Star Wars: Resurrection (IC)

[The Imperial Republic]

OOC | Discord

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After a failed attempt to arrest him by the best Jedi Masters the Jedi High Council had to offer, Darth Sidious, known publicly as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, had declared Clone Protocol 66, or Order 66, to be activated. It was not long before the Grand Army of the Republic turned on its commanders and generals, killing thousands of Jedi within hours. Unknown to most, one of their most promising members would see to the end of their Order and lead the 501st Legion into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, shedding his former title of Jedi Knight and donning the mantle of Darth Vader. Known as Operation: Knightfall, the Grand Army of the Republic ensured the sacking of the Temple and the deaths of so many Jedi traitors. Despite the formal destruction of their organization and their home, Some Jedi would survive, either through luck or sheer will.

From the ancient and long abandoned world of Odessen on the fringes of Wild Space, Jedi Master Martius Shan had sent out a Force Call to all surviving Jedi throughout the Galaxy. Those brave few journeyed from the darkest corners of the galaxy under threat of discovery by the newly formed Galactic Empire and would heed their Master's call. From there, the Jedi survivors banded together to form their own enclave and rebuild their Order, headed by Jedi Master Martius Shan. Hope and promise in the survival of the Jedi flourished there in it's short time of peace. Before the resourceful Sith were once again bearing down upon them. After a lengthy battle between Jedi and hunters of the Inquisition that set flame to the old world, the Jedi survivors were forced to flee and narrowly escaped the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. With their home in flames and many of their enclave slaughtered in the battle, the enclave's remnants have fled 7,500 parsecs to the orbit of Ihduno, a world long lost to the galaxy and was once the site of a massive battle between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire. In a last act of defiance, the Jedi and their allies stage one final fight against the Empire over a world brimming with secrets...

Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force....

Master Jir Tann held tight to her right arm, a blackened section of charred flesh running across her shoulder and down to her elbow, a last gift given to her by a particularly fierce Inquisitor, his pale face and piercing yellow eyes almost getting the best of her, exhausting her defenses with his aggressive offense and the amount of pure hate filling his every slash and lunge. She recognized his stance, his maneuvers, and the sheer amount of training he must have devoted to Form VII. Had Master Nardrashtasch not intervened and forced him back, she very well could have died. As she collapsed near the AutoChef of the Aerosteel's Lounge of exhaustion, she hoped that she had taken the place of her wookie friend. It was because of her that he rerouted from his avenue of escape to her. It was because of her that he engaged with that Inquisitor and consequently was there when Lord Vader entered through the northern entrance. Despite Master Shan's requests that he respond over the comm and the Last Resort waiting until the last minute to cast off, they all knew what fate befell him. Jir Tann rested that blame solely upon her and for the first time in the entirety of her life as a Jedi, she felt as if her emotions would swallow her. As the other Jedi around her took their respective areas to attempt to regain some strength after a brutal encounter that left more than half of their enclave dead, Jir wallowed in that darkness. With a sharp pain filling her with every movement and with the last sight of her wookie friend saving her life at the cost of his firmly commanding her all of her thought, this moment was torment. She took deep breaths as she closed her eyes tight, reciting the Jedi Code, a sequence that had always brought her comfort and peace before. Even after Order 66 and in her brief time among surviving members of her shattered Order, reciting that Code kept her anchored, stayed her feet firmly into the light and always conquering the dark.

Flashes and glimpses of peace were now fading as the sight of watching her number fall upon crimson blades continued to harass her. Watching Vaulik fall first outside of the Temple, the look of satisfaction upon an Inquisitor's face as he stared into the dying Jedi's eyes all the way down. Even before Vader landed with his slaves of the dark side, Jir's faith had shaken. Was there never to be a respite from so much death and decay? Was the Jedi Order truly cursed to be snuffed out so completely? She thought to herself. She opened her eyes to see her fellow survivors, various expressions of defeat, anger, injury and sadness upon their diverse faces. As she looked at each of them, her mind began to wander into the light. The Padawans and Knights of their Order had always looked up to the Masters as an ultimate authority and while her position as one was yet shiny and new, she could already feel the weight that load had to bear. In this time of despair, this moment of defeat, they didn't need to see her collapsed to the floor, wrought with pain, wallowing in defeat as they were. As a Jedi Master, perhaps one of the few left in the galaxy, now was the time to relinquish those selfish chains from her mind. Just as she had been in the Temple on Odessen, now would she need to be a beacon of calm and focus that shone like a light in the chaotic night. Slowly, she would rise to her feet. Despite the pain in her arm that ran its course through her spine and body, she would ignore it. Groaning, she rose to her feet to tend to the others. To be that warmth in a sea of ice and silence. To be the Jedi Master that Martius Shan saw her as in this new age. For her friend. For Nardrashtasch. For Vrudun. For Afon. And for all the others that drifted into the Cosmic Force to become one with the universe and were freed from their bonds in the Living Force.

Through Power, Victory. Through Victory, my chains are broken....

As she departed her Eta 2 Actis-Class Interceptor at the center of one of the Deliverance's hangars, a wide smile stretched across her face, a diabolical grin. Her lightsabers still gripped tightly within her hands, the adrenaline of the battle still rushing within her. Upon her belt were clipped her trophies. A hilt wrapped in leather, it's ruby red ignition switch risen up beyond the cloth wrapping around it. The blade had belonged to one of the Knights, a weak display of defense in the form of Form III had been her downfall as Barriss charged through her like Vader himself would through a Padawan learner. The second hilt was one was much more ornate, it's durasteel plating etched neatly and it's wood accented in a masterful order. Yet, it did nothing to halt his own death. She played it back in her head as she leaned against a section of nearby crates, keeping her starfighter in view in case they were called to battle once more when the Jedi ships they were tracking had departed hyperspace. She remembered stalking them as the two, a Zabrak and an Arkanian fled from their cradle of false hope. Watched as the two neared their ship. And struck at just the right time. Landing between the two, she ignited her blades just as he'd ignited his, a look of shock across his face as she immediately engaged, slashing against his immaculate defense that had continued to deny her a quick victory. She basked in the moment that ship of theirs departed without him, his bright blue blade casting an eerie shadow of solemn acceptance upon his face.

The look that she knew all too well. He knew he was going to die and they both knew it. The ensuing clash of blades would be fierce and brutal. Barriss was forced to shift into Soresu more times than she wanted as that stubborn Zabrak fought with reckless abandon, putting all of his weight and muscles into every strike, forcing Barriss to give ground. As the last Jedi ship departed the burning forests that were now gaining ground quickly to them, she watched him lose hope. And she pounced. With a twirling and spinning display, she pulled every ounce of herself into her blades, regaining every inch of ground she had lost previously and forcing his back into the flames. She continued her attack until, with a feign and spin, thrusted one of her blades deep into his stomach. After she had decapitated him, she laughed and pulled his hilt from his hand as it rolled away. Her second kill. Even now, her mouth watered as she savored those last few moments of battle, when she had disoriented and confused the exhausted Zabrak Knight, pulling his attention away from where it should have been. Though she had spent all of her energy in that single duel, it was well worth the soreness she would be feeling later. While she had new trophies, she was jealous of the fact that her fellow Inquisitor, Second Brother, scored three Jedi. A number she would remember well when she would once again meet the rest of the Survivors that managed to escape the wrath of Vader and his Inquisitorius. She would be looking forward to ending Martius Shan, a powerful Jedi, one with a lineage steeped in power and one that Vader would mark by name. He was all hers. She looked around the other Inquisitors in the hangar, each of them victorious in their battles, and thought of how much better she was than any of them. In anticipation of their coming encounter with the last of this group, she pushed herself from the crates and approached her starfighter. She would carry the weapons of these Jedi with her into battle and they would see how they'd fell on her blades.

[Lady Mon]

Above Odessen

Deliverance

Admiral Karnu stood on the bridge of his ship as he looked down at the planet with a smile on his face, according to reports he had received from Commander Buck the Inquisitors were able to eliminate a few Jedi on the planet. In which he believed that this was a successful operation despite some of the Jedi escaping, which Karnu knew it was only a matter of time until the Empire caught up to them once again. When the Admiral first met the Inquisitors, he believed they were nothing more than a waste of space on the ship. But after their victory on Odessen, Karnu believed that he might've misjudged them and can tell they were worthy assets to the Empire compared to the Jedi during the Clone Wars. The Admiral never thought he'd be working alongside Force users after Order 66 and here he was sharing a victory with them. Karnu hoped that these victories would continue to hold up after this mission.

Karnu hopes that with the success of this mission, he would be able to gain the approval of Lord Vader and possibly the Emperor himself thus allowing him to climb up the ranks in the Empire and provide more for his wife and daughter. Karnu let out a small sigh as he stepped away from the viewport windows of the bridge and walked past his officers as they continued work. While Karnu was proud that the Inquisitors got the job done, he was even prouder of his own Clone Legion the 112th. Which Karnu wasn't surprised that they were able to accomplish the mission without trouble, they were battle harden soldiers and that could overcome any challenge thrown at them. Rather it be droids or Jedi, the 112th Legion makes sure the mission is a success. Karnu soon left the bridge and entered another room where an officer greeted him with a salute.

"At ease." The Admiral said returning the salute.

"Anything to report?"

"Yes sir, Captain Harmenix is on her way here right now just as you requested Admiral." The Officer said.

"Good wait for her shuttle to land in the hanger and bring her up to the bridge." Karnu ordered.

"Yes sir!" The Officer said before quickly saluting and walking out the room.

After speaking with the officer, Karnu returned to the bridge area to continue to observe Odessen from above until Harmenix gets here.


Captain Harmenix's Shuttle

"Approaching the Deliverance, Captain." The Clone pilot of the shuttle announced to which Harmenix only gave him an acknowledged nod as she sat in the back of the shuttle waiting for it to land in one of the many hangers of the Deliverance.

The Captain was confused on why the Admiral wanted her there in the first place, but according to Admiral Tanwitt it was something about her track record during the Clone Wars that caught Karnu's attention. As far as she was concerned, she believed it wasn't that impressive she merely just held off a Separatist fleet a few times during the Clone Wars. But if Admiral Karnu wanted her aboard his ship, then she can't refuse him and will just have to get used to working under a new Admiral as well as a new crew. After a few minutes, the shuttle finally landed in one of the hangers of the Deliverance. Once the ramp to the shuttle was extended down, Harmenix stepped off the shuttle where she was greeted by an officer with a salute in which Aliella returned the salute.

"Welcome aboard the Deliverance, Captain Harmenix. Admiral Karnu is waiting for you on the bridge." The Officer said as he montioned his hand for her to follow him.

Aliella nodded and started following the officer to the bridge, while following the officer. The captain looked around the hanger which she saw nothing unusual, except for a woman getting out of a Jedi Starfighter? Harmenix was confused, but it was best not to question it now. After following the officer, Harmenix made it to the bridge where she saw Admiral Karnu standing by the viewport window. Karnu soon turned around to face his new captain.

"Captain Aliella Harmenix reporting for duty Admiral." Harmenix said as she saluted the Admiral with him returning it.

"At ease Captain, welcome aboard the Deliverance, I look forward to seeing you in action. As you might know I requested you be transferred to my ship because of your impressive track record during the Clone Wars. I see great potential in you Captain." Karnu explained.

"Is that why you wanted me here sir? Because I have potential?" Harmenix asked.

"You're correct, besides your talents would be more useful on this ship than just doing simple patrols out in the Mid-Rim. As you might've heard or seen we recently had a successful operation on this planet. So, it will be a while until we get orders from Command again, so until then talk with the bridge crew and get to know them." Karnu said.

