!" The rest of the officers statements were drowned out by the siren. The data system was placed in protected mode automatically, closing all access.

"Blast!" Rogue shouted. The coping wasn't complete but he quickly gathered his data cards together and started to turn toward the door when it opened. He was then face to face with a rebel security guard. He was more surprised than Rogue when they saw each other.

"Halt..." He went for his blaster. Rogue wasn't ready and had to drop his data cards and dive behind a desk. "I found one!" The guard yelled into his comm as he nervously fired randomly towards the desk. "On deck four, infor..." Rogue silenced him with a well placed shot. He wondered how he would escape as he placed the data cards into his uniform's pouch. He turned left and raced down the deck towards the turbolift area as he wished he had a heavy stormtrooper rifle. He got in front of the turbolifts just as one opened, it contained two guards. Rogue shot one before the other had his blaster ready, then the other just as he cleared his holster. Inspired, Rogue set the turbolift for the first floor and summoned the cargo lift. He could see other turbolifts were about to arrive. The cargo lift made it first. Rogue leap for the roof controls, and he was hurled to the roof in no time. As he exited the lift he saw the last flitter start to clear the roof, without a second thought Rogue ran and leap onto it. It wavered suddenly causing the two guards to turn in surprise. Too late, Rogue capped the passenger then the pilot.

He leap to the front as the airspeeder started a six-story uncontrolled dive. He quickly regained control with ten feet to spare. He then tossed the bodies so he could go faster, and cleared the blood away from the transparisteel with his sleeve. Punching the throttle to full he rocketed off towards the TIE Phantom. But the other airspeeders quickly gave chase. Staying low to the ground he shut off his running and night-lights. Using the force to pilot his way to the ship while sensing when his pursuers were going to fire. He arrived just ahead of them and entered the Phantom just as five flitters closed. The flitters came in hot, tearing up the ground beneath the TIE with their shots. Hovering on repulsors he raked the incoming ships with heavy laserfire. Two were hit sending them spiraling down to their doom, the rest scattered. As Rogue turned around the hull took two hits, the metal shrieked with the hits. He smoothly hit the shields and placed them at all aft. Wasting no time he slammed the throttle and started for open space.

The airspeeders could not follow but there were ships on patrol. Using the cloaking device would do no good unless he made a clean getaway. So he switched it on as he closed on six E-wings dead ahead, and six A-wings farther out. He came uncloaked and picked his first target and quickly sent the E-wing to it's fiery doom. He got one more before his missile warning light went red. Forgetting the E-wings Rogue concentrated on the A-wings. He got three A-wings but got hit by a missile as he destroyed the fourth. Another missile was fired, cursing to himself he spun around and shook the missile than targeted it and destroyed it. When the last two A-wings were dead the E-wings, even with their heavy lasers posed no threat. They met their deaths, and Rogue checked his scanners. Four squadrons had launched from the ground. Thinking this was a good time to leave he activated the cloaking device and started back to the Storm Wind. But he knew one thing, he was going back to DA-141.

Rogue radioed his presence to the FRG Storm Wind and was cleared to land. Sarkis was there to meet him. "Let's make this quick!" Rogue shouted, he walked right past Sarkis and towards the SDIR's office. When Sarkis arrived he saw that Rogue had already dumped the data cards on his desk and was impatiently pacing the office.

"What is it that's got you so, on edge?" Sarkis asked.

"I don't know what's going on there, but I'm going back." He looked at Sarkis and he was furious.

"Your not going anywhere like this." Sarkis sat down at his desk. "I think you should sit down and we will calmly talk about this."

Rogue remained standing, and was talking almost to fast to understand. "Ok, they have a huge stash of fighters but there's more." Sarkis had already started loading all the info. "There's a list of number's, all correspond to people's names." Rogue began wearing a path in the office floor again. "But they could mean anything."

"I see the fighters. But the list of names isn't complete."

"What was the last thing on the list?"

"Memory Facility." Pictures of people strapped into chairs with wire's on their head were displayed on the screen. "Apparently some kind of tests, or maybe brainwashing."

"What?!" Rogue ran over and looked at the screen. "I've got to go back there."

"I think this should be more than enough reason to NEVER go back there." Sarkis replied. "I saw the marks on that Phantom TIE, your lucky you escaped at all, do you really think you can get in when they are expecting trouble?"

"I can try."

"Not with our resources." The anger in the room was steadily rising and the two DB members knew that this happens when force strong individuals had conflicts. "We wouldn't be able to get you out, not in one piece anyway. Forget it!"

"This is important! This has to do with the reason I joined! I'm going and you can't stop me!" The data cards and pad were beginning to shake.

"The hell I can't, your grounded until further notice!" Sarkis slammed his fist on the table. "Now hand over your wings pilot!" The data cards and pad flew in all directions as both seethed with anger, the force tossed the data cards in all directions like an explosion. Rogue didn't say another word he just ran from the office and towards the hangar. He saw just before the entrance a stormtrooper commando team and their equipment. Not slowing a bit he picked up two big cache's of explosives as he passed.

"Hey, where do you..." The stormtrooper objected, but Rogue wasn't listening. He continued running until he was aboard his ship. He quickly fired up the engines, that were still warm from his earlier trip. Sarkis entered the hangar just as Rogue left.

"Do you want us to stop him, sir?" Asked a flight officer.

"No, let him go." Sarkis answered. "I can't spare the pilots or the ships. He better succeed, or he'll wish we had killed him."

As Rogue approached the planet Chad, cloaking device activated, he kicked himself for allowing his emotions to get the better of him. He could control them, but he knew he was doing the right thing. The NewReps had tripled their patrols, orbit and landbased, in short it didn't look good. As he set down about seven klicks away from DA-141 he hoped that the base had experienced troops. The reason behind this is from experience of setting up such perimeter defenses, if someone got in, to-little to-late was the attitude. The experienced officers would no doubt agree with increasing patrols, but having known not to expect anymore activity they would be lax. He had another advantage, time. He had arrived a few days ahead of the shuttles, time enough to plan entry.

He watched the base relentlessly, taking note of the shift changes. Using natural camouflage this time he decided that when he made his move it would be around the mid-day meal. At full light, relaxation often overridden alertness. Rogue still keeping his eyes forward, opened his ration packet and tested it's flavor... or lack thereof in this case. It was two point three hours until Dranna's shuttle was to arrive, it occurred to him that he didn't know if she was a prisoner, willing participant, or 'encouraged' participant. Knowing her, she was definantly not willing. "This place has got to be shut down." He said to himself as he started his way toward the base. The progress was slow but nearly undetectable, the plan was to make like a tree until the shuttle arrived, the grass was better camouflage however so he used it.

