A Question of Darkness
DJK Michael Halcyon (Krath)/Acclivis Draco of Scholae Palatinae
(darkjedi@otelo-online.de)

Prologue:

It was a dark and stormy night. Big rain drops fell down on the landing pad which was silently shaking on the waves of Osiris. Occasionally a building showed signs of the fight and the almost destruction of the facility a few weeks ago. But all in all it was a peaceful image. Quaestor Arkane Maithal stood in front of the Great Chamber and rose his head and looked up to the stars.

Meanwhile in another part of the galaxy...

Chapter 1: "Where do those laserbolts come from?"

A red laserbolt hit the shuttle and the shields began to flicker.
"We are being hit! I'm trying to compensate!" Another bolt missed the ship for centimeters. Inside Dark Jedi Knight Adam Anderson tried his best to reroute power from unnecessary systems to the shields. Next to him sat Mike who was flying the ship. The Dark Jedi Knight had managed to evade the most shots so far. Behind the cockpit sat Krath Priest Karva Dronaal, Rollmaster of House Acclivis Draco and Grand Moff, and followed every of Mike's movements. He had lost calling "heads or tails" and was doomed to sit back while the Dark Jedi knight was flying the Escort Shuttle. On the last seat sat Jedi Hunter Khaen who was dreaming about how he could be rewarded by their Quaestor for recovering the stolen ISDII-plans. Perhaps even the elevation to the rank of Knight...
Another shot bumped into the vessel and the persons inside were shaken.
"Cooch! Why aren't you shooting?!", Mike yelled to the back where Dark Jedi Knight "Cooch" Cuchulain was sitting and should fire the backward laser cannon.
"I can't without energy, you Moron!" he yelled back, still holding aim on one of the four R-41 Starchaser from the Fallen Jedi who tracked them since they left Nar Shaddaa. The man in the Mandalorian armor was getting slightly angered. Not that that wasn't bad for a Dark Jedi.
Mike pushed some buttons and helped Adam reroute the power.
"Try it!" Cooch pressed the fire button and a green laser bolt flashed from the cannon towards one of the R-41s and hit it. It's shields flickered but nothing happened.
"Damn it! This damned cannon has to damned less damned energy!"
"Why don't you jump outside then and attack the fighters with your lightsaber, eh?!"
That was Adam. He was as annoyed as everybody else.
"Perhaps I will even do that!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Shaddup, Cooch!", Mike intervened before the two Jedi would perhaps even start battling each other. "I need more energy for the shields, Adam. Cooch, knock down these frigging Starchasers!"
The Dark Jedi Knight had no time to add anything since he was forced to roll the ship to starboard in order to evade the laser volley from their enemies. Meanwhile Cuchulain had begun to fire shot after shot on the nearest starfighter. The pilot was trying to evade the fire while also trying to make a hit on the shuttle by himself. The man was good and that annoyed the Dark Jedi Knight just more. Cuchulain called upon the Force and focused all of his anger on the one Starchaser. Guided by the Powers of the Force did all of the next bolts hit the chaser. The first three shots slammed away the shields, the last two hit the starfighters cockpit and destroyed it.
"Wohooo! That's the first one! Now on to the next!"
When the next two Starchasers were destroyed in the same manner, the last two changed their course and fell back. The two pirate ships followed the Escort Shuttle now in a distance from three clicks.
"Adam, help Mike plot the course to Osiris", commanded Karva. "What are you doing, Khaen?" Karva grabbed the datacard the Jedi hunter was playing with. "These plans may be too vital to let them fall into enemy hands, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to destroy them if we are out of danger."
All of sudden the vessel was shaken heavily. Cuchulain, who had left the laser cannon station, bumped against the next wall and fell to the ground though not really hurt.
"We are down to 64% shields! What was that?"
Again something hit the shuttle and the men were shaken again.
"Shields down to 12%!"
Suddenly a large, green Laserbolt flashed outside the cockpit window and missed the shuttle only centimeters. Mike reacted immediately and threw the shuttle into a rolling/diving maneuver to evade the next volleys.
"Where do those laserbolts come from?"