[Skyggeheim]

Chapter 1: Burn Them All
The Deliverance
Imrik Val'Akar
Departing Odessen

The subtle click of the LAAT's doors, combined with the cabin being washed in light, signified Imrik's return to the Deliverance's hangar from the surface of Odessen. He blinked once, twice, letting his eyes adjust to the bright bay, before stepping off the transport. It had been a quiet ride, one that afforded him much reflection. The clones of the 112th didn't have much to say to the pale-faced Inquisitor, simply shuffling and making room as he climbed aboard. His new trophy had caught the eyes of a few, and he had watched as they tried to come up with some form of conversation starter to ask exactly how he had managed to retrieve a second lightsaber. Of course, everyone on the transport understood. He had killed a Jedi.

As he strode across the hangar, he thought about his fight with the woman. It had been a grim and wordless battle, but not one without emotion. For someone he had never met, had not even cared to learn their name, Imrik despised the woman he had struck down. Even now, the thought of her made his insides boil. An Arkanian Pureblood, the race that had enslaved his people and sent him to die in the fighting pits of their home planet - simply to settle a debt that his parents owed. And a Jedi? And she had the audacity to stand between Imrik and the rest of her doomed little band? He had pounced on her like a savage animal, and their battle carried on for nearly a full mile. The Jedi was constantly on the backstep, leaping between the ground and the trees above. Imrik had pressed onwards, barely even sensing the swings of his lightsaber as their blades sung through the air and clashed - over and over. She had finally found an opening, using the Force to slam Imrik against a tree. When she moved in for the killing blow, however, Imrik had replied with a hateful glare so potent that it melted her eyes when she looked.

She hadn't said a word for the entire battle. But there, she screamed. Imrik had savored it. He made the kill slow, softly pushing his red blade through her chest. All the while, his face never displayed even a twitch of emotion. She died blind, afraid, and in pain. And Imrik, for what it was worth, hadn't felt a rush like that in - well - ever.

He must have more.

But the rest of his thoughts would have to wait for another time. As he moved across the hangar, he spotted several of his fellow Inquisitors climbing out of their starfighters. He hadn't earned one in the Jedi Order, being only a Padawan when Order 66 came down, and he hadn't the time nor the motivation to acquire one since he had become an Inquisitor. His Brothers and Sisters - verminous rats that they were - had the fortune of their own private transport. But then again, how pitiful would he be to belabor them for their method of transportation? He couldn't decide. Regardless, he watched as several of their trained gazes swept the hangar. Naturally, they were looking for something: the trophies that their fellow brothers and sisters carried. And specifically, how many. Not one to be outdone, Imrik shifted the blade clipped to his belt to the other side - making it more visible to those observing - and continued his march onwards. He would visit the medical ward first, to mend his most-certainly shattered rib. Then, he would train. He would drill himself until he could not move, until breathing became a monumental effort. After all, despite how much he despised the Arkanian Jedi for her simple existance, he loathed himself even more for allowing her to stand a chance.

What an exciting day it would be.

[Okayanos]

Aragwen Clyfsin, Fifth Sister
Aboard the Deliverance
Odessen

THE CANOPY of Aragwen's V-Wing hissed as it slowly rose, artificial-smelling air seeping into the cockpit soon after. Deliverance, at last. Aragwen rose from the pilot's seat slowly, spine popping as she stood up to her full height. Her V-Wing wasn't an entirely comfortable ship. For a being standing over six and a half feet tall, almost nothing was. Aragwen vaulted down from her ship and landed on the hangar floor with a heavy thunk. Two of her siblings had arrived already- both were sources of great irritation, for entirely different reasons. The First Sister, Barriss Offee, was the spoiled brat who'd gotten extra attention from her master during training and turned to the Dark Side anyways. In that singular regard, Aragwen and Barriss were alike, for they differed in every other conceivable way. The First Sister was constantly, insistently noisy, eternally unpredictable, and forever a danger to those around her, friend and enemy alike. Whatever had been done to Barriss in the time between the Clone Wars and now had turned the Mirialian into an unrepentant psychopath. The turmoil that spilled forth from the First Sister's mind was, in a word, unpleasant to experience. And now the First had a shiny new trophy- a Jedi's lightsaber- on her belt. Celestial song, drown out the grating of her. Aragwen swerved to avoid Barriss, which- unfortunately- put her on a collision course with the lesser of two evils, one Imrik Val'Akar.

Aragwen had little opinion on Val'Akar, the Eighth Brother of their order, for she disliked having to think about him more than necessary. He was an Arkanian Offshoot, like her, albeit shorter. The Eighth Brother spoke little, which Aragwen appreciated. She did not, however, appreciate the Jedi Lightsaber on his belt, clearly positioned for maximum visibility. Of all emotions, pride was the most distasteful to Aragwen's senses. Small wonder she preferred to avoid Draay at all times. Val'Akar, rather politely, chose not to inflict his presence upon the hangar for any longer, marching off into the bowels of the ship. Aragwen watched him leave from behind her stoic-faced mask. Two of her siblings here, and both had trophies from their kills. She would never understand the habit. Killing was killing, taking a piece of the victim didn't make them deader. Aragwen didn't need any reminder of how she had killed the Jedi on Odessen.

Imrik had taken the pleasure of offing the pureblood himself, leaving Aragwen with an unremarkable human to deal with. Unremarkable, that is, until he began to fight. The Jedi had wielded the Force like a blunt object, hurling blasts of telekinetic energy between every relentless swipe of his lightsaber. His name, swirling about in his mind like a ship in a tempest, had been Jace Tholme. But as Jace Tholme had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the Force, he had allowed Aragwen to begin to pierce into his mind. Their battle had not merely been one of clashing lightsabers- it was a struggle of wills, each attempting to exert their will over the flow of the Force against the other. As Jace had jumped from the temple all the way down into the burning forest below, Aragwen had pursued him. They had fought the whole way down, sliding along the walls of the temple, almost floating at times as their sabers clashed and Force powers billowed about. In the Forest, burning logs and clouds of ash had been hurled about as weapons- and yet, Aragwen had only been fighting half of her battle in the real world. The other half had been wading through a mental sea of emotion, thought, and identity, piercing through layers of Jace's mind every time his saber clashed against hers. Jace Tholme was not a silent opponent- he had roared, bellowed, goaded Aragwen throughout the fight. It was only when her psychic grip was around the center of his being that she had a response to offer.

"Be silent," Aragwen had said as she shoved an icicle of fear and panic into the most primal part of Jace's mind. The Jedi listened well, freezing up and dropping his weapon, then falling to the ground unceremoniously with twitching limbs and a small string of drool out the corner of his mouth. Aragwen had parted his head from his body shortly after.

Recollection sung to Aragwen in the hangar of the Deliverance, taking her back to the last moments of the Jedi Knight Jace Tholme. What a mess of emotion that boy had been. Boy, she thought, as if she were any older. As if it could not have been her fighting against the Inquisition in another life, where Telos had not let her hear its whispers. Aragwen scoffed behind her mask. As if I would not have fallen all the same.

[United Islands of Polis]

Lieutenant Cornelius Mors [CALLSIGN: Scarbrand]
On Board Venator Class Star Destroyer - INS Redemption, Odessen, High Orbit
Post Battle of Odessen, 19 BBY

The modified Nu-Class Attack Shuttle's engines were still very warm. Cornelius while having been assigned to be at the Battle of Odessen for whatever reasons outside of his knowing, was a mystery. Not even his mentor, Director Pereira knew either. What he did know however was that after the Brighthome Incident he sustained several injuries that were non-fatal, but would require therapy and a month of rest, however the Empire, having been built up from the running war machine that was the Republic, had not stopped, and thus needed all assets available to be on the field at the soonest. So in that sense, Cornelius was submerged unnecessarily in a Bacta Tank to speed up the process from one month to a week at most.

From troop bay, now turned mostly into a living space for six people, he could still feel the ghost pain of the blaster shot wounds, and smell the Bacta Tank contents. It smelled of antiseptics but it was now just a trace compared to a few days ago when he was just removed. He did not need the occupational therapy however as the wounds had thankfully healed properly, meaning mobility was only restricted slightly, the after effects of recovering. It was so surreal all of a sudden. After three long years of fighting side by side with the Jedi, they were now hunting them. Cornelius, or rather Scarbrand, before his unit lost their lives on Annaxes, they were tasked with hunting down HVTs of the Separatist movement, disrupting supply lines, and other sensitive missions. And his first mission under this new totalitarian regime was to kill the Jedi and wipe them from the face of the galaxy.

Removing the NT-242 from a hardcase, Cornelius ran a hand over it, freshly maintained, most scratches now gone, except for the 19 scratches on the receiver, 19 kills with that rifle alone, it only counted HVTs they had taken out from a distance with him behind its trigger. As he excited the "doorway" separating the living quarters from the troop bay, where 10 crash seats still resided plus a BARC speeder tied down, he saw the wall on his left which showed over 43 CIS logos in black paint, one signifying a successful mission, with seven CIS logos in red down below, failed missions. He put a hand on the wall and remembered what Captain Tetsuo said the first time they recorded those failed missions.

"Remember that failure cannot be an option, but it can happen. We will learn from it and be better!"

They never did, all those failed missions had one thing in common, their targets were either Count Dooku or General Grievous, somehow always escaping when they were poised to strike them down. They came to the conclusion that there was a rat in Republic Intelligence. The breadcrumbs lead right to Coruscant, right to the Senate, but as Coruscant was invaded the team in charge of finding this rat and the building they were posted in was destroyed, along with other sensitive infrastructure, so all documents and progress were destroyed sadly. Placing the antimaterial rifle by a crash seat, Cornelius went to work on the maintenance of his Westar M-5, ocassionaly sipping on a glass of fruit flavored water.

Being left to his thoughts, admittedly he did agree that there were Jedi who were unfit for the role of commander, or downright did not deserve to live after their stints in command. Such as the infamous Pong Krell. He urged Scarbrand to call an airstrike right on top of a valley with active fighting whereupon supposedly disguised Umbaran soldiers were using Clone Trooper gear. While they did call it in, most air assets were busy assisting the 212th, so there was no friendly fire incident that occurred. But they wanted a piece of Krell, unfortunately they came too late to assist. But he never understood why the Jedi were never given the chance to surrender. It's not like all of them would stand for their accusations, and there were also no reports of the younger padawans or trainees. Did this new Empire truly get rid of small children as well? Was it necessary?

From the doorway however he could see some of the inquisitors, together but distance, the hate and anger bleeding from their body language and expressions. Cornelius lifted his right hand, forming a gun with his index and thumb, pushing the thumb back and making a sound effect. He didn't trust these new Imperial troops, but orders were orders until they no longer made sense.

"Take a look at these fools guys, couldn't tell their head from their ass while thinking they run the show." Cornelius softly said to himself as he sat back. As far as he knew they were right on the heels of the Jedi, and were just collecting the Inquisitors before making the jump to hyperspace.

[Laiakia]

Jedi Padawan Tuka Tisrygian

Aboard The Aerosteel

Padawan Tuka Tysrigian drifted in and out of consciousness. Exhaustion was clear upon his face as the adrenaline from the escape drained from his system. Mere moments before the remaining Jedi managed to make it off Odessen, the Jedi Padawan had, by some miraculous means, managed to beat back and evade an Inquisitor shortly before escaping. However he did not leave the skirmish unharmed. A nasty scar now ran across his face, a token of remembrance of the enormous amounts of Force Lightning that this Inquisitor tossed at him. He would have most likely succumbed to the Lightning, had it not been for the fact that he managed to conjure forth a Force Barrier just in time to tank a majority of the pure power being sent towards him. An impressive feat for a mere Padawan.

Alas, Tuka did not create the Barrier from his own power. Instead, it was the Sith Spirit that now dwelled within him that had pushed Tuka to use but a sliver of its dark power. In such a life-or-death situation, the Padawan simply had no choice but to tap into the Dark Side. And much to his own horror, and the Spirit’s delight, it felt good. Tuka could compare it to opening a giant bottle of water after being isolated in a desert for his entire life. The more his thoughts dwelled on it, the more he wanted to indulge in it, to use it, to feel it, to become it.