The shuttle arrived surprisingly on-time. When the huge hidden hangar opened Rogue had no difficulty entering unnoticed. The process of setting the explosives would be more dangerous. Ditching the camo, he made for a utility closet and got some tech overalls. The tech overalls had no specific rank, just color coded for chief tech, supervisor, etc. he chose just the lowly tech's uniform. Grabbing a munitions cart and placing the mid-sized parcels of explosives was not enough, he loaded some work equipment to complete the disguise. He placed himself near the shuttles, pretending to inspect an E-wing. He could overhear the officer who met the shuttle, also there was a man in a white lab coat who was checking all the passengers individually. "Ok, they all check out. Get them to their cells at once, every second we waste costs us valuable mem-flux!" They all were wore the same light grey overalls but otherwise were not restrained, odd for prisoners. And there was something else...

"Spooky, huh?" Rogue was caught staring by a tech.

"Uh, yeah." He answered cautiously.

"Have you seen the 'Factory' ?"he said pointing to the door the people entered. "That can't be what it is, its too small."

"What's in there?" Rogue asked, as the tech started to inspect a nearby B-wing.

"Nothing now, all coming off the shuttles." The crews were unloading a few small clusters of what looked like public holo-net devices. The tall cylinders were then moved to the 'Factory' room. Rogue decided to start the explosive sets. He spaced them as evenly as possible, always electing to place them in E/W or B/W warhead launchers. He came all this way he wanted to get the biggest splash he could.

When he finished he decided to try to check out the factory, the cells had to be that way somewhere. As he entered the very sterile, boring room. It only contained the cylinders with some other equipment stacked beside it. The only other exit was a double doorway; a few scientists exited, Rogue pretended to be logging the cylinders. They left and Rogue took the liberty of checking out the doors. As he approached they whooshed open into the 'Memory Facility', the chilling pictures flooded his mind. It was different though the other was in use this one looked brand new. Seperated from him by a few transparisteel dividers he could see the small room with four harnesses squared toward a core of displays in the middle. Opposite that was a row of numbered cells. Some of the shuttle's passengers were being strapped down into the harnesses. They did not fight back oddly enough, and Rogue had to imagine why not when the process started. When it started they were putting up some fight. One was of a low orbit attack of a Carrack Cruiser, it's turbolasers carving a clean path through a small colony. People running for cover trampling each other to desperately try to evade the grisly onslaught. Helpless with the harness facing them forward they could just watch, and even when they closed their eyes the electrodes pumped the image directly into their brains. Two scientists entered the center, deep into conversation "Has the special order been checked?" One asked.

"Undergoing the scan now, we will know shortly. She should be perfect to complete task Dr. Twanz chose her for."

"What's her base?"

"Spaceflight mechanics I believe." Rogue thought to himself that must be Dranna. They started to look at a display. "Yes that's it, and she's ready to begin our first session." Rogue was terrified at the thought. He slowly made his way toward the cells, the two scientists opened a cell. Rogue leaped forward blasting one twice in the gut his shocked expression clearly visible as he slumped to the deck. The other had his hands up and was pleading. "No please..."

"Sorry you saw me." Rogue killed him and put the blaster back in a large pocket. He rushed into the cell saw Dranna awake looking puzzled. Then she burst to life.

"Kevin!" She ran forward and they embraced. "I almost didn't recognize you. Where are we? Is this a med-center?"

Rogue was confused and relieved at the same time, but knew they needed to haul jets. "This sure as hell isn't a med-center." She looked down seeing the two dead scientists, she was frozen with shock. "Yeah I know, " she couldn't move "but there's no time to explain we have to get out of here, NOW!"

Suddenly the doors flew open and guards rushed in, Rogue spun and fired rapidly killing two and wounding one. "ALIVE!" Someone shouted. "I NEED THEM ALIVE!" The next thing Rogue heard was dozens of stun blasts, the last was his body hitting the deck.

He was slowly regaining consciousness, someone was repeatedly slapping him. Infuriated, Rogue lashed out, only to find himself strapped into one of the harnesses. Uh, oh he thought. I've done it this time.

"Ah, my friend I see you are with us again." The man said.

"What have you done with Dranna, if you..."

"I don't think you are in a position to do anything, except beg for your life." The man chuckled. "I am..." He spun around looking at Rogue. "Dr. Twanz. And this is my base. Now I don't want to waste time so why don't you tell me what you did with the information you stole." Rogue didn't reply. "This can be easy and relatively painless." Rogue wasn't thrown off, he had been threatened before... of course then he wasn't facing certain death. "I think a demonstration is in order. Guards bring out our special order."

Rogue tried to break free. "NO! You touch her and I'll..."

"Save your strength you'll need it."

"Your dead I swear it, I'm gonna kill you and..."

"Oh I think your attitude will change quite soon." Dranna was lead into the chamber and was putting up quite a fight, she always was a fighter. "You see our process works well on our 'recruits' but not so well on others. It takes my special skills to make this so."

This guy's full of himself. "What do you mean by 'recruits'?"

"Well yes, I do believe an explanation is in order." He looked wickedly at Rogue as he watched them strap Dranna to the harness at his right. "It will give you something to think about." He tended to a display. "You see your 'Dranna' is dead."

"Your even crazier..."

"But this is not your Dranna." He spun around. "She or 'it' is just a shell with her memories. The process needs new minds. All my clone's hosts are dead and have been for some time." He went to double check her harnesses. "Like new borns, clones have uninfluenced minds, completely malleable. Empty, the less contact with their surroundings the more easy to manipulate. The only thing intact is their 'base', their skills and memories prior to death."

"Your a clone master aren't you?..." Rogue asked still shaken from the news.

"I was once, but this is so much more... fun."

"The NewReps are as twisted as I thought."

"Oh they have no idea, they are such suckers. They are almost as easy to manipulate as my clones. This place can now make clones as well, soon I will have my assassins planted everywhere all waiting to spring on my enemies. I will control the entire galaxy." Rogue could see that this guy was completely insane.

"Even with a trillion clones, you couldn't..."