Chapter 2: "Let's get medieval!"

The source was fast identified.
"Hey, isn't that an old Republic Dreadnought out there?", did Khaen ask. "Do you think they belong to the Fallen Jedi?"
The small cockpit was immediately filled with silence and everybody was glancing at the Jedi Hunter. "What?"
Another laser hit the shuttle and this time passed thie shields. All Dark Jedi were throw from their feet and a pipeline broke, flooding the room with white cooling fluid. Karva was immediately on his legs and began to repair the damage. Meanwhile was Mike trying to evade further hits.
"Status!"
"Shields down, hull damaged, no maneuver engines."
"Looks like we have to go on an emergency jump, Adam, help me with it", shouted Cuchulain. Another laser bolt hit the shuttle and suddenly the lights went out.
"Too late", commended Mike. The Dreadnought had switched to Ion cannons and had disabled the small Escort Shuttle. As the life support was draining and Karva tried to make a decision if to keep the ISDII-plans or destroy them, Jaehn began to speak to Cuchulain.
"Hey, Cooch, perhaps this is the right time to tell Mike about the shuttle..."
"What?", Mike got slightly nervous.
"Shaddup, Jaehn!" Cooch tried to save what was left. He failed.
"What is it about the shuttle? Cooch? Cooch!"
The Dark Jedi Knight turned to the pilot and scratched his head. Well, his helmet.
"Arm... you were right when you said that it was suspicious how fast we got a shuttle on Nar Shaddaa..."
"Yes?" Mike wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the rest of the story.
"Well, this merchant wanted only 450,000 credits for it..."
"And?!"
"We've billed it with your card." Now it was out. It wasn't that bad. Somehow Cooch had awaited any reaction but Mike was just glancing at him. He didn't speak a word. Even as he raised from the seat and slowly walked to Cooch.
"Aaaaaaarrrrgghhhh!!" With a scream the Dark Jedi knight leaped towards the man covered in the Mandalorian armor and put his hands on his opponent's throat. The other Force-wielders were in place to pull away the rampaging Jedi within a second. Adam had grabbed one arm, Khaen the other and Karva was pulling on Mike's chest when suddenly something again hit the shuttle.
"They got us. Tractor beam. We should prepare to get boarded."
Reluctant Mike set Cooch's throat free who gasped for air. After threating Cooch with a "We'll speak afterwards...", they all turned towards the new threat. Through the cockpit windows Adam could already see the Dreadnought's hangar bays and the boarding staff along with the four E-Web Blaster which all pointed at the shuttle.
Only shortly after, the shuttle bumped onto the hangar and the doors closed. The comm made some noise.
"Unidentified Escort Shuttle! Open your doors, and prepare to be boarded. Everybody throw out their weapons."
The Jedis looked at each other. Khaen was slightly frightened, Adam had a steel face, Karva had contemptible arched an eyebrow, Cuchulain had his helmet on and Mike was looking slightly deranged and grinned. He pulled his lightsaber.
"How many people does a Dreadnought have?"
"About 25,000 persons." Adam gave the answer.
"Then we have some work to do." Mike ignited his golden saber and a blue blade appeared above it. Then he pushed the button to open the doors.
"Let's get medieval!"

Chapter 3: "What do you mean with 'Two minutes left'?!"