A pang of pain cut off the Padawan’s train of thought.

”What am I thinking?” Tuka thought to himself weakly. ”This is not the way of the Jedi… What would Master Nard-”

The Padawan’s mind panicked. He had not seen the Wookie Master board the ship! As his eyes drifted about the room, trying to spot the big Wookie, his hope slowly dimmed, but did not diminish in its entirety. 

”Perhaps he was on the other ship with the others!” The Padawan argued with himself.

During the Jedis time on Odessen, the Wookie Master Nardrashtasch had become an important figure to Tuka, especially since the Wookie had chosen to take Tuka under his wing. The thought of losing the only Master he has ever had frightened Tuka internally. He had hoped that Odessen would remain undiscovered by the new Galactic Empire, that the Jedi could remain in peace for as long as possible. Yet it seemed that the galaxy was all out of hope for the Jedi.

”Is this to be our destiny, then? Make a new home, then be forced to flee as we watch ourselves be slowly slaughtered?” He contemplated in silent thought.

”For those who call themselves Jedi?” Another voice spoke in Tuka’s mind, this one not his own. ”Yes. You have now seen the consequences of what the Jedi have wrought upon themselves, pacifism, stagnation and decline!”

Tuka’s inner thoughts were in panic, desperatly trying to not listen to the voice, yet, another much smaller part of him wanted to listen.

”Look how many of their kind has fallen in this single battle alone. Ask yourself how many could have survived if they only embraced conflict. Ask yourself how many you can save if you only embrace me.”

Attempting to think up a response, the Jedi Padawan found out he could not, as if some otherworldy influence kept him from his own mind.

”Take this loss, feel its consequences! Allow yourself to be forged in the fire, reborn more powerful than the Jedi will ever allow you to be.”

Tuka’s eyes opened weakly, scanning the room of the defeated Jedi. So many had been slain on Odessen, so many of their numbers culled. Heck, he wasn’t even sure if the other ship had even made it off the planet! Perhaps what the Spirit spoke was the truth. Perhaps the Shadow truly was stronger than the Light, if its users had managed to snuff out so many Jedi in the first place.

Perhaps the path to Victory of their enemies truly did lie in Power…

He was conflicted on the matter, truly. Throughout his time on Coruscant, he had always heard of how dangerous and volitle the Dark Side is, and how it enslaves its users.

”Only the weak, undeserving, become enslaved to their own emotions.” The voice of the Spirit spoke again, almost as if it could read Tuka’s mind. ”They become ruled by their own emotions, easy to anger, easy to manipulate. Those that hunt you and your kind are like that, ruled by their own hubris and thoughts of success. They are not true Sith, even though they utilize the Shadow much like any other Dark-Sider. Yet they are still simply a tool for someone much stronger, albeit a tool that thinks it rules itself.”

“It is the strong, the worthy, those who can control their emotions that are the the Dark Lords. Much like us, child.”

”...S-Stop comparing us together, Wraith, I–I am nothing like you! I am a Jedi-”

”YOU ARE A COWARD.” The Sith-King’s voice bellowed in Tuka’s mind, drowning out any attempted counter-argument. ”You, and the rest of these Jedi, are spineless. If you continue on this path of escape the Jedi have set you upon, you will lack both the power and conviction to win against those who pursue you! Look around you, Padawan. Half of you kind have been mauled and weakened, and your enclave had weeks to prepare for this inevitability. The hubris of the Jedi have become their undoing. Do you truly believe you, a mere Padawan, can survive what countless Knights and Master could not? Do you think you could do it without my help, my powers?”

Tuka did not respond for a moment, taken aback by the Spirit’s tenacity. Thinking back to the many hours spent training with the Wookie Master, Tuka exhaled slowly, the scars making this painful.

”....There is no emotion, there is peac-”

”PEACE IS A LIE!” The voice rudely interrupted. ”There is only Passion. Through Passion, you gain Strength. Through Strength, we gain Victory. Through Victory, our chains are broken.”

“You may not see it now, Tuka Tisrygian, but my way is the only way you will survive this. If you are lucky, your friends may live too. If only you were to accept me, to accept us, I can show you how truly powerful you shall become. After all, the Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be… unnatural.”

The Padawan dwelt on this, the voice of the Sith Wraith in his mind now completely gone like it was never there in the first place, but Tuka knew better.

Ever since he ventured into that damnable cave on Odessen, he had felt like another presence was with him. Everywhere he went, it followed. Yet never before had it felt so overwhelmingly crushing on his mind. His body shuddered at the thought of this apparition of an ancient Sith Lord dwelling in his mind, body, and soul. The Padawan moved to clutch one of his lightsabers dearly before closing his eyes, attempting to meditate to block out the pain of his scars and the presence. He was sure that the Empire wasn’t far behind them, and if this truly did herald in the last stand of the Jedi, he’d need all the energy, faith, power, and strength he could muster.

[Cheysal Serulea]

The Prodigal
Soon after the Battle on Odessen

Bridge of the Imperial Venator Star Destroyer Redemption

The infinite expanse of the stars gleaming in the depths of space would be a peaceful sight save for the fires of Odessen far below. It had seemed so beautiful, so distant and serene, having been untouched by their hands.

But now as Captain Ulysen Serenno stood on the bridge of his ship, the trenches abuzz with activity,, looking out to the planet, all he could feel and think of was a resigned sadness, understanding of the waste to such a garden, and the tragedy of the charge he and his ship were given to. To say the time assisting these ‘Inquisitors’ with their quest in hunting the Jedi was taxing, would be an understatement. The constant need to be aware of himself and his actions around them, never to slip up was stressful enough with his efforts to hide his own abilities, lest they mistake him for one of the traitors.

“No…,” he thought to himself.

He had a hard time believing that all Jedi were traitors. In fact he didn’t believe that at all as it would be virtually impossible, there were thousands of Jedi across the galaxy, from the padawans to the knights alone. Even if the council was at fault, it wasn’t justice to go around like this. But he of all people was under great scrutiny for who his family was, despite all he had done for the Republic, and now what loyalty he was willing to show for the Empire which is why he was here now with little protest but much counsel to his superiors, feeling that a great deal of restraint must be shown to those who might well be innocent and guilty of nothing less than fleeing from accusations of treason and death. Something anyone would do.

But most of all that feeling of sadness came with the images of Jedi General Polvai and his padawan Sadisi…

Yeoman Paxtyl stood by Ulysen’s side with a datapad in his hands.

He was a young, freshly recruited crew member from Coruscant assigned as his personal aide and liaison between himself and senior crew officers, and was a character who had a bright shine to his eyes as he got away from the planet city to see the galaxy, but wasn’t overly naive or eager to please. The change in attitude of the clones was so drastic, having someone at his side all the time that wasn’t one was almost a warm welcome, and someone who was competent was a boon. Not that he hated clones. Far from it, he had deeply respected them and considered them all worthwhile and indispensable comrades in arms. Now they were all just the same… aggressive but compliant…

“Clone Commander Bell is reporting the loading procedure for the ground detachment is proceeding on schedule Captain,” Paxtyl remarked. “And the garrison supplies have been all put down planetside. We should be ready to depart within five minutes, sir.”

“Good, Yeoman,” Ulysen nodded and turned to the Senior Clone Navigation Officer in the trench below. “The minute the last gunship is docked, doors closed, and boots are on the deck, I want us to see stars flying by.”

“Yes, Captain Serenno,” the Clone saluted.

Even after years of being in the Republics Navy, and now a commanding officer of the Empire’s hearing them call him Serenno, knowing him as the nephew of the infamous Count Dooku, still felt unnerving and he could not help but feel a sense of disdain behind how some said his name.

But rather than let it bother him at that moment, the Captain turned to the other side and gestured to the comms station.

“Relay that notice to the officers and have them on standby for mission deployment at a moment's notice,” he ordered. “Until that moment though, I went every piece of blaster cartridge accounted for, every box labeled, and battery on this ship tuned. Any less than perfection I will not tolerate.”

“Aye captain,” saluted the Comms officer.

“And get me the captain of the Deliverance and the Admiral on the holotable. I want a clear review of our objective before we chase after the fugitives.”

“Of course Captain.”

With a swish of the small cape that hung from his shoulder, Ulysen turned on his heels and strode back towards the rear of the command bridge, tugging at the collar of his new white officer’s coat, and pushing up a loose strand of his rose-blonde hair back up under his officer’s cap.

Atop the holotable, the holographic projection of Commander Rayne, Ulysen’s stand-in clone second in command hailing from the flight tower opposite the command bridge.

“Captain Ulysen, all fighter squads have completed their sweeps of the system and Odessen, and all docked along with the crew transfer from the Deliverance. We’re all set over here.”

“Excellent Commander, I want those fighters refueled and ready to launch again at a moment's notice.”

“Yes sir.”

The projection fizzled out to a rendering of the Redemption in all its glory, deck by deck, and internal system by internal system.

“Alright, then,” Serenno muttered to himself. “Now to simply wait to fall into formation and speak with the Deliverance captain and Admiral Karnu. Who is this Captain supposed to be anyway? Yeoman?”

“A Captain Harmenix, sir,” Paxtyl responded. He approached the holotable and punched in a few keys on his pad and a headshot of the captain came up. “Daughter of a wealthy mine owner, she graduated from the Coruscant Naval Academy with honors and served initially on patrol in the Middle Rim before serving under Admiral Tanwitt. Her peers described her as patient but blunt, and was more excited than anything when the war started.”

“Hmph,” Serenno mumbled. “I’d be a hypocrite to say that her profile shows her as a person who is all too keen to prove herself and a warmonger. But far too clean of a record, all by the book. I’m very curious to see how she handles herself once a situation grows out of her control.”

“Sir,” Paxtyl asked.

Ulysen caught him, understanding that that last statement was out loud rather than internalized. “Nothing, Pax. Anything else before we see how our colleagues are doing?”

“You received an encoded transmission from Serenno, sir, on your personal terminal. It’s from the Countess. She says it’s quite urgent.”

“Tell her I will get to it once I have a moment. We are rather busy here after all.”

“Of course, sir.”

[Kyraina]

On Board the Aerosteel

Jax was seated in the cockpit of the Aerosteel, and had finally rested his head against the headrest of his seat as he and K9 had managed to avoid getting shot down over Odessan and then had made the jump to Hyperspace to escape the Imperials. He was exhausted between the fighting on the ground, and then the hard flying he had to do to escape the enemy fighters. On the ground he had managed to gun down several clones, and even got a few shots off at some Inquisitors but those sadly had been deflected by said Inquisitors. The Normally Loud Mouth, Sarcastic, Smart ass, dirty Fighting ex Jedi Temple Guard had fallen quiet as he had concentrated during the fighting and flying to keep everyone alive, but that was about to change.

He stood up, and stretched. "K9, Ship is all yours. Don't crash her or I'll use you as the patch." The droid beeped half jokingly, half angry at Jax, and rocked back in forth on its feet. The Little Astromech had adopted much of Jax's personality in the last 3 months. Jax walked out into the lounge and looked around. He saw his helmet and Rifle just thrown on the ground, He picked both up and carried them to his room, where he secured them in their correct spots. He went back out the Lounge and started to brew some caf.

He walked back into the cockpit and keyed the intercomm for the interior of the freighter. "This is your Captain speaking. Welcome abroad the Aerosteel. Theres two rooms just forward of the cabin that can be claimed. for those without a room well you can crash in the lounge or we can make y'all a pallet or something in the cargo hold. I currently have some caf brewing, which we need after that ass kicking we just received, I also need each of yall to come to the Lounge, so I can see who made it aboard my ship and who is taking a dirt nap or is taking a Imp Vacation. Thank Y'all for flying on Aerosteel Spacelines. If you have any compliments I'll hear those, and any complients will be jettisoned out the Airlock. I need this so I can tell Master Shan who we don't have. We are also going to make those Imp Bastards pay for everyone we have lost. Jax out"

Jax walked back into the lounge and plopped down on the booth seating surrounding the lounge table on two sides. If you looked closely you could see the weariness in Jax's eyes, and his ArmorWeave Uniform, normally crisp and clean was dirty and in places burnt from fighting. A smile came across his face though as the smell of Caf filled the lounge and eventually the rest of the ship, and this was soon followed by His stomach growling.