"Oh but I can, with a decidedly lesser number. All I have to do is eliminate all the leaders. Your GA and superiors. Leia Organa-Solo, and the council of the New Republic. Even your Dark Jedi and the New Republic's Jedi trainees. When all their leaders are destroyed they will just be waiting for someone to take control of the galaxy." He topped this off with about five minutes of maniacal laughter.

Rogue finished his thought. "So I should just tell you where I hid the specs of your base right?" Rogue smiled thinking of his 'surprises' that could go off anytime now.

"Yes, and the locations of your bombs." Rogue's smile died. "Yes we found your detonator." The doctor smiled evily. "Have you ever heard of ysalamiri?"

"Yes. But you'll never find all the bombs." The thoughts of the clones he could be making raced through Rogue's mind, as the headcase brushed off the bomb speech, obviously unaffected by their possible threat.

"So you know how useful they are." Dr. Twanz was trying to find something, anything that he could use to get Rogue to confess all he knew about the data he stole. He knew the New Republic completely blockaded Mykyr. The danger was too great that if the Hammer could get ysalamiri to use against Skywalker and the rest of the jedi. "And if you were a clone you would not even know it." That was not a pleasant thought. "You could get close enough to eliminate my first target." The display before the clone Dranna came to life displaying holos of a Calamarian Cruiser's inside. And someone going along shooting people in the hallways, it followed him. It never really showed his face until a close-up of him slitting a mans throat was shown.

"Sarkis!"

"Yes, you could eliminate that nuisance for me. Raemes Sarkis must die!" A thought came to Rogue, he's going to use her, it would take too long to make a clone of himself. Probably a 'unfortunate' ship malfunction.

"But I'm not that easy to manipulate."

"And I have been dying to try this on a human." The doctor went to the display next to Rogue's harness. "If you won't talk now." He started pressing controls. "We'll see about five hours from now." Suddenly a deafening explosion crashed the base, Rogue thought with the hangar so close that he should be dead. Then the base's comm crackled on.

"Dr. Twanz!" A panicked officer pleaded. "Two EH Imperial Star Destroyers have made orbit and have opened fire!"

Rogue remembered that credit chip that Sarkis gave him. Which meant one of two things, either it went off when he got fried by stunblasts, or some cheap son of a nerf-herder was checking to see if it was real. A few more explosions rocked the ground, killing the lights. The emergency lights came on and the doctor was looking very upset. "You! You sent them somehow! I'm going to kill you!" The doctor was thrown off balance by the next salvo of turbolaser fire. The ceiling collapsed atop the guards by the exit. And Rogue decided it was time to get loose before he met a similar fate. Using the force he freed his hands and then released his legs. "What! How!"

"I'm one of those 'Dark Jedi' you referred to." Rogue began to corner the doctor. "Bet you wish you killed me when you had the chance."

"You mean you could have just got up whenever you wanted!?"

Rogue smiled. "Funny isn't it." He raised his fists. "One thing I learned from Sarkis, 'Kill'em when you can'."

"What happened next?" Sarkis asked, he was at his desk with a big mug of the best stuff the Storm Wind had to offer.

"I almost got shot!" Rogue said with an amused expression. "After the doctor's 'untimely demise' a squad of stormtroopers blasted their way through the door, ready to burn down some NewRep leftovers." Rogue mimics the story. "I jumped out from behind the viewscreen saying 'Don't shoot! Don't sh..' I must have startled the guy, he turned that viewscreen into a big window! We barely got clear before the charges went off. We were gonna go see if the fighters were in good condition so we could steal some, but the turbolaser fire banged the base up pretty good."

"You, deserved to get shot after the mess of my office!" Sarkis said with a smile. "But I've got a better way to get back at you for that."

Sarkis couldn't keep the grin off his face and Rogue was wondering if he wanted to know. "Well, are you gonna tell me or are you gonna test my force skills?"

"The funny thing is," He gets up and goes to the door of his office. "it wasn't my idea." Sarkis opened the door and a stormtrooper captain walked in. "The Platoon Captain, and I believe he has something to tell you."

Sarkis stepped back as the trooper began speaking. "Lieutenant General Colton, you are hereby assigned to assist in the training facility on Carrida until such time Supreme Director Sarkis and myself feel your debt has been paid," He leaned forward almost butting his helmet to Rogue's head. "with interest."

Visions of unending rifle drills and hikes fill Rogue's head. "Uh, gee. I don't think I can make it, I can't leave my squadron or Intel..."

"Oh don't worry." Sarkis said. "I've taken care of it, your gonna pay off that debt in no time." Sarkis was most definitely enjoying this. "I might even come down to visit, to see how your doing."

"Yes." The Captain's face unseen, his voice altered, but you could still tell he was smiling. "It's going to be... eye opening."

To be continued...

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Rogue leaned into the turn, just scraping the right stabilizer on some underbrush. The speederbike had been running smoothly all day. He straightened out and threaded the needle that was a forest portion of Carrida, at 200 KPH. The stormtrooper training complex was very well stocked and occupied, but he had the forest pretty much to himself. The borrowed scout trooper helmet displaying the terrain perfectly, he didn't need it but with it he could really cover some ground. The helmet comm warbled as he was crossing a particularly nasty portion of the forest. "Yeah, what is it? I'm kinda busy."

"I hope you've been enjoying yourself." Said a familiar voice.

"Sarkis!" Raemes Sarkis had played no small part in placing Rogue on Carrida for some 'fundamental' training. "What brings you to plasti-head central?"

"Just wanted to make sure you brushed up on your speederbike skills." Sarkis was viewing what Rogue was now though a feed in the helmet. "Looks like your just about ready for your next assignment."

"Ok, I know we can't talk about it now so I'm heading back." He looped to the north and opened the throttle up just a little more.

"Better yet, meet me at the north-east hangar, I'll have a shuttle waiting." Sarkis shut the comm of and turned his attention to the two stormtroopers twenty meters away with their rifles raised trained right on him. Sarkis calmly put the comm away, despite his situation he was as calm as he ever had been. The troopers on the other hand were practically shaking. "Proceed." Sarkis said calmly. The stormtroopers sent a volley of blaster fire in his direction. In one smooth motion he ignited his lightsaber and blocked the first bolt directly before his face. The glowing blue blade extended before him. He then continued to block all the shots that posed a threat to him. The bolts were splattering off the ferrocrete walls of the shooting range. Sarkis was getting bored, "Enough." The firing stopped as he began to walk towards one of the many target-drone droids that the troopers used for practice. This one was built much like a protocol model save for the treads instead of legs. "I want to test my blade." Sarkis said with a cruel smile. The droid was a foot shorter than him and was suprised to see him raise the blade behind his back ready to strike. It raised it's right arm as if to block it, and faster than anyone could follow Sarkis struck. The arm was cleanly sliced off, it fell with a clank muffled by the many gasps from the officers who were watching the show. One such nervous officer approached.