The Jedis leaped out of the shuttle and deflected the very first shots with their sabers. The bolts hurled back and hit several soldiers who immediately fell down to the ground. Then the E-Web opened the fire. Adam and Mike stood right before the shuttle and deflected the bolts. Khaen, the only one without lightsaber was trying to get to one of the corpses to get a Blaster.
Meanwhile Cooch and Karva ran towards one of the E-Web positions. Cooch ignited his jetpack and jumped behind his enemies while Karva leaped towards the ground and rolled below several blaster shots. Within seconds of their arrival, Karva and Cooch began to slash and gash with their lightsabers. Pure energy cut through armor like a "Let's stay friends" through a heart. Only seconds later Karva stepped over smouldering corpses to the E-Web while Cooch was running towards the next position.
After one of the E-Webs had changed the sides, the fight was over. Under the Blaster gun's fire Adam and Mike took out another E-Web and opened fire at the remaining two. Only two minutes after the fight had begun, it had ended in a victory of the Force-wielders. The group gathered near the hangar doors to guts of the large warship.
"Nice slash, Cooch", Mike said as he deactivated his lightsaber.
"Thank. Yours, too", the Dark Jedi Knight answered.
"I know."
"Bah."
"Are you done, yet?" interrupted Karva, annoyed. "The rest of the vessel is surely alarmed and we're facing enemy reinforcements every second - if not some sort of gas attack."
"He's right", joined Adam, "we should try to sneak our way to the bridge as fast as possible. Who knows, perhaps we can not only bring back the stolen plans but also a Dreadnought!"
Karva nodded.
"But it's vital that we make our way now and silent. Khaen, you cover our back."
"Hey?! Why...", the Jedi Hunter started to argue with Karva but got interrupted by Adam.
"We should hurry." Adam touched his forehead with his right hand. "I feel that the reinforcements are on their way. We have no time to lose."
Mike looked at Adam and then touched his forehead in the same manner and raised his left hand to stop the others.
"I can feel something, too! I feel..."
The other Dark Jedis looked at him with interest. He was just a month ago elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight and not expected to do such big advancements.
"I feel..."
"What?", asked Adam, breathless.
"I feel I am thirsty."
A collective groaning went through their rows and Karva twisted his eyes. Mike shrud his shoulders.
"What? Didn't the fight make you thirsty, too?"

The turbolift doors opened and revealed an empty corridor. The group of Force-wielders had finally reached deck seven, only several minutes away from the bridge now. Surprisingly they had managed to evade any encounters so far. Twice they had to kill several guards who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they sneaked down the corridor.
"No." That was Khaen.
"Yes." That was Cooch.
"And I say we should have hidden the corpses somewhere."
"Shaddup you two, we are approaching the turbolift to the bridge", said Karva as the small group came to the turbolift which ended the corridor. Karva made a quick briefing.
"Okay, we don't know if they expect us up there so stay alarmed. Does anybody have experience in capital ship piloting besides me?" Only Mike rose his hand.
"This makes two. Not good but not too bad. Try not killing unimportant personnel. Eliminate all higher ranking officers immediately after we enter the bridge. I myself will take out the Captain. Got it?" The others nodded.
"Then go!" Karva opened up the turbolift and the Force-wielders entered it. Karva called out "Bridge!" and the lift moved up.

The doors opened and revealed the bridge. It wasn't as comfortable as in an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, for example, since there was no trench for the bridge crew to sit in while the Captain was walking around above their heads. A lonely Captain's chair formed the middle of the large room which had all windows going around it with the exception of the wall with the turbolift. Approximately ten to fifteen centimeters deeper were the bridge crew's chairs and stations. All were fully placed and all turned their head as the Dark Jedi entered the bridge.
As Karva neared the Captain's chair, it began to rotate and revealed the Dreadnought's Commander.
The figure looked like a typical scoundrel: a three-day-shadow which tried to cover and ugly scar, shaggy hair over dark brown eyes, and a cigarette in his mouth. Even the way he lay in the chair alone signalled that Karva surely wasn't facing an ex-Imperial. The figure held a short cylindrical metal rod in his right hand.
"I assume you are the Fallen Jedi's Commander?", said Karva, rather stating then asking.
"Yes. And you are the intruders who stole my plans, destroyed half of my fighter squads and try to capture this vessel."
"I am no Intruder. I am Grandmoff Karva Dronaal, Krath Priest. And you will die from my hand." The Fallen Jedi's eyes lightened as he slowly rose from his seat. Then he ignited his saber. Karva stepped back a bit and ignited his. Then he prepared for the final battle.