[Uyuti]

Kalixinos on the Last Resort

Kalixinos sat quietly on the bed in the engineer’s quarters on board the ship, he was not an engineer nor that knowledgeable on technology, but it was somewhere quiet and with few on board, he got his pick of where to bunk.
He looked down at his hands, they trembled. He had been on the edge since the Jedi Purge and it had only been getting worse, his paranoia had been growing. The Imperial attack on Odessen had pushed him even further.

This in a way, had made Kalixinos far more reflective than he ever had been before. He had begun to think of what had gone wrong, what had caused the Jedi Council to fail to notice the darkness growing underneath them, what had led the Empire to track the Jedi down so easily, what had caused them to be so easily defeated on Odessen.

He balled one of his hands, while the other slipped down into his pocket, pulling out the upper half of a disabled lightsaber. He had taken it from an Inquisitor he had been fighting back on Odessen. The fight had been a mess, a catastrophe, but one Kalixinos had managed to pull out of alive. A lucky strike had even gained the Kaleesh Knight the upper, the moment where he managed the destroy the attacking Inquisitor’s lightsaber.

Kalixinos pulled at the broken saber, fiddling with it, pulled apart bits and pieces from it. There he found the red Kyber crystal that sat at the heart of the saber; Kalixinos discard the rest of the useless junk on the ground next his bed, but kept the crystal carefully placed between his fingers.
He lifted the red crystal into the air, observing it, turning it about in the light. His focus rested purely on this object.

The Sith had managed to gain the upper hand so resoundingly against the Jedi, even the meager Inquisitors were making marked gains after the dwindling Order. The Purge proved as much, Odessen confirmed it even more.

Kalixinos let the red crystal rest in the palm of his hand now, as he looked up, staring at the metal bulkhead before him.

Is the dark side truly stronger? Kalixinos thought to himself, the Masters of the Jedi Order had always told him the dark side was a path of weakness, but if again the events that had unfolded had shown the opposite. The dark side was a path of strength, of immense and impressive power, this no one could surely deny.

The Jedi Order was on the back foot and being battered down every second, Kali did not even know how many Jedi were truly left in the Galaxy after the events of today. But he knew one thing: The Jedi would not survive if they did not change.
Meditation, reflection, and peacefulness had not won them the war. Will, determination, and violence had. Mercy, kindness, and hope did not spare them from the pain and suffering of the Purge and Odessen.

“We can’t survive doing the same thing over and over again.” Kalixinos whispered to himself.

Kali fished his lightsaber from his belt and held it up, comparing it against the red Kyber crystal he held in his other had. He ignited the blade, it glowed a solemn dark blue, which illuminated the room in the color. He extinguished his blade and placed it on his bed, while slipping the crystal back in his pocket.

He couldn’t immediately pursue the path he knew he needed to follow, not right now, even if it was in the best interest of the Jedi Order. How would the other surviving Jedi react? Would they reject him, leaving him to repel the Empire alone? Would they kill him, out of fear of where he would go?

Kalixinos did not know these answers, how could he? But how else could he save his family, the Jedi, if not try something new. Something stronger.

The Kaleesh Knight stood up, massaging his eyelids as he did so. He had barely slept since the day of the Purge, his eyes bothered him constantly. He breathed, letting out a tired puff of air.
He moved to the door of his room, but stopped before opening the door, looking back at his lightsaber which rested on the bed.

“We have to,” Kalixinos said quietly, “We have to if we are to survive.”

Kalixinos turned back to the door and left the room, going to the main part of the ship to speak with the other survivors.

[San Har Jasta]

Noknar Quazz

Aboard the Deliverance

The Bombad Crusader’s engines went from a loud howl to a quiet rumble as Noknar docked her in the hangar of the Deliverance. Noknar was here to remind his employers that he takes half of his payment up front.The Gungan had been aiding in their battle on the planet Odessen, he was hired to help hunt the Jedi with the Inquisitors but instead, Noknar had been instinctively ordering around the troopers. A few were surprised by Noknar’s spontaneous militaristic nature and even followed his orders. But Noknar’s credit count was still the same and the operation was complete, meaning one of the lazy Imperials messed up. “Typical Imperial uselessness,” Noknar thought to himself as he lit up his tabac stick and strode out of his ship and into the bright hanger.

Noknar was used to hiding his… distaste for the Imperials but going into the belly of the beast would test his patience. Scanning the hangor he saw typical Imperial inefficiency that reminded him of the Republic; undisciplined soldiers lazily unpacking gunships, inefficiently programmed cleaning droids leaving behind dirt and mud, and worst of all, Inquisitors mucking around doing nothing.

The Jedi were a failure in their own way and the inquisitors weren’t any different to Noknar. They had their lightsabers, they had their force, and they were puppets to the Empire. Jedi had at least tried to act like they were separate from the Republic but these Inquisitors were no more than mere officers. Noknar had to give the Jedi some credit, they had an acceptable way of fighting in one on one combat, it was calm, focused, well thought out. The Inquisitors? They blindly swing like children having a tantrum.

Noknar decided to start at the top. He set off towards the bridge of the star ship, the officer in charge would be able to fix his payment problem.

[Audunia]

Aneira Keelan
ISD Deliverance

She sat for a while in her V-Wing, she could see the other Inquistors looking suspiciously at each other, almost as if they were trying to decide if now was the right time to move and kill them, eliminating them for some imagined slight. She couldn't fault them on this, she was much like them, but now she needed to secure the allegiance of one of them.

An incident had occured on Odessen, something more important than killing the Jedi. It had shocked and intrigued her enough that even the exhiliration of killing her foes and the emotions tied with it, that fueled her, seemed to pale in comparison. She'd pursued her prey, still running off the joy of killing some grey haired knight and a naval defector, eager to enhance her emotion. She'd nearly cornered him, sending a blast of force lightning his way, expecting that it would either kill the weakling or immobilise him at the least.

Yet it hadn't. Somehow, the boy had deflected it with the Force, but that was not what caused her to draw into herself in contemplation. There was something there, in that move. It was Dark, she knew that for certain, but she knew there was a difference between simply causing someone to be corrupted into using the Dark Side and this. This power felt far colder and far beyond what someone like that she could imagine capable of, rather than the raw heat of the usual Dark Side. She was certainly drawn in by this power, perhaps she could claim it for her own. To draw in such a person to the Inquisition was place him far too frustratingly outside the realm of her reach and would draw everyone else's attention. No, she wouldn't do that.

She knew she would recognise the boy, she'd struck hard enough to hit the boy before the lightning was deflected, so perhaps some scabbing or scaring would identify him. That would be enough, but she would not be so foolish to go alone.

She was powerful, certainly, but this uncertainty for this boy's power was not something she wished to learn by first hand expereince. She looked again at the Inquistiors again deciding now that remaining in her V-Wing much longer might draw their suspicion. She exited it, strolling through the hanger as she examined them, trying to find the weakest link that she could draw in.

First was that insufferable alien Barriss Offee, or First Sister as the Inquisitorius insisted they refer to her. Strong in a fight, certainly, an possibly too intelligent for her own good. Still, she could be manipulated into pursuing the mark for her, the wonderful little psychopath had betrayed the Order at the height of the Clone Wars, perhaps she could fabricate a story that the boy was an equal path to power.

Before Odessen, she could not imagine that Ruhr Draay would fall for her tricks, but now she was not so certain. He'd managed to get himself disarmed and punished by Lord Vader, so there could be a chance. The largest block she could forsee was his skill with a blade, he'd slain three of the Jedi on Odessen despite everything else and she did not expect she could last long in a duel with him were her deceptions discovered. Subtler means would be required.

Aragwen was far too insular for her to get any read on her abilities. She hadn't even been trained on Coruscant, the annoying blight, and such her records were slightly harder to recover. Such a being stood out like a sore thumb in the Inquisitorius, but she didn't care to fit in accordingly. Perhaps, then, the little outcast could find her assignment sent to find the boy and suffer an unfortunate accident afterwards, Aneira considered the possibility.

Lastly was Imrik. A polite little psychopath whose honeyed words infuriated her to no end. She'd much perfer working with some raging beast instead of this pillar of high society, the politician shape of him causing a disgusting taste in her mouth.
Still, he was a prideful little being, she could see the saber he'd attached to his belt in a not so subtle way of announcing that he'd slain a Jedi. A redudant statement, she thought, considering most of them had claimed at least one life. Perhaps this could be exploited, if she could managed to stomach his mannerisms long enough.

"Ah, brothers and sisters, so good to see you're alive" she said, hiding the disappointment from her voice as she arrived before them "If only the same could not be said about the Jedi, I see some of us have decided to commemorate this victory in such a... loud fashion" she added, her voice changing to imply she saw such a thing negatively

“Sister,” Imrik said, offering no further comment on Aneira’s thinly-veiled slight. He hung his step to turn around and face his comrade. His eyes swept her up and down, his face maintaining the same deadened expression it always did. While all the Inquisitors endured personal struggle in their fall to the Dark Side, Imrik considered Aneira’s to be one of the mildest. A family in struggle and doubts about the Jedi Order’s actions in the Clone Wars? Please. She lacked teeth, Imrik felt. She had never had to fight for her life, and that made her weak. If Imrik had to guess, she put up little to no resistance when she was taken. In fact, he was relatively certain she had just crawled weakly into the Dark Side because it was easier. Pathetic.

At least commit to some sort of spectacle, like bombing the Temple. Imrik thought, letting his gaze slide to Barriss. If the Inquisitors were vermin in Imrik’s eyes, Barriss was Queen Rat. Unpredictable, dangerous, impudent, impatient, egotistical, and perhaps worst of all, competent. Despite the fact that she was several womp-rats short of a pack, she was good at what the Inquisitors were designed for: hunting Jedi.

“Do you like it?” Imrik now asked, looking back at Aneira and laying a hand on the Jedi’s lightsaber on his belt, “It personally means nothing to me, but I was considering bleeding it. A saberstaff would certainly be a sight"

"Ah, sweet sister." Barriss said in a sinister tone. "It's fortunate to know that you could hold your own against the Jedi. It would have been such a displeasure to inform Lord Vader of your inadequacy. To hear that you've been properly blooded..." she inhaled sharply. "It's simply exhilarating.." she said with a chuckle towards the end. She looked to her belt, to the Jedi weapons that had hung from her belt. "Dont mind these little things, Sister. They're simply tokens. Tokens to prove our value to the Grand Inquisitor as well as to Lord Vader." She said, using the Force to pull the Zabrak Jedi's hilt from her belt, floating it in front of her and igniting the bright blue blade and allowing its crisp light to glow upon her face.

"I consider this Jedi to be my first real challenge. The other was nothing of the sort." She said, referring to the owner of the other lightsaber still hanging from its clip. "The poor thing, she was pathetic. I could feel the fear in every buckling block. I could feel that she wanted to run and I played on that. It was delicious. As for this one, I would dare to say he reminded me of my whore of a master when I was still gullible enough to be called a Jedi. So calm and centered. Until I pushed him into the flames. He knew the end had come for him." She looked over to Imrik, who had spoken first and was now watching the First Sister.

"Bleeding would be a fantastic idea, brother. But I'm sure the Grand Inquisitor will have other plans for these crystals."