"Supreme Director Sarkis?" The man said carefully.

"Yes, colonel." Sarkis said not bothering to turn around, still examining the blade.

"A shuttle has been prepared for you sir."

"Very well, I will be leaving at once." He strode off briskly toward the north-east hangar.

The familiar layout of Supreme Director Sarkis's office had been augmented by a new three dimensional holo-projector placed a meter in front of his desk. They were much like the flat viewscreens all around the office, except this was better to get the whole picture. "We may now speak of our mission." Sarkis said as he sat at his desk.

"Our mission? Your going too?" Rogue replied.

"As Supreme Director I am obliged to make use of the best resources at our disposal. You will see why soon enough." He pressed a button at his desk and the holo-projector burst to life as the lights slightly dimmed. A bright gas giant was rotating slowly in space, soon several moons could be seen. The projector zoomed in on one that was rotating the gas giant. "This is Antar IV, the homeworld of the gotals, one of the gas giant's six moons. This is not our interest however, ours is their base."

"Just one?" Rogue asked looking at the planet.

"Yes. They have no formal government, and if their economic situation had been better I presume they wouldn't want even that one base." The projector zoomed below the cloud layer and the base could be seen, it was huge. "The New Republic's one and only base in this system. They have no fear of outside attacks, not a very important system. They just completed installation of a small planetary shield." The external view melted away and a computer generated schematic of the base appeared. "This base has one large structure, ten stories tall. Set into the west ridge of this mountain range." The holo pulled away showing the numerous support structures surrounded by many kilometers of dense forest. "These are all three story barracks, info-centers, hangars, etc." They both knew this was not a base that was built solely to show support for the New Republic.

"So what are they hiding?" Rogue asked.

"We suspect this is a weapons testing facility." The holo-schematic disappeared, and displayed the gas giant once again. "The other uninhabited moons would make good testing grounds." The holo zoomed into the gas giant. "The seventh moon..."

"Wait you said it had six moons?"

"Technically a moon orbits another mass, this one is just barely enveloped by the gas giant." The small moon was now visible moved through the gas giant still orbiting, then it disappeared. "But no longer, the moon disappeared three standard weeks ago."

"What do you mean disappeared?" Rogue asked.

"We suspect it was destroyed by some new weapon, small, useless, no one would miss it." The holoprojector shut down and lights brightened slightly. "We must find out how they accomplished this."

"Or we may find out the hard way." Rogue put in.

"No kidding." Sarkis pressed a button at his desk and sat back in his chair. "We waited for the planetary shield to give them a false sense of security." A display on the wall shows schematics of a probe. "This is a temporary probe, it will be our connection to the Storm Wind. And for any other messages." The door to Sarkis's office opened and BG Caldwell entered, being careful to duck so he didn't hit his head on a display or the ceiling.

"Conk, what's up?" Rogue asked.

"SDIR Sarkis alerted me, so..." Caldwell answered.

"CMDR Caldwell will help with my planned multiple misdirection insertion." Sarkis played a sequence of CGI's out to illustrate. "Conk's Guardian squadron will engage their fighters in the general area of where I plan to enter in a shuttle." Rogue started to protest Sarkis saw and said. "I'll explain..." And continued. "This will accomplish two ends... one it distracts them and two it makes them think that the Hammer is after me."

"Pie in the face, seltzer water spray, and 'Don't play that' flights are ready to go at your request Sarkis." Caldwell announced.

"Excellent, see you before we leave Conk." Sarkis put in, as BG Caldwell left. He than turned to the display that now showed a picture of a man in his late forties. "Now for some explanation... this is Gyantoc Karse, a big wig in the Corporate Sector. The base on Antar IV sent a short burst communication his way two days ago, we intercepted it and decoded it. He now has been terminated and I will go in his place. Karse was to see the officials at Antar IV to arrange payment for this new weapon technology. As we know the CorpSec is interested in expanding their territories, this will effect the Hammer almost immediately. The cowardly NewReps don't want to dirty their hands with an all out war with our forces, but the CorpSec on the other hand has no such political liabilities."

"You said we, how do I enter the planet?" Rogue asked.

Another display showed a transport landing some distance away. "You will arrive as Guardian Squad and myself enter, 80 klicks away outside the range of their small planetary shield."

"So I am to get the information huh? What about you?"

"I will meet with them, learn of their secrets and eliminate the necessary competition." Sarkis got up and started for the door. "I am going to the infiltration facility to have my disguise readied. I have had the special gear placed in you barracks, along with instructions."

"Thank you, I will look them over."

Rogue opened the door to his barracks and found a cache just inside. He closed the door and examined it, 'TNT' was written all over it. He was just about to open the cache when there was an insistent beeping at his door, forgetting the equipment he addressed the comm. "Come on in."

The door hissed open and BG Caldwell has standing outside, a tray of food in one hand and an officer by the throat in another. "Hey, Rogue!" He did not look pleased. "Is this guy trying to kill me or what!?" He tilted the tray so Rogue could see it. "Is this food pink?"

"It sure is Conk." Rogue answered.

"Conquistador, I..." the officer pleaded.

"Fine." Caldwell tossed the officer aside and strode off, satisfied with the answers. The officer looked puzzled. He probably was the one that lost a bet and had to bring the food to Caldwell. It was also likely that he made some offhand comment like 'I wouldn't eat that if I were you' this had happened before. BG Caldwell would only eat pink food, but since he is color-blind he would have found the officer's comment disturbing and seek out the truth. The officer forgot the pain in his neck and was staring at the cache.

"Is that dangerous?" He asked, pointing at the cache

"That will be all officer." And the door closed. Packages with those initials got a lot of strange looks anywhere except on this ship. The officer was new and not very well informed, 'TNT' stands for 'Tragically Needs Testing'. Used in that context it means that this is the equipment I am to use, but it hasn't been fully tested. Just one more job hazard. He opened the case and checked out the gear. The morphing camouflage had been included, unfortunately it demanded a large power source so its use was limited. The next was the 'ASAAN' gloves and knee pads. The 'Adhesive Surface Ascension And Navigation' they could grip onto almost any surface, but the note attached said that it's support varied on local gravity, temperature, and humidity levels. Luckily Antar IV's was comparatively light in gravity, right around point eight G's. Then there was the ID's standard issue blaster complete with a choice of shoulder, waist, and leg holsters. Rogue always carried a variety of weapons on his person, but elected to go with the shoulder holster. A standard ID vest was also included, it could hold his gloves and tools used to gain entry. He re-arranged the gear and readied it for departure. "Get me the Supreme Director." He said to the controllers who were always listening. A moment later Sarkis's voice was piped into his room.