The Fallen Jedi was no match for Karva's powers. Within the very first fighting rounds had the Grandmoff driven back the criminal. Now the Fallen Jedi had the wall in his back and faced Karva who made a slash from above. The criminal rose the purple blade of his lightsaber to parry Karva's strike but the Rollmaster made a step forward and changed the blade's course so that he chopped off the Fallen Jedi's right arm with a single movement.
As the man sank down to the ground, Karva said: "You are no match for us. The next time you better go looking for the New Republic - the have incompetent people. Don't mess with the Dark Brotherhood." Then Karva seemed to remember something. "Oh, right, there will be no 'next time'." And with that he stabbed his saber deep into the Fallen Jedi's chest and ended his existance.
The other Jedis had meanwhile seized the bridge and Mike was already taking place at the pilot's station when Adam noticed a swift movement at the end of his view. He turned around, just in time to see one of the comm officers hit a red button.
The bridge was immediatly flooded with red light and the officer immediatly killed. While Cuchulain was going around and taking out the rest of the brdige crew, Khaen investigated the button and the display on its side a bit further.
"Two minutes left."
"What do you mean with 'Two minutes left'?!"

Chapter 4: The Escape

"Looks like our dream from a new Dreadnought had just found its end. This is the self-destruct sequence. And it's unstoppable." Khaen looked to Karva. The Rollmaster's eyes widened.
"Then hurry! We have to reach our shuttle within these two minutes or we're space dust!"
For a second the five Jedis looked at each other and then stormed towards the turbolift.

Luckily they encountered no resistance on their way to the hangar bay and reach the shuttle in time. Khaen was the first who jumped into the still open ship. Breathless Mike ran at Cuchulain's side towards the shuttle.
"Know... pfff... what I... cough... hate most on... argl... being the good guy?"
"No, Mike."
"The... uhhh... always running after you successfully complete a mission..."
Karva and Adam pulled the two Jedis inside and the gangway already began to distract when the first explosions shook the mighty warship. Karva started the engines and started the escort shuttle while Adam was finishing the calculations for the jump to hyperspace.
"I need shields!"
"No way, Karva!" replied Cuchulain who was frantically trying to repair the energy distributors.
"I need them now! Take energy from the life support!"
Panically Cooch rerouted the energy.
The escort shuttle had just left the hangar bay as the Dreadnought exploded. In the same second Cuchulain shouted: "Shields up!"
The poor shuttle was shaken again but this time could withstand the powers.
Soon after the stars morphed to the starlines and then to the familiar blue glowing from the hyperspace as the vessel made the jump. All that was left was an expanding fireball.

The escort shuttle landed on the pad and the gangway expanded to make the way for the Dark Jedis. Arkane stood before the starship and eagerly awaited the command team to return. Then, slowly, man after man, they dropped down the gangway. Karva smiled as he gave the datacard to the Quastor.
"Mission accomplished, Quaestor. And we also killed the leader of the Fallen Jedi and destroyed their flagship, an old Republician Dreadnought."
Arkane allowed himself to smile.
"Excellent, Karva. And you all, too.", he nodded towards the others. Then he pointed towards the Great Chamber with his left arm. "But why don't you tell me everything in detail?"
Karva nodded and the small group walked towards the building. They hadn't walked ten meters as they heared somebody yelling behind them: "This is not over, yet! You bastards!"
The six men turned around and saw that obviously one of the Fallen Jedi soldiers had hidden in the shuttle. Now he was pointing at the group with his Blaster.
The Mike noticed a small, brown and furry something right next to the shuttle, behind the soldier. He smiled.
"This is your one and only chance to surrender. Lay down your weapon or die."
"Ha! Never! I will kill you all now! I will..." then he got interrupted. A small, brown but most aggressive squirrel jumped out of the darkness and directly onto the soldiers head. As Colonel Earnie began to lacerate the man's face, the group turned around towards the Great Chamber, laughing.
"How did you make that, Mike?", asked Cuchulain. "I mean, how do you get Earnie to attack people?"
Mike hesitated for several seconds as if he was searching for an answer. Then he said:
"Cooch, it's all a question of darkness..."

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