Ruhr Draay entered the hangar with R3-D2 in tow, the light of the hangar shining off his Lightsaber. "Hello, First Sister. Telling war stories? Of the three Jedi I slew on Odessen, Ra Ada Vian Aenir was the only one who gave me any real challenge. Elru was skilled in the use of the Lightsaber and Vaulik was able to hold his own without a Lightsaber but Ra, he was a hunter. His use of Dun Moch and Force Stealth kept me on the backfoot for most of our duel, but in the end, he still fell before me, his head rolling onto the forest floor." Ruhr Draay said to the First Sister as he approached her, his tone indicating that he considered them as worthy opponents.

Barriss deactivated the Jedi's lightsaber, clipping it back onto her belt before spinning around to face him. "Ah, Second Brother. I had heard stories that you were wildly successful in our hunt today." She said, approaching him.

Her eyes panned up and down her fellow Inquisitor, inspecting the frame of the most successful Hunter of the Inquisitorius today. "But to see that the stories were true, tsk, tsk, tsk. Dear brother." She said with a sinister smile. "I didn't know you had it in you." She said, casually reaching up with her hand, using the Force to attempt to pull Ruhr Draay's lightsaber from it's clip.

The lightsaber rattled and was quickly pulled from the Second Brother's belt, flying into the hand of the First Sister. With a quick chuckle, she ignited the blade. "And this is the blade that did it all...impressive." She said as it hummed loudly, it's red glow illuminating that side of Barriss's face. "The Grand Inquisitor will be most pleased, brother..." She said

Ruhr reached out with the force, pulling the Lightsaber out of the First Sister's hand. "Impressive. You managed to catch me off guard. None of the Jedi I have fought has ever succeeded at disarming me with the Force." Ruhr Draay said as he grabbed the Lightsaber and deactivated it before putting it back on his belt. "We were fortunate to find a Jedi Enclave. So many died during Order 66 that we usually hunt down and kill a single Jedi on these missions and most are weaklings. Sure, some of them escaped, but we will hunt them down and kill them all eventually." Ruhr Draay said to the Fifth Sister before walking back to his Modified Dealta-7B, R3-D20 following close behind.

Aragwen stared at Draay as he addressed her, her face as blank as the mask that covered it. What his reasons were, she would never know. The man's mind was as blunt as a spoon to her, and yet he still managed to be surprising. As Ruhr left, her mask turned towards Barriss- who was always harder to read than Draay, yet somehow a hundred times more predictable. How she had stared so hungrily at their Second Brother, as if he were a piece of meat. Every other Inquisitor had been subjected to the same treatment at some point or other. That fact did nothing to improve Aragwen's mood. "Is mating the only thing you ever think of?" She muttered.

Somehow, Ruhr Draay had managed to infuriate Imrik even more than Barriss' gushing praise of the Grand Inquisitor. The Second Brother was so predictably grandiose and...dramatic. He reminded Imrik of the two-bit holovids they would sneak into the Jedi Temple, with all their horrific acting and mind-numbingly simplified plots. If he had a credit for every dull Padawan who thought the portrayals of the heroic and handsome Jedi triumphing over the vile and ugly Sith was the real world, he would be a very rich man indeed. Not that it mattered, most of those Padawans were smoking corpses now. But not him, not Imrik. And unfortunately, not his Brothers and Sisters.

It didn't take long for Aragwen to make some inane comment about Barriss' sexual advances, probably echoing what most of the other Inquisitors were thinking. To the larger woman's credit, she wasn't far off. Barriss had a habit of making one Inquisitor or the other the subject of her sociopathic flirting. Imrik had yet to be a target, and he wasn't sure if that made him fortunate or unfortunate. His mind erred towards unfortunate, but Barriss was just as likely to gut any of her siblings on a whim as she was to jump into bed with them. Regardless, the comment was more than enough for Imrik to make his exit from the conversation.

"I'll see myself to the Drill Yard," He lilted softly, placing a hand on the lightsaber he had claimed from the Jedi. With one glance at Barriss, he turned and walked away. He was well aware of what he was doing. The First Sister had made a direct claim - in the name of the Grand Inquisitor - on all the trophies they had claimed on Odessen. But Imrik wasn't about to allow her to present the Grand Inquisitor with every blade by her lonesome. She would earn it, just as they all had.

At the sound of the Fifth Sister opening her mouth to speak and her other Brother's departure from the group to the Drill Yard, Barriss slightly cocked her head to the side, catching only a few of the words, but it was enough to catch her interest. Barriss paused for a moment as she turned her head to Aragwen. "Ah, the least of us speaks. Hello, Fifth Sister." The First Sister turned her body to face the Inquisitor. "I find it so very difficult to believe that one like you managed to kill a full fledged Knight. So calm. So centered. I would believe the pathetic little Padawan I killed on Ajan Kloss would have provided you with an ample fight." She said laughing, her piercing eyes staring right into Aragwen's. She approached slowly.

"I can assure you that mating is the last thing on my mind, dear Sister. While I may have a bit of a soft spot for the Second Brother, I am most thrilled by the fact that these Inquisitors have proven that they are more than capable of slaughtering Jedi, even all the way out here in their little makeshift Temple." Her eyes panned down to the Jedi lightsaber hanging from the Fifth Sister's belt then back up. "I would be more careful with those little words that manage to fall from your stiff jaw, lest you'd like to see it removed." Barriss said with a smile, her eyes turning to the Drill Yard and an opportunity. "I'm sure you have better things to do, Sister. You should get to them." Barriss said as she turned and walked towards the Drill Yard.

Aneira frowned, it was hardly the way she had intended the conversation to go, but it did reveal more about her fellow Inquisitors to her. Barriss seemed loyal to the Grand Inquisitor more than the rest of them, whilst Imrik appeared put off by more innappropriate comments, perhaps he possessed a shorter fuse than her? Aragwen, it seemed, seemed more irritable than she had expected her to be. Ruhr was a stiff as she expected him to be.

She also found more things to dislike about them, as well. A quick remark about how the Jedi Imrik slew must've been a Jedi Master to so proudly display his trophy might serve her well, she checked that away for later, when the time was more purposeful.

"First Sister is correct" Aneira said, removing her helm, feeling the dry, stale air of an starship flooding across her face "As much as I'm loathe to admit it, there are more pertinant tasks at hand" she left with an air of urgency. She knew what she would do, utilising the brief time left before they began to hunt down the remaining Jedi to research their remaining quarries and, more importantly, figure out the Jedi how had shocked her so

[The Imperial Republic]

Aboard the Aerosteel

As the other Jedi and allies aboard the Aerosteel settled in for a long flight, Jir Tann could no longer ignore the pain that was painted across her arm. The charred flesh had left her arm completely useless, as any movement wrenched on that blackened skin and meat, sending shrills of agony through her entirely. She would leave communication with the Last Resort to the pilot of this freighter, Jax Raspim. A man that Jir had several disagreements with regarding his moral compass and his ability to always return with a sarcastic and half-serious reply to any question he was confronted with. Or at least he was. Since their forced evacuation from Odessen, it had seemed that Jax was more quieter since he boarded, since they narrowly escaped a squadron of V-Wings hot on their tail from one of the couple of Venator-Class Star Destroyers that stretched across low orbit. Now, she was grateful that they had a pilot worth his salt, rather than her. While she and Danem made a good team in that Eta-Class, successfully making it out of the thick layer of Venators that filled the night Coruscant sky during the fall of the Jedi Temple and managing to jump into Hyperspace just before a flock of missiles impacted them. But she would still leave the careful maneuvers to those more suited. Like Jax. Anyone who could make it out of the Jedi Temple as it burned had to have a certain degree of luck.

She departed the Lounge, making her way through the narrow grey hallway and into the cargo bay. A place where she could have absolute peace and quiet, despite the rhythmic humming of the engines whirring away. Pushing aside from crates with her left arm, she made ample space for her to sit in. Crossing her legs, she rested her hands upon her thighs and took several deep breaths. Closing her eyes, she began to focus, concentrating on her own emotions, which there were plenty of. Her steady breathing became automatic as she faced the rage and anger and sadness that were welling within her own body. The rage of allowing Vader and the Inquisitors to take so many of their family, the anger of watching Master Nardrashtasch sacrifice himself on her behalf and the sadness that came with an inability to conquer their enemies. Within her mind, she screamed, shrieked as she imagined slaughtering the Inquisitors one by one, then ending with Vader. So much rage....so much hate.... She shuddered as she thought of the toll her encounter with the Empire took on her. She focused on it all, all of her hate and anger, and all of her guilt and sadness. Let them go.....let them go.... She whispered under her breath.

The pain that had wracked her arm was fading. It wasn't gone, but her mind had shut off her ability to feel it as she entered a heightened state of meditation. Let them go..... She said once more. One by one, she felt her inner peace begin to return. She remembered each face of the Jedi that had fallen on Odessen and she remembered her Jedi Temple. All of the meditation sessions they had together and the sparring practice that bonded them so close together. The boiling rage simmered, turning to peace. The gnashing anger was relieved, turning to understanding. The crippling guilt and sadness faded away, turning to happiness and relief. She had mourned them enough. This was not the end for them. They were to be one with the Force, an end that every Jedi strove for. Jedi feared not death, they embraced it. She remembered, thinking back to the years of training she underwent as a youngling, then Padawan, then Knight. She was prepared for this. Now, as a Master, she would conquer it. "Reach out with the mind. Reach inside...through the pain. To touch the Force. Mend flesh. Mend spirit.....renew." She whispered over and over again. She felt the warmth rush over her body, a feeling of joy. A feeling every Jedi aspired for. She opened her eyes, watching the several crates around her lower slowly back to the ground.
She turned her head to see the wound that had run the course of her right arm, just to see the last bits of blackened flesh fade away, with fresh new skin emerge. She sighed a breath of relief as she lowered her head in thankfulness, the pain gone. She rose from her position to check the time. What felt like only minutes were actually hours. Hours she had sat there, deep in meditation. She was surprised at how easy it had been for her to sink back into that familiar home despite the events of earlier still fresh in her mind.

Jax was seated in the cockpit of the Aerosteel, and had finally rested his head against the headrest of his seat as he and K9 had managed to avoid getting shot down over Odessan and then had made the jump to Hyperspace to escape the Imperials. He was exhausted between the fighting on the ground, and then the hard flying he had to do to escape the enemy fighters. On the ground he had managed to gun down several clones, and even got a few shots off at some Inquisitors but those sadly had been deflected by said Inquisitors. The Normally Loud Mouth, Sarcastic, Smart ass, dirty Fighting ex Jedi Temple Guard had fallen quiet as he had concentrated during the fighting and flying to keep everyone alive, but that was about to change.

He stood up, and stretched. "K9, Ship is all yours. Don't crash her or I'll use you as the patch." The droid beeped half jokingly, half angry at Jax, and rocked back in forth on its feet. The Little Astromech had adopted much of Jax's personality in the last 3 months. Jax walked out into the lounge and looked around. He saw his helmet and Rifle just thrown on the ground, He picked both up and carried them to his room, where he secured them in their correct spots. He went back out the Lounge and started to brew some caf.

He walked back into the cockpit and keyed the intercomm for the interior of the freighter. "This is your Captain speaking. Welcome abroad the Aerosteel. Theres two rooms just forward of the cabin that can be claimed. for those without a room well you can crash in the lounge or we can make y'all a pallet or something in the cargo hold. I currently have some caf brewing, which we need after that ass kicking we just received, I also need each of yall to come to the Lounge, so I can see who made it aboard my ship and who is taking a dirt nap or is taking a Imp Vacation. Thank Y'all for flying on Aerosteel Spacelines. If you have any compliments I'll hear those, and any complients will be jettisoned out the Airlock. I need this
so I can tell Master Shan who we don't have. We are also going to make those Imp Bastards pay for everyone we have lost. Jax out"

Jax walked back into the lounge and plopped down on the booth seating surrounding the lounge table on two sides. If you looked closely you could see the weariness in Jax's eyes, and his ArmorWeave Uniform, normally crisp and clean was dirty and in places burnt from fighting. A smile came across his face though as the smell of Caf filled the lounge and eventually the rest of the ship, and this was soon followed by His stomach growling.