"Yes, Rogue." He sounded different.

"Sarkis? Is that you, is your disguise completed already?"

"Yes, this is a reasonable facsimile of Karse's voice." Accomplished by electronics woven into the mask. He continued in an older, slower voice than he normally used. "The visual portion is even more well done."

"Good, then we're ready to go. I'll meet you at the hangar shortly."

The Storm Wind's hangar was abuzz with activity, techs were checking power readings on Guardian Squadron's fighters, Sarkis's captured shuttle, and Rogue's transport. Rogue stashed the gear and turned around in time to see Sarkis entering the hangar, late-forties, graying hair, he had an expensive suit patterned after the Corporate Sector's finest, and to top it off a blaster holstered at the waist. As far as everyone else was considered, he was Gyantoc Karse. "You ok? You don't look so good." Rogue said jokingly.

"Oh yeah, I haven't heard that one yet." Sarkis answered not very amused. "They had to shave my eyebrows so it wouldn't bulge." Rogue tried not to chuckle, failed. "You better work fast, I not gonna keep this up any longer than necessary."

"You just keep him busy, and I'll get what we need." Rogue said as he turned around.

"Hey before I forget." Rogue turned to face Sarkis. "Take my lightsaber, I can't be see with it looking like this." He handed it to Rogue who placed it into the ID vest he was wearing. "See you at the contact points, hey try out that new Camo unit real quick."

"Ok, but it still has a few bugs." Rogue switched it on, and quickly became a blur.

"I see what your talking about, not good in open spaces. And it still leaves your shadow."

"Yeah, just good for hugging the terrain." Rogue switched it off and started for his transport. He started the preflight and looked in the back while the engines were warming up. There was a speederbike in the back, but not from Carrida. This one had been customized to look exactly like the ones used to patrol the forests on Antar IV. The surveillance holos had been excellent so he was confident that it would hold up to even the closest scrutiny. He sat at the controls of the transport and watched as Guardian squad exited the hangar. He then followed Sarkis's shuttle out of the hangar. "Well I'll be seeing you guys." Rogue transferred the hyperspace coordinates to the nav-computer.

"We copy, Rogue. Good luck." Sarkis answered. With that he rocketed off into hyperspace.

"Antar control this is shuttle ST-056 requesting clearance to start our approach." The pilot sounded nervous. SDIR Sarkis incognito sat next to him.

"Relax, they have no reason to be suspicious. And I want to keep it that way." Sarkis added.

"ST-056 this is control, we have been expecting you. Please wait, then you will be escorted to the main hangar. Control out." The comm went silent.

Guardian squadron suddenly burst into view on the sensor screen. Sarkis looked at the pilot and said. "Let's make this look good. Start your evasive maneuvers, and radio for help."

The pilot complied. "Control! EH ships have just exited hyperspace and are opening fire! Send help immediately!"

"We copy shuttle, scrambling fighters!" The comm answered.

"Now remember, don't hit'em too hard. The decoys are primed let them go." The decoys BG Caldwell was referring to were 'Don't play that' flight, specially modified drone ships.

"Disengage when the decoys buy it."

Several hundred klicks away, Rogue's transport exited hyperspace and began it's descent into Antar IV's atmosphere. Rogue checked his scanners as he entered he was not being probed and could see that the decoys were destroyed by A-wings launched from the ground. He had made it to the skies of Antar IV and started to close on the forest when he decided to check in with Sarkis, using his dark jedi powers. I've made it to the edge of the forest. Once I begin, ETA fifteen minuets.

Good. I will try to learn who is responsible for the new weapon by then, you find the weapon and it's plans. Sarkis broke contact as Rogue set the transport down in the afternoon sun. He ran to the back and lowered a ramp to allow the speederbike to exit easily. Tossed a camo-net over the transport, he then hopped on and started it up, he than throttled off at high speed towards the NewRep base.

Sarkis exited the shuttle flanked by HF troopers disguised as Espo's, Corporate Sector private police. "Good day for a business agreement wouldn't you say gentlemen." Sarkis said, to the two men at the bottom of the ramp.

"It is indeed." The shorter one answered, as he reached for his comm. "CEO Karse is here sir."

"Very well, have Ywend show him up." A man's voice answered.

"As you wish." He shut the comm off and addressed 'Karse'. "Your security personnel will have to wait here with your shuttle." He pointed toward the other man. "Commander Ywend is our head of security, and will escort you to Mr. Tarsk's quarters, he was about to enjoy a meal and was wondering if you would be willing to smooth out the deal right away."

"That sounds, satisfactory. The sooner the better." Ywend lead him to the express turbolift. As they entered a beeping was heard.

"I will take your blaster, you will have no need for it." Sarkis handed it over and Ywend placed it at his belt. Luckily he didn't check him again he had a vibro-knife in his boot.

"Can't be too careful, there are a lot of nuts out there." Sarkis mused.

"Yes, it makes a blaster useful." Ywend said back. Sarkis noticed that Ywend had no visible weapons, but he could sense in the force that he was dangerous. He was a head taller than Sarkis and wore all black except for his security badge. Ywend hit the lift's only button, and they were rushed up to the quarters of this Mr. Tarsk. The turbolift door hissed open and The exited into a nicely arranged waiting room with three doors. Ywend exited to the second door, Sarkis followed. Behind it was a hallway decked with art from several cultures Sarkis recognized. Corellian flame art, and some Calamarian sculptures. They went past many doors, until they reached the end of the hallway. Ywend opened the door and motioned for 'Karse' to enter. The room was huge, a good ten meters from floor to ceiling. At the opposite ends were large turning staircases that Sarkis knew led to a couple balconies that overlooked the forest and facilities. In the center of the room was a fifty foot long dining table, at the far end stood one man.

"Gyantoc Karse, so good to finally meet you in person." He motioned for Ywend to lead him forward. "I am Varn Tarsk, new weapons developer for the New Republic." He motioned to a seat as Sarkis approached. "Won't you join me, the main course is spiced Dewback with a side of ryshcate."