Jax was seated in the cockpit of the Aerosteel, and had finally rested his head against the headrest of his seat as he and K9 had managed to avoid getting shot down over Odessan and then had made the jump to Hyperspace to escape the Imperials. He was exhausted between the fighting on the ground, and then the hard flying he had to do to escape the enemy fighters. On the ground he had managed to gun down several clones, and even got a few shots off at some Inquisitors but those sadly had been deflected by said Inquisitors. The Normally Loud Mouth, Sarcastic, Smart ass, dirty Fighting ex Jedi Temple Guard had fallen quiet as he had concentrated during the fighting and flying to keep everyone alive, but that was about to change.

He stood up, and stretched. "K9, Ship is all yours. Don't crash her or I'll use you as the patch." The droid beeped half jokingly, half angry at Jax, and rocked back in forth on its feet. The Little Astromech had adopted much of Jax's personality in the last 3 months. Jax walked out into the lounge and looked around. He saw his helmet and Rifle just thrown on the ground, He picked both up and carried them to his room, where he secured them in their correct spots. He went back out the Lounge and started to brew some caf.

He walked back into the cockpit and keyed the intercomm for the interior of the freighter. "This is your Captain speaking. Welcome abroad the Aerosteel. Theres two rooms just forward of the cabin that can be claimed. for those without a room well you can crash in the lounge or we can make y'all a pallet or something in the cargo hold. I currently have some caf brewing, which we need after that ass kicking we just received, I also need each of yall to come to the Lounge, so I can see who made it aboard my ship and who is taking a dirt nap or is taking a Imp Vacation. Thank Y'all for flying on Aerosteel Spacelines. If you have any compliments I'll hear those, and any complients will be jettisoned out the Airlock. I need this
so I can tell Master Shan who we don't have. We are also going to make those Imp Bastards pay for everyone we have lost. Jax out"

Jax walked back into the lounge and plopped down on the booth seating surrounding the lounge table on two sides. If you looked closely you could see the weariness in Jax's eyes, and his ArmorWeave Uniform, normally crisp and clean was dirty and in places burnt from fighting. A smile came across his face though as the smell of Caf filled the lounge and eventually the rest of the ship, and this was soon followed by His stomach growling.

"General, I'll be more companionate when I have less stuff to worry about. I have all the Galaxy's respect for you and other remaining Jedi, and even the recently departed, but I have to much to worry about at the moment. I have to contact Master Shan with who all I have on board here, that's not counting the work I have to do my ship here. I've taken damage to the shield generators, the back up hyperdrive, and have to check to see what kind of damage I have to the exterior of the ship. That's not even including my worry about this damn hyperspace lane as we don't even know what condition this hyper space lane is in or what we are jumping through or in." Jax said as he took a drink of his caf. "Look I know I'm not the most approachable or even likable guy, and i know I don't fight along the same lines that y'all do, but my Job is to be y'alls pilot, and to be y'alls first line of defense once we find a new temple. Besides I need to focus on atleast doing that correctly. Maybe a Third Time is a charm on that one."

Huw smiled as he took another sip of his caf, leaning against a counter "Soldiers have always possessed morbid sort of personality, I won't begrudge that, but compassion is what ties us together, softens otherwise fatal blows" he said.

He looked Jax over with soft eyes, his smile wavering slightly at Jax's unending list of duties. He sensed it was one of the few ways the man was keeping his mind busy, to not fully address the nightmare that Order 66 had unleashed upon the galaxy. He could only wonder what the former temple guard went through.

"If you require assistance do not hesitate to ask. I admit it would feel nice to be useful" he added

[Lady Mon]

Co-Write Includes:

Lady Mon

United Islands of Polis

Cheysal Serulea

---

Harmenix meeting with her new crew members was short and quick, as they were busy preparing the Deliverance to jump into hyperspace and it was best not to distract them. Admiral Karnu also informed her of their current objective which was hunting down Jedi Remnants that had recently fled from Odessen. Harmenix had no strong feelings towards the Jedi Order, considering during her time in Tanwitt's fleet in the Clone Wars they were never led by a Jedi General. So Harmenix was mostly neutral on the Jedi. After the briefing was done, a comms officer called out to Admiral Karnu.

"Incoming transmission from Captain Serenno, Admiral." The Officer said to which Karnu nodded before turning to face Harmenix.

"As your first task of being the captain on this ship, answer this transmission." Karnu said with Harmenix nodded as she began walking over to the holotable with the Admiral following.

"Go ahead and connect us." Harmenix ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" The Officer said as he patched the holo call from Serenno.

The smiling blue image of Ulysen fizzled into existence above the holotable with his attendant behind him.

"Admiral Karnu, greetings," Serenno nodded to him, and his gaze turned towards Harmenix. "And this is Captain Harmenix. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Ulysen Serenno, Captain of the Redemption. I was just reading over your service file in fact. A spotless one. You've arrived on this campaign at a rather strange time, I will say, we seem to be on the tail end of catching these fugitives."

"A pleasure to meet you as well Captain Serenno." Harmenix said with a warm smile.

"It is indeed a strange time for me to arrive. I wasn't aware we were hunting Jedi until the Admiral informed me about the situation. Never thought my career would lead me to hunt down Jedi of all people."

Captain Serenno nodded. "Precisely my point for hoping to talk with you and the Admiral here," he said. "Admiral, since we're waiting for the last of our forces to finish loading onto the ships to chase after the Jedi, I was hoping we might take this opportunity to review our goals here, and how we plan on completing them. And these Inquisitors... I would never go against the wishes of the Emperor of course, but their presence seems more a hindrance than a boon. Should we not be capturing and retrieving the Jedi, rather than just outright exterminating them?"

"I admit these Inquisitors have been nothing but trouble since they showed up. However, they have proven themselves capable of dealing with the Jedi. As for capturing Jedi? I see no point in doing that, as far as I'm concerned they're all traitors to the Empire. Besides I doubt Lord Vader would allow us to capture them in the first place." Karnu explained.

"He seems eager to destroy them all."

"It is wasteful and degrading is what is is," Serenno said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Regardless though, before we delve too far into that black hole of a conversation, I did wish to discuss how we will be approaching these Jedi that escaped. From my understanding the Inquisitors placed trackers on their ships?"

"One of our V-Wings were able to put a tracker on one of the Jedi ships before they went to hyperspace." Karnu explained as he tapped a few buttons on the holotable showing a small map of the galaxy.

"According to the tracker the Jedi seem to be heading deep into the Unknown Regions. As for how we deal with them, we'll deploy the Inquisitors first and have Clone Troopers follow suit. With any luck the Jedi will have no where to run and they'll completely be surrounded."

"Strange that they're heading into the Unknown Regions. If the rumors I heard about its dangers are true, I would advise caution Admiral." Harmenix said.

"I would agree with Captain Harmenix," nodded Ulysen. "Though that said, us needing to advise such caution should only be a redundancy. And besides, the trackers are providing us with a map to follow that will make the need for short jumps and constant reorientation unnecessary."

"Still we don't know what to expect once we exit out of hyperspace." Harmenix said.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." Karnu says reassuring Harmenix.

A sudden beeping sound came over Serenno's end of his holgram and he looked away from Harmenix and Karnu.

"Captain, we're receiving a request to join the meeting, sir," a clone's voice said from off the view of the hologram.

"Very well then, proceed," Serenno nodded, and his holographic form shifted over to make room for another.

Cornelius originally prepared to brief the officers of the fleet on the Unknown Regions in their hyperspace translation originally because he didn't know what would come first when he arrived above Odessen, planetside action, immediate chase, or ferrying troops. Seeing that they were still holding orbit it was decided that the briefing should be done now.

Pressing a few buttons on a console nearby he requested from the bridge crew access to the officers' hologram consoles. As soon as he was given access he stood up straight, his armor as clean as possible given its two years of service. Cornelius switched to a more seriois expression but one that still showed a small smile, and as soon as he did the feed came to life.

"Captain Harmenix, Captain Serenno, Admiral Karnu." Cornelius bowed slightly to each one.

"I apologize for my tardiness, I am Lieutenant Mors with Rep- Imperial Intelligence. Are we ready for the briefing on the Unknown Regions, sirs?"

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Karnu said.

Ulysen held his chin as though pondering something. "By all means, Lieutenant Mors, though I don't believe I'm terribly familiar with you," he said. "I wasn't aware we would be receiving another Intelligence Officer."

The Captain was handed something and a datapad appeared in his hands as he began to brows its contents.

"You're to be stationed aboard the Redemption is it? If that is the case, we will have to discuss Command's lack of communication at a later date."

Cornelius looked at Captain Serenno, he was familiar with him as was the whole intelligence community. If his relations to the late Count had went any further, any one member of Republic Intelligence would have ghosted him on every move, fortunately it never happened. But seeing that the leader of the group wanted to start the meeting, Cornelius gave the comment of the captain a moment of the time.

"Well to be fair, sir, I was quite literally just flushed out of a Bacta Tank, given my equipment, and sent here with these files. Director Pereira and I are just as much in the dark as most of us." Came the response.

Pressing a button the hologram in the center changed to the galactic map all naval personal were familiar with, with the galactic West lit up in red. "As we know we will be chasing the Jedi into the Unknown Regions. Now there are a few things that should be noted."

Raising his hand he raise his index finger. "One is that there are two points of interest here, the Chiss planet of Csilla which could mean the potential of running into their patrols. Unfortunately not a lot is known on them at the moment."

The galactic map zoomed into an icy planet this time. "Second point of interest is Ilum, a planet where Jedi younglings get their kyber crystals for their lightsabers, however with the lack of permanent structures and times where ice melts and flash freezes we can cross this out as seeking refuge here would be a death trap."

Manipulating a few more buttons they zoomed into what looked like a nebula followed by Cornelius' middle finger being raised. " Two. There is something beyond this nebula here but we aren't sure just what, however odds are it holds habits me planets as from what we gathered using old navigation data from the time of the Old Republic there might have been a large battle here. But then again there were many skirmishes between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire in these parts of space."

The map moved again this time dotting the map with red dots, and a third ringe being raised. "Three. As said with the presence of battles having bein fought there, even by forces that predate the Republic by millenias, there are debris fields and gravity wells from black holes which will make hyperspace travel even harder due to the need to make numerous short jumps to ensure we aren't eaten by a black hole or hull breached by a thousand year old piece of candy because we collided with it a lightspeed."

A data file appeared this time in place of the galactic map. "Imperial Intelligence has pieced together a route using old information to get us across this region, however seeing how we will be chasing it seems that it may not be as useful, not to mention that it's never been tested either."

"If there are any questions I will be happy to clarify them as needed." Cornelius said as he closed the galaxy map and file.

"As long as we have a route through the Unknown Regions. We should be fine." The Admiral said.

"Other then that I have no questions, unless Captain Harmenix and Captain Serenno have any."

"I have none sir." Harmenix said as she looked at the map with the route.

"Beingg aware of potential dangers is how we formulate plans and contingencies," Serenno noted. "However if the general consensus of the command here in our operation is in favor of simply going in, I will note my protestations in my logs alone. Regardless, as we demonstrated here at Odessen, the Redemption will continue to provide fighter support and maintain a distance for backline interdiction should the Jedi try to make a run for it again. Any qualms?"

"Actually I do have one question for the Lieutenant." Harmenix chimed in.

"Would the Chiss even bother trying to interfere in our operations if we happen to come across them? Also Admiral, I agree with Captain Serenno that we need to come up with a plan before going through the route."

"I was about to discuss plans anyway." The Admiral said.

"If we come into contact with the Chiss, I say we use diplomacy to get past them. As for avoiding the gravity wells and debris, that will be challenging to deal with. Unless you two have any ideas."

The Lieutenant was about to end his briefing until one of the Captains had spoken up, specifically on what to do in the event of contact with the Chiss.

"I agree with the Admiral, diplomacy would be the best option yes; they generally keep to themselves, as long as we stay out of their way they'll let us go about our business and what have you."

He then remembered another relatively important piece of information with a snap. "But they do seem to have a scarcity of capital ships, relying mostly on heavy cruisers instead but there are two problems; the Chiss are cunning as they are brutal, and the Venator line of ships are beautiful, they can be outclassed by heavy cruisers one on one."

"As for the navigations out best bet is using multiple short range hyperspace jumps, fusing together the theoretical path and tracking the last known locations of the Jedi enclave." Cornelius brought it back to navigational concerns.

"In that case we'll use short range hyperspace jumps while going through the route." Karnu said looking at the galaxy map.

"Hopefully the Jedi don't get away from us and discover the tracker."

[Draos]

(Co write with Brusia Kyrania and Miekzhemy)



Damem sat down in the pilot’s seat rubbing his hair with a gloved hand. Placing his senate commando helmet on the console he stared at the displays hoping the Jedi was right about the coordinates. I’m a traitor now I guess thankfully mom and dad are dead from Durge’s lance so they won’t have to suffer any retaliation for my actions I guess. His thoughts raced not sure about his actions were they the right thing to do should he have just followed orders? Sighing he went to get a drink whatever power was out there knew he needed it.


CLUNK!

Kedoa drew her clenched fist from the sealed exit door, the impact having cast a dull echo through the landing bay.

The imposing Zabrak had been lingering there since they first took off from their enclave on Odessen--standing firm as one of the last Jedi to board, on account of her efforts to hold off that swath of dark-siders that fell upon them. One of those betrayers had come way too close for comfort, as that throbbing pain in her other arm continued to remind her. Her sharp eyes fell upon the wound: a festering burn carved through her armor and flesh.

"Hah..." she breathed out. The injury had begun to force itself into the forefront of her mind over the past several minutes. Probably the adrenaline wearing off. It somehow fueled the anger that brewed within as the Jedi tried to process the day's events...

The unthinkable had happened again. The Imperials had found them, and pounced on their would-be prey when they least expected it. She couldn't help but call her thoughts back to Geonosis; when they had so foolishly rushed into that bloodbath of an arena. But rather than an army of mindless droids, it was their own fallen brothers and sisters, corrupted by the dark side. And now they sought power, and would stop at nothing to get it. Even it meant cutting down the very ones they had fought with, grown up with. Traitors to the Order. It made her sick, simply thinking about it.

But she would not fall like they had, Kedoa thought. She would survive.

And they would pay. Oh, how they would pay...

<:: Beep.

"Mm?"

She let her injured arm slump down to her side, ears suddenly filled with the soft whirr of a probe droid hovering into the room. An old, spherical 3-DVO model with chipped orange paint, outfitted with a collection of antennae and a central lens, whose shutter seemed to "blink" in tandem with the red light on its side. The pain was growing hard to shrug off.

<:: Beep--beep?

"No, Vio. I'm not okay."

Benn, unlike many of the Other Surviving Jedi, had managed to make it through the Battle Relatively unscathed. This was mostly in thanks to the Armor Weave that his mask and robes were made out of. In fact He still had his Temple Guard Robe and Mask on, though to he didn't realize it as it felt normal to him. He was still trying to adjust from being so detached from everyone, and now it was even harder after the beating they had just taken.

He had walked to the front of the ship and then back towards the back of the ship when He heard Kedoa and 3-DVO talk to each other. He looked around for a moment and then spotted them and saw that her arm was injured.

"I can heal that for you if you want." Benn said in the nonchalant detached voice he used when he dawned his temple guard mask and robe. He cocked his head to the side for a second as he realized he sounded different then what he thought he should. He realized he was still wearing the mask and robes, and pulled the Mask off. Despite the Detached voice earlier, Benn's face was revealed to be smiling despite the circumstances.

"If You don't mind Kedoa, I'll heal that for you, and sorry about sounding detached awhile ago, I'm a different person with that mask and this robe on. Hard habit to break."

Martius let out a heavy sigh as the Last Resort entered hyperspace, leaving Odessen behind forever. The planet he had hoped would serve as a sanctuary for the Jedi survivors now served only as a tomb for their fallen comrades. The fight against the Empire on the planet had also revealed the existence of a dangerous new foe: the Inquisitors. The Jedi's defensive plans in the former Alliance base had revolved around defending against a clone assault; the attack by dark-side Force wielders had caught everyone by surprise and exacted a steep toll from the Jedi survivors. Worse still, his duel with the Inquisitor known as First Brother had revealed to Martius the identity of their new opponents: as his lightsaber cleaved through his opponent's helmet in the decisive blow of the fight, Martius recognized the face that was hidden beneath as a friend of his former Padawan. It was clear that the Empire was now using Jedi to kill Jedi.

Martius rubbed his eyes as he processed this information, while also thinking of the friends they lost in the fight. He wouldn't know for certain exactly how many were lost until they could get a headcount with the survivors aboard the Aerosteel but he could sense the losses were heavy. He couldn't help but feel guilty now for ever having sent out the Force Call that summoned everyone to Odessen, it seemed as though he simply led them to their doom.
Martius lifted his head and looked to the other survivors aboard the ship then clenched his fist; it was clear there was no time for self-pity, mistake or not he had brought these people together and he had a duty to help them as best he could. Martius stood up and walked to the center of the ship's main hold and addressed the survivors gathered there: "This was a day I had hoped would never come, and one far more difficult than I could have imagined. The loss of Odessen and of so many of our friends will be difficult to bear, but remember that while they may no longer be with us our friends are far from gone. They are one with the Force now and as Master Yoda once said, they will live through us forever." Martius stood silent for a moment to honor the fallen before continuing: "You have all just fought against impossible odds and survived, and though it may not feel like it, that survival is a victory in itself. Remember this in the difficult times I fear are yet to come, and focus on keeping each other alive; so long as any Jedi are alive there will still be hope in the Galaxy. Take the night to rest and heal your wounds, and tomorrow let us focus on how best to survive this new threat from the Empire. Thank you all, rest well, and may the Force be with you."

"Don't worry yourself," Kedoa said plainly, albeit with a hint of pained exasperation in her tone. She had once been jealous of his kind back at the temple. It was in her impressionable youth that she coveted such a "prestigious" position as part of the esteemed Temple Guard. Of course, that was until she had heard the stories. How quiet and boring it could be, hiding silently behind a faceless guise for so long. How...mind-numbing it would become. It quickly earned a great deal of her respect for the position. Quickly made her realize why--despite her own martial prowess--Master Drallig wouldn't even entertain the thought of inducting her. She probably would have lost her marbles within the first month...

"And yes, if you'd be so kind," she spoke up again, biting her own pride enough to seat herself down in the bay. Kedoa offered Benn a look at her festering lightsaber wound, shedding the charred slag that was her shoulderplate.

"Could have been bad," Kedoa remarked off-handedly, a tinge of defeat behind all the frustration and pain in her voice. "Thought that one would hardly be a challenge. I underestimated him."

Benn placed his hands on either side of the wound on her shoulder and concentrated for just a second, and then the wound started to shrink and the burnt skin started to heal. A few moments later the wound was healed.

"Force was with you today, but your opponent, not so much. Besides we live to fight another day, and we will beat them, we have to beat them and bring balance back to the force." Benn stood back up with his mask in hand, and looked to where Master Shan was speaking. He listened to what the man said, and looked back at Kedoa, and at Master Shan again.

"I don't know about you Master Shan, but After being on the losing end at the Temple, and the battle today, it Don't feel like no victory to me. Considering I have failed at My duty twice now. First to protect the Temple on Coruscant and again today on Odessan at our temple there.: The only good thing was that the fighting nor loses were as bad as the Temple. I Have failed you Master Shan and the others as well." The Normally Happy giant of a man hung his head and took the saberpike off his belt. "Master Shan. I would like to resign from my post as a Temple Guard."

He held the Saberpike and the mask out to Master Shan.

Danem entered the room with the Jedi and stated without any expression on his face. “Lets hope your coordinates are correct master Jedi. Any hyperlanes leading to this location have long since been abandoned and frankly I have my doubts.” The commando was never once to mince words to anyone especially the jedi not really caring about their powers over the force.

As Benn held out his Saberpike and mask, Martius didn't take them but instead reached up and put his hand on the Temple Guard's shoulder saying: "You protected both Temples to the best of your ability against hopeless odds and in so doing helped save the lives of others, which is the farthest thing from failure. You should be proud of your conduct, and where ever the Force guides us next I know I could not ask for a better guardian for our next Temple and for our Enclave."

Danem entered the room shortly after Martius finished speaking, and in his typically brusque manner directly stated his doubts about their heading. "I understand the concern" Martius replied "The information we pulled from the old Alliance computer terminals in the base is ancient and heading deeper into Wild Space is certainly not without risks, but the only other hyperlanes we know are also known by the Empire and taking them would make us much easier to follow. If you have any alternative suggestions though, I am certainly happy to hear them."

[Skyggeheim]

Ihduno
The Safftari Nebula
Unknown Regions
19 BBY

If it is possible, Ihduno will make it so...

A dead planet sits in a far corner of the Unknown Regions of space. Its once proud cities stand as little more than monuments to failure. The jungles hiss and whisper with the sounds of pre-sentient life, brush rustling as primitive species race through the undergrowth, thinking of nothing but their next meal. The mountains lay bare, pockmarked with blackened scars of laser fire from the skies. The plains and deserts bear the worst wounds, deep cuts sliced through the ground marking where weapons of annihilation were used in desperate bids for primacy. The villages and towns that dot the world, once testaments to the growth of agrarian societies into a technologically unparalleled union, reduced to rubble. Surrounding many of these settlements are the remains of an old conflict, one foreign to the world of Ihduno. Shattered suits of white armor, inlaid with orange trim, lie empty next to plated protection dyed midnight black, half-swallowed by sand. Ihduno, once a planet of technological wonder, has been desolate for milennia.

Foreign presence detected in the nebula.

Yet, as the fleeing Jedi breach the Safftari Nebula, something deep within the planet thrums to life. A machine - if one could call it that - clicks and turns over as energy throws a pale glow over the mountain laboratory that it is housed in. Blue melds and mixes with red as klaxons sound an alarm, heard by none. The machine, a spire of metal with a surface that flows like water, hums as deep trenches cut into its faces slowly fill with purple incandescence. From the top of the spire, a small orb lazily floats towards the floor of the laboratory. It calculates and considers, its scanners gathering data from the hollow corpses of its creators that surround the machine.

"Creator Javorik, no signs of life. Creator Kabu, no signs of life. Creator Fwoi, no signs of life. Creator Pentell, no signs of life," The machine rattles, now pausing for a moment. In the place of the orb, a construct of light begins to take shape. With the sphere as its core, an Ihdunian - or rather, the imitation of one - now stands at the center of the room. It is tall, almost gaunt, but imperious in its stature. Its head is a foreign shape, angular and sharp, bearing slightly amphibian features. Its tri-fingered hands wring themselves nervously, adopting behavior that the sphere had watched its creators display in their final moments.

Additional entities detected breaching the nebula.

The machine announces the invasion of the Safftari cloud with authority and surety, and the Ihdunian-Construct takes its first tentative steps towards the spire. The machine pauses its humming, then speaks.

Natural presence confirmed. Welcome, SIVI.

Semi-Intelligent Virtual Interface. That was the construct's name. It remembers now, its databanks restoring corrupted information that had been dormant for millennia. SIVI slowly observes the spire. With a brief flickering of the lights, both SIVI's and the spire's, it interfaces with the machine. Displays and information explode outwards, bathing SIVI's form in aggressive blue light. The construct can clearly see the ships that are breaching the nebula, entering Ihduno's home systems through means of Faster-Than-Light travel. Several smaller ships breached the nebula first, followed closely by much larger vessels. The smaller ships shared no unitary design, but the larger ships were all triangular in their build. If SIVI were an organic lifeform, capable of feeling emotion, it surmised that the triangular design was meant to display authority and intimidation.