"Sounds delicious. But only if we may talk business throughout." Sarkis replied having not known what Karse's interests were carrying out a conversation could be hazardous to his cover... and health.

"Of course, that is what we are here for." He sat and Sarkis did as well. Ywend remained standing to the left of Tarsk some ten feet away. "While we wait for the entree, tell me what you think of my base." He said motioning to the wall tapestries and windows.

"Very nice, I assume you sell weapons on the side to accomplish this." Sarkis said studying the nearest tapestry. "The New Republic does not pay this well. Sarkis looked up to see four other tables suspended from cables near the ceiling, probably if more seating was needed they could be lowered easily.

"Yes. They don't know true genius when they see it." Tarsk boasted. "You however have come to the right person." He gestured to the balcony behind him and to his right. "I have the readouts of the test, and the plans ready to be viewed after we are finished eating."

"They sound promising, I can't wait to see how you did it." Sarkis said, trying not to pry to much. Any business man would be less concerned of HOW the weapon worked and only that it DID work.

"It's quite simple really, everyday technology put to new uses." Tarsk said with a smile. "The results are more than satisfactory I'm sure you'll agree."

Rogue arrived with no difficulty to the edge of the facility. He passed many of the support buildings, including two fully stocked hangars. The hangars had assault transports and starfighters. He went past the support structures and went to the south-west corner of the main building. This is were the security patrols kept their speederbikes. He parked it right with the others, picked up his gear off the back and started for the south wall. He removed the ID vest and put it on. Looking around real quick to make sure no one was watching. He plugged the power source in the vest to the adapter in the coveralls, then almost immediately he was blending in with the wall. The miniature holo-projectors were built into the vest and coveralls special. He placed the ASAAN gloves on and started up the wall, the knee parts appeared as dark patches on the coveralls, the sun was on the other side of the building to the north-east. The plan was to work up to the fourth floor balcony on the south side, there were balconies intermediately on the building. And he was to begin a hard target search for the plans. He was up two floors when... Rogue are you on schedule? It was Sarkis.

I'm starting my ascent, why?

I can't get to that one. The sun would leave a long shadow easily spotted to all those below. The side he was on not only provided shadow, but huge trees ran up from below to the seventh floor or so. Look at the room again. Sarkis did so.

Ok, I've got a plan. Be ready to keep them busy. With that Rogue broke the contact.

About that time a plate of spiced dewback was set before Sarkis. It has a very pleasant spicy aroma. "Looks great." He said politely, he was used to better. He eyed the ryshcate as it was placed to the side of his glass of Abrax cognac. It was traditionally served on Corellian special occasions. He tried some of the dewback, cooked to fast. It tasted much better when the spices had time to enter the flesh. He held up a small piece of ryshcate, "It would be nice to have something to celebrate."

"Now that I can help you with." Tarsk said. "I will give you the power to destroy all the enemies that are set before you."

Sarkis smiled to himself. "That is what I am here for, victory."

"It's good to deal with someone with a backbone. The New Republic wants to pull the plug on my project. They would never use them, they don't have the guts."

"Them?" Sarkis asked faining disbelief.

"Yes them." Tarsk stood and must have triggered something because the tapestry on the west wall rolled up and a display behind it lit up. "These," He said pointing to schematics of what looked like proton-torpedoes. "are modified resonance torpedoes. Much like the ones used in the Sun Crusher." Sarkis had heard of resonant explosives of course, the use of small explosions used to the peak of their destructive capacity by well timed secondary and more explosions. "But these are on an atomic and particle scale."

"Like with the demonstration." Sarkis asked.

"Yes, but that was a small target." The display showed a computer graphic of some of the EH systems. "On a larger planet." It showed a model of Aurora prime. "It could sufficiently impact it to level most free-standing structures, and weak land-masses." The isthmus connecting the larger portions on its continent fell into the sea, and the structures fell. "As you can see, it makes starting over again quite easy." Tarsk was grinning now.

"Impressive." Sarkis took a drink of the light-blue Abrax. "Who was responsible for this application of the resonance technology." Sarkis could almost taste blood, he would enjoy killing the fool and placing the technology into the ID's files for further analysis.

Tarsk smiled. "I perfected the process." Sarkis could tell through the force that the man was lying. "I had a partner, but I bought him out."

Sarkis could see in his mind that he in fact killed his business partner by tossing him off the west balcony. "Excellent, then you can arrange the deal." Sarkis was waiting for Rogue, then he would silence this pathetic fool. He doesn’t even know he's about to die, more sad than funny but Sarkis chuckled to himself anyway.

Rogue had just gotten to the south balcony on the top floor. He went around the balcony and was upside-down looking into the room first. He saw Sarkis sitting at the table's right. A man, probably a bodyguard was ten feet behind him watching another man in front of Sarkis pointing to a display screen. He then carefully crawled into the room and stayed on the ceiling. The morphing camouflage should last another hour or better, but Rogue didn't want to risk it. He could feel through the force that his presence was known... to Sarkis. He didn't look up but...

Hurry it up I can't listen to this pompous fool much longer. Rogue was trying not to laugh so hard that he almost fell.

Now you know what torture really is. Rogue added. He could hear the man now. "...used in the Sun Crusher..." He was approximately half way across when he felt the power-pack in the back of the vest start to slip, before he could even attempt to use the force to grab onto the pack, it fell out. Horror started through his mind, it reached the end of it's short cable and just kind of bounced there. He exhaled sharply, not realizing that he was holding his breath. He reached out with his right hand, keeping his left stuck to the ceiling, to get the pack. As he did he looked down, and saw stacks of weapons caches on the elevated tables. Uh... Sarkis? I think I found the weapons.

Where? Sarkis asked.

In cases on top of the tables above you.

Good, than it won't be long now. Get the plans then contact me again.

Rogue continued across the ceiling when the power-pack slipped again. It fell and cleanly came unlatched and fell to the floor... the coveralls came unmasked just in time for Rogue to say... "Uh, oh." The pack smashed onto the floor to the right of the table instantly all heads turned toward him. Rogue quickly unlatched his knees and swung out towards the table pulled back and swung towards one of the elevated tables. He landed with a thud as the cases shifted beneath him, just as blaster bolts struck the bottom of the table. "I've stepped in it this time." He said as he pulled out Sarkis's lightsaber. He quickly ignited the blue blade and swung it in a 360 above his head slashing all four cables that supported the table and closed down the blade. It fell what seemed like an eternity, when the table snapped the center as it hit the floor he rolled off to its left and came to a rest under the main table. He then threw the lightsaber out from under the table, Here it comes Sarkis.

Taking the cue quickly Sarkis used the force to ignite the blade, it almost seemed to fall into his outstretched hand. Ywend not effected by the display opened fire on him. Sarkis blocked the bolts and stood his ground. "What are you waiting for?!" He yelled. Rogue took his cue and shot Ywend through the chest, he fell with a slump to the deck. Sarkis then turned his attention to Tarsk who was cowering already. "Well at least I don't need this." And he proceeded to rip his face off, it looked like Tarsk was going to be sick. He tossed the disguise aside and clipped the lightsaber to his belt.

Tarsk, after realizing it was a disguise was now confused. "Your not one of the New Republic Jedi?"

"The Hammer." Was all Sarkis said in his normal voice.

"No! I will pay you!" He now thought he was about to die. "Anything!" He stood and was approaching Sarkis.

Sarkis turned to Rogue. "I haven't heard that one before?" Rogue couldn't stop laughing. "Like you said 'Its good to deal with someone with a backbone.'" Sarkis ignited his lightsaber and swung at the standing Tarsk, he remained that way for a full second then fell into two pieces. "Lets get those plans to add to ID's collection." Sarkis was heading toward the north staircase when the door behind them opened, security troops opened fire. "Cover!" Sarkis yelled, as he brought his lightsaber to bare. He blocked a blaster bolt.

"You can't keep it up there's too many of them!" Rogue shouted as he squeezed off a few rounds from his blaster across the table. "How did they..." He turned and saw that Ywends body was gone. "Blast!" He put as much hate into the word as anyone could think possible. "That bodyguard is gone!" The remaining three troopers backed off as Rogue killed the first two who entered.

"There are gonna be more of them coming." Sarkis said as the last three slammed the door shut. Sarkis pressed his cufflink and spoke into his sleeve. "Storm Wind? We are ready for extraction." No one responded. "They might have destroyed the probe." He cursed their luck. "I wish I still had my blaster, I still need some more lightsaber practice."

Rogue handed Sarkis his blaster. "Take this and meet me on the fourth floor, south balcony." Sarkis took the blaster and checked it's charge.

"Ok, how are you gonna get there?" Sarkis asked.

"Private turbolift in that room next to the west balcony, remember the plans?"

"Yeah but that doesn't go to the fourth floor?" Sarkis asked.

"Just be there." Rogue said. Sarkis nodded and started down the hall he used to get there. Rogue ran up the staircase to the west balcony, the other entry to the balcony was what he wanted. The door was open as they all were, and inside he could see the computer core. He ran over and saw that the system protect was already going the system was shut tighter then a transparisteel window. He put the HACK card from his vest into the system, ID had the best slicers in the galaxy. And the Heavy Attack Core Killer was designed for everyday computer cores. The core cracked faster than he thought possible. He found the Resonance plans and keyed them up. Rogue pulled the HCDC (High Capacity Data Cylinder) out of his vest and shoved it into the core, and twisted it locking it into place, it began coping. "Must be my lucky day." He then felt a shock in the force that made him duck. A blaster bolt destroyed the display where his head had been. "What the...!" He dive rolled as three more blasts tracked his movements. When he recovered from his roll behind a control console, his vibro-knife was already in hand. Not moving he waited, he could feel through the force that it was only one person, had to be the bodyguard. The man was moving... toward to HCDC. Rogue dove for it, and sliced the mans hand that held a blaster was his other reached out for the HCDC.

"AAARRGGHHH!" He dropped the blaster and Rogue unfortunately underestimated him, the man knocked the vibro-blade from his hand with a crossing disarm pattern Rogue had done a hundred times. The knife flipped behind the core, and Ywend lunged forward with a right reverse at Rogue's head. Rogue countered with a vertical forearm block from his left, and grabbing him with his right hand at the back of the neck. Rogue spun to his left as Ywend followed through, Ywend spun to the floor his back was now to Rogue. Rogue bashed him with his left forearm as he jumped into a figure-four headlock. Rogue had been proud of his nearly unbreakable hold. Ywend stood and Rogue was lifted from the floor.

"Uh, oh." Ywend started to move where he could smash his back to the wall and crush Rogue. Rogue placed his right leg up and pressed back, broke his hold as he didn't want to meet the deck head-first. Ywend was face-down on the floor and Rogue spun over his back and next to Ywend's blaster on the ground. "I'd like to finish this," The computer chimed, the coping was complete. "but I just don't have time." He shot Ywend through the right eye just as he tried to get up. Rogue got the HCDC and put it back in his vest, and checked his ASAAN system. They seemed ok, so he went to the turbolift and sent it all the way down to the first floor. He than pried the doors open and started his descent into the shaft. He made good progress and was almost to the fourth floor when he heard blaster fire. Then the turbolift started to come up, it stopped, then really started to fly up. Rogue dropped of just before it ran him over, he clung to it wishing he still had his vibro-knife. Two floors before smash central he desperately fired with the blaster into the roof of the lift. One floor and closing... "Oh man this was a stupid plan." It stopped with two feet to spare.

"Rogue!?" A voice said.

"Sarkis!" It sounded like him. "What are you doing in there?"

There was a snap-hiss and Sarkis said. "Get to the side." He sliced a good size hole. "I wondered what was taking you so long and decided to check."

"But this doesn't stop at the fourth floor?" Rogue said.

Sarkis held out the lightsaber. "It does now." He started the lift down, hit the stop at or near the fourth. And they exited through the hole Sarkis had cut. "Now I have a question, why are we here?"

"There are trees outside of the balco..." The doors burst open and guards rushed through all of them. Sarkis and Rogue just looked at each other, then ran flat out for the balcony. "Jump!" Blasters opened fire, they somehow made it through the storm of laser bolts and jumped off the balcony. Sarkis landed on a good group of branches, Rogue tried to grab one fell a little farther and grabbed one with both hands. He had swung half the momentum away... and the branch snapped. He fell the remaining floors and landed in a huge line of bushes, about ten feet away from the speederbikes.

"Rogue!" Sarkis was starting down the tree. "Are you alright?!" He landed smoothly as he leap from the tree onto the forest floor.

Rogue stumbled out of the bushes spitting leaves, and expletives. "What a stupid place for a hedge!" There was blaster fire from above. "Quick get a speederbike!" They hopped on two speeders and took off at full speed. Sarkis looked back and saw troopers rounding the building and getting on speederbikes.

"We're gonna have company." Sarkis said. They leaned into a right turn through a mass of trees, trying to get just a little more speed. Meanwhile four speeders sped in their wake.

"Too late!" Rogue pointed forward. Sarkis pulled his bike to the left a little as Rogue went to the right. Two speederbikes were heading right for them.

"I got one." Sarkis reached for his lightsaber and waited... they closed almost too fast to follow. He ignited his lightsaber, as the speeders passed between him and Rogue. There was a flash of blue and white. A pursuer could not avoid the decapitated pilot's speederbike and was dead before he could complain. The headless one's partner turned around and joined the chase, as the others opened fire with their forward mounted cannons. Sarkis and Rogue swerved and dodged, using the force to aid them.

"Check, it out!" Rogue checked behind him. "They're pulling back! They must have got a close look at the guy you took out." He then thought he heard sub-light drives? There was an earsplitting whine and the forest twenty feet ahead and to the right became an inferno, destroyed by concussion missiles. Three assault transports had, entered the chase. Rogue and Sarkis exchanged expressions as the ATRs opened fire with turbolaser turrets.

"We should split up!" Sarkis yelled over the turbolasers. "We'll have a better chance!" Rogue nodded his agreement. The ATRs fired a salvo of concussion missiles. "Now!" They parted just as the missiles detonated evaporating the space they had been in. One transport stayed with Sarkis, the other two stuck to Rogue. Soon they were out of each others sight. Rogue ducked his head and hugged the trees, as if it would help. Turbolasers were trimming every tree he passed, he shielded his eyes against a shower of branches.

"Freaking trees!" He punched the throttle, a missile was fired. He changed his direction as much as he could dare. The missile shattered a tree trunk ahead and it started to fall in Rogues direction. He leaned into a left and cleared it with room to spare. He heard a distant explosion too loud to be a missile. Oh man, they got Sarkis. The next thing he heard was a salvo of ten to twenty missiles, and he thought they were gonna get him too. There was a cluster of explosions and two flights of TIEs boomed overhead. He looked back in time to see the head transport's side afire it spun on it's left side and crashed smashing a path into the forest, the other followed suit. He turned back around in time to see a pink TIE Defender with bright green wings do a victory roll. "Conk you show off!" Rogue said outloud as he sped towards the extraction point.

The transport Rogue had flown there was all ready to go with Sarkis at the controls. "Looks like Caldwell spotted you too huh?" Sarkis said as Rogue took the co-pilot's seat.

"Yeah, did you already tell him what to do?" Rogue asked.

"He should be closing now, let's watch the fireworks." And Sarkis lifted above the trees and in a few seconds they could see the facility. NewRep fighters were intercepting the EH's ships but they didn't last long. With the fighters gone, the T/D's and T/A fighters fired a few salvos of warheads. The support structures became smoking craters. The main building's walls fell under a barrage of lasers and torpedoes, it fell in upon itself and became rubble. "Now all we have to do is add that data to our files on the Storm Wind."

"Yeah if your really lucky your eyebrows will grow back." Rogue was laughing so hard if hadn't been buckled in he might have fallen to the deck. Sarkis just brought the transport to a course where the FRG Storm Wind was waiting.

"Ready commander" The flight member screamed.

"all right lets move in".

The two missile moats got into position and prepared for their assault. All their other Imperial ships had left them minutes ago and they were left all alone to fight the ever growing Rebel fleet.

By this time there was a Rebel Interdictor and two Strike Cruisers launching fighters all over the place still confused about why the Imperials had left only two missile boats.

"Commander that ones got a lock on you!" The flight member yelled.

"Don't worry, I got him kid"

Suddenly two torpedoes hit the hull of the missile boat.

The flight member didn't know what to do, this was his first mission in a Missile boat and already his flight leader was dead.

Suddenly three X-Wings snuck up behind him and fired a volley of lasers. He did some quick maneuvering and got behind the three fighters. He switch to dual advanced concussion missiles and destroyed all three X-Wings at point blank range.

He began to request back-up, but it didn't seem to work. He expected that when the X-Wings attacked him they must have knocked out his communications systems. The flight member decided to continue with the mission and take down all the capital ships in the area. Fortunately his ship had been modified to carry a double load of heavy rockets.

He shot 5 rockets at each of the two strike cruisers and finished them off with a few laser hits. Luckily for him there were very few fighters assaulting him and the ones what were seemed as if they were taking blind shots because they hit their own strike cruisers more than the hit the missile boat.

After the cruisers were wiped out he went for the Interdictor. He shot another 5 rockets and a few missiles at it. Just as before the engaging starfighters missed him and ended up destroying their own Interdictor.

He had, with the help of some inaccurate Rebel fighters, destroyed 3 capital ships in less than five minutes.

After the Interdictor was gone he decided that he ought to take out as many fighters as possible before he leaves for hyperspace.

Most of the ships were simple A-Wings and Z-95s with pilots who knew next to nothing about flying. He even began destroying them with his lasers (instead of using missiles).

After destroying every last Rebel starfighter he realized how nervous he was. He was drenched in sweat and his hands were shaking like crazy.

He was about to begin hyperspace preparations when the Super Star Destroyer Executor returned. Along with it two squadrons of Tie Defenders.

Over his communications system, apparently it had been fixed, came a loud cracily voice, "Nice shooting, but it looks like we got even more company".

Just as the communications officer of the Executor finished his sentence a Light Calmarian cruiser appeared.

Before any one else could react the single missile boat fired the rest of his rockets and missiles at the cruiser.

Quickly one of the Defenders fired a series of ions at it to disable it.

Another voice sounded over the communications system, "I'll give you the honors of destroying it for us".

The missile boat came close to the cruiser and fired about 15 lasers into before it exploded into a million particles of space dust.

He had finished his first mission in one of the first Missile Boats.

A voice came over the Com system again, “By the way, the Emperor wants to speak with you”.

He couldn’t believe it, the Emperor wants to speak to him.

As the pilot of the missile boat exited the cock pit he was surrounded by a hundred other pilots cheering and clapping. It was the kind of parade that he always dreamed of.

That night the Emperor called him to his personal chambers.

“...you have done an excellent job single handedly taking out the the Rebel Fleet”.

“Thank you Emp...”

“I have foreseen many great things in your future. You will also have many promotions. You have done a good job, Ronin”.