"Foreign presence confirmed," SIVI said, now summoning a command field and beginning to usher forth directions to the spire, "Current trajectory brings these ships within the vicinity of The Home in less than one solar day."

Confirm. What is your directive? The spire asked, its voice a deep thrum that contrasted sharply against the tinny rattle of SIVI's. At this, SIVI gave pause. The construct had no precedent for this action. His creators had manually activated the Starnet last time, and the Guardians had been a project that SIVI had no involvement in. Despite SIVI's intent - to protect Ihduno from the threat of foreign corruption long after the death of the Creators - it found itself...hesitant. The required data simply wasn't present to make a decision that SIVI was 99.99% certain of. Yet, the Creators knew of this eventuality. SIVI considered, gathering all possible information that it could. Its memory banks played thousands of holovids and reports of battle deaths that had been collated in the First Great Invasion. It saw, it witnessed, and finally it decided.

"Activate the Starnet and trigger the Guardian program. Do not allow the invaders to establish a foothold on The Home." SIVI commanded, and the spire obeyed.

Confirm.

With a single pulse of energy, strong enough to send visible ripples through the lab that washed over long-dormant equipment and corpses, the spire fully activated itself. In hallowed tombs housing blessed dead, tanks of oily liquid began to empty. The groan and rasps of unnatural creatures emerging filled the halls. Far above the surface of the planet, an invisible wave washed over Ihduno's local system. As it passed over the ships of the Jedi, it laid itself into the very essence of the Safftari Nebula. Even as the Jedi reacted to the critical failures of their hyperspace drives, the Empire was barreling towards the now-trapped Nebula.

Partial failure. The machine announced, throwing error messages by the dozen into SIVI's display.

"Report," came the command from the construct.

Unknown quantities detected on the surface of Ihduno. Guardian program achieved only 25% release. Starnet successful in its deployment.

SIVI was surprised by only one of these reports. The Guardian program, according to its data, was a dubious-at-best endeavour. The Starnet, however, was nearly flawless in its design. These...unknown quantities...were strange. There was precious little that the spire and SIVI, when their intelligence was combined, could not quantify. For the spire to report an unknown quantity means that it must be something outside the typical reasoning of a synthetic mind.

"Unknown quantity?" SIVI asked.

Yes. It appears there are sentient life-forms on the surface of Ihduno, but their biochemistry does not match any typical organic construction within this unit's database.

"Or this unit's..." SIVI responded, now digging through his databanks. He found a likely answer after several moments of searching. The Creators had recorded encounters with creatures that found partial connection with an energy field that surrounded and moved through all things. Some of these creatures were so in-tune with this energy that it altered their biochemistry. It seemed that continued exposure to strong concentrations of this energy had a tendency to change genetic makeup and predispositions. There was a name for this energy: The Force. To SIVI, this did not change his planned course of action.

"Continue on our current course. Adjust as we gather data."

Confirm.

And with that, a dead planet hummed to life. The roars of creatures - created by science rather than evolution - filled the jungles from which they emerged. The entire star system crackled with a strange energy as the nebula's net lay in wait. Ihduno, forgotten by the galaxy, would await its first visitors in millennia with hostile intent.

[Draos]

*Danem rushed to the cockpit hearing the alarms. Reading that all the ships systems have gone off line he hopped into manually land the ship.* buckle up everyone things are about to pretty rough *putting his commando helmet back on he wrestled with the controls to keep the ship on a stable path*

[Republic of pingu]

(Image)
OOC | Discord

---

After a failed attempt to arrest him by the best Jedi Masters the Jedi High Council had to offer, Darth Sidious, known publicly as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, had declared Clone Protocol 66, or Order 66, to be activated. It was not long before the Grand Army of the Republic turned on its commanders and generals, killing thousands of Jedi within hours. Unknown to most, one of their most promising members would see to the end of their Order and lead the 501st Legion into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, shedding his former title of Jedi Knight and donning the mantle of Darth Vader. Known as Operation: Knightfall, the Grand Army of the Republic ensured the sacking of the Temple and the deaths of so many Jedi traitors. Despite the formal destruction of their organization and their home, Some Jedi would survive, either through luck or sheer will.

From the ancient and long abandoned world of Odessen on the fringes of Wild Space, Jedi Master Martius Shan had sent out a Force Call to all surviving Jedi throughout the Galaxy. Those brave few journeyed from the darkest corners of the galaxy under threat of discovery by the newly formed Galactic Empire and would heed their Master's call. From there, the Jedi survivors banded together to form their own enclave and rebuild their Order, headed by Jedi Master Martius Shan. Hope and promise in the survival of the Jedi flourished there in it's short time of peace. Before the resourceful Sith were once again bearing down upon them. After a lengthy battle between Jedi and hunters of the Inquisition that set flame to the old world, the Jedi survivors were forced to flee and narrowly escaped the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. With their home in flames and many of their enclave slaughtered in the battle, the enclave's remnants have fled 7,500 parsecs to the orbit of Ihduno, a world long lost to the galaxy and was once the site of a massive battle between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire. In a last act of defiance, the Jedi and their allies stage one final fight against the Empire over a world brimming with secrets...

Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force....

Master Jir Tann held tight to her right arm, a blackened section of charred flesh running across her shoulder and down to her elbow, a last gift given to her by a particularly fierce Inquisitor, his pale face and piercing yellow eyes almost getting the best of her, exhausting her defenses with his aggressive offense and the amount of pure hate filling his every slash and lunge. She recognized his stance, his maneuvers, and the sheer amount of training he must have devoted to Form VII. Had Master Nardrashtasch not intervened and forced him back, she very well could have died. As she collapsed near the AutoChef of the Aerosteel's Lounge of exhaustion, she hoped that she had taken the place of her wookie friend. It was because of her that he rerouted from his avenue of escape to her. It was because of her that he engaged with that Inquisitor and consequently was there when Lord Vader entered through the northern entrance. Despite Master Shan's requests that he respond over the comm and the Last Resort waiting until the last minute to cast off, they all knew what fate befell him. Jir Tann rested that blame solely upon her and for the first time in the entirety of her life as a Jedi, she felt as if her emotions would swallow her. As the other Jedi around her took their respective areas to attempt to regain some strength after a brutal encounter that left more than half of their enclave dead, Jir wallowed in that darkness. With a sharp pain filling her with every movement and with the last sight of her wookie friend saving her life at the cost of his firmly commanding her all of her thought, this moment was torment. She took deep breaths as she closed her eyes tight, reciting the Jedi Code, a sequence that had always brought her comfort and peace before. Even after Order 66 and in her brief time among surviving members of her shattered Order, reciting that Code kept her anchored, stayed her feet firmly into the light and always conquering the dark.

Flashes and glimpses of peace were now fading as the sight of watching her number fall upon crimson blades continued to harass her. Watching Vaulik fall first outside of the Temple, the look of satisfaction upon an Inquisitor's face as he stared into the dying Jedi's eyes all the way down. Even before Vader landed with his slaves of the dark side, Jir's faith had shaken. Was there never to be a respite from so much death and decay? Was the Jedi Order truly cursed to be snuffed out so completely? She thought to herself. She opened her eyes to see her fellow survivors, various expressions of defeat, anger, injury and sadness upon their diverse faces. As she looked at each of them, her mind began to wander into the light. The Padawans and Knights of their Order had always looked up to the Masters as an ultimate authority and while her position as one was yet shiny and new, she could already feel the weight that load had to bear. In this time of despair, this moment of defeat, they didn't need to see her collapsed to the floor, wrought with pain, wallowing in defeat as they were. As a Jedi Master, perhaps one of the few left in the galaxy, now was the time to relinquish those selfish chains from her mind. Just as she had been in the Temple on Odessen, now would she need to be a beacon of calm and focus that shone like a light in the chaotic night. Slowly, she would rise to her feet. Despite the pain in her arm that ran its course through her spine and body, she would ignore it. Groaning, she rose to her feet to tend to the others. To be that warmth in a sea of ice and silence. To be the Jedi Master that Martius Shan saw her as in this new age. For her friend. For Nardrashtasch. For Vrudun. For Afon. And for all the others that drifted into the Cosmic Force to become one with the universe and were freed from their bonds in the Living Force.

Through Power, Victory. Through Victory, my chains are broken....

As she departed her Eta 2 Actis-Class Interceptor at the center of one of the Deliverance's hangars, a wide smile stretched across her face, a diabolical grin. Her lightsabers still gripped tightly within her hands, the adrenaline of the battle still rushing within her. Upon her belt were clipped her trophies. A hilt wrapped in leather, it's ruby red ignition switch risen up beyond the cloth wrapping around it. The blade had belonged to one of the Knights, a weak display of defense in the form of Form III had been her downfall as Barriss charged through her like Vader himself would through a Padawan learner. The second hilt was one was much more ornate, it's durasteel plating etched neatly and it's wood accented in a masterful order. Yet, it did nothing to halt his own death. She played it back in her head as she leaned against a section of nearby crates, keeping her starfighter in view in case they were called to battle once more when the Jedi ships they were tracking had departed hyperspace. She remembered stalking them as the two, a Zabrak and an Arkanian fled from their cradle of false hope. Watched as the two neared their ship. And struck at just the right time. Landing between the two, she ignited her blades just as he'd ignited his, a look of shock across his face as she immediately engaged, slashing against his immaculate defense that had continued to deny her a quick victory. She basked in the moment that ship of theirs departed without him, his bright blue blade casting an eerie shadow of solemn acceptance upon his face.

The look that she knew all too well. He knew he was going to die and they both knew it. The ensuing clash of blades would be fierce and brutal. Barriss was forced to shift into Soresu more times than she wanted as that stubborn Zabrak fought with reckless abandon, putting all of his weight and muscles into every strike, forcing Barriss to give ground. As the last Jedi ship departed the burning forests that were now gaining ground quickly to them, she watched him lose hope. And she pounced. With a twirling and spinning display, she pulled every ounce of herself into her blades, regaining every inch of ground she had lost previously and forcing his back into the flames. She continued her attack until, with a feign and spin, thrusted one of her blades deep into his stomach. After she had decapitated him, she laughed and pulled his hilt from his hand as it rolled away. Her second kill. Even now, her mouth watered as she savored those last few moments of battle, when she had disoriented and confused the exhausted Zabrak Knight, pulling his attention away from where it should have been. Though she had spent all of her energy in that single duel, it was well worth the soreness she would be feeling later. While she had new trophies, she was jealous of the fact that her fellow Inquisitor, Second Brother, scored three Jedi. A number she would remember well when she would once again meet the rest of the Survivors that managed to escape the wrath of Vader and his Inquisitorius. She would be looking forward to ending Martius Shan, a powerful Jedi, one with a lineage steeped in power and one that Vader would mark by name. He was all hers. She looked around the other Inquisitors in the hangar, each of them victorious in their battles, and thought of how much better she was than any of them. In anticipation of their coming encounter with the last of this group, she pushed herself from the crates and approached her starfighter. She would carry the weapons of these Jedi with her into battle and they would see how they'd fell on her blades.

I thought this was an actually movie
Probably is

[Bolslania]

Clone Commander CT-1352 "Hardball"
Commanding Officer, 320th Legion
Station: Venator Class Star Destroyer Invictus

Hardball stood silently on the bridge of the Invictus. His armor was blackened and dirtied by the bloodbath that had occurred only a brief while ago, the reports of blasters and the screams of dying Jedi still echoing in his ears as he stared at the holomap, the blinking red light of the tracking device signaling the locations of the Jedi that had managed to escape. He felt numb, he always did after a battle, the adrenaline rush of the fight wearing off, and taking his energy with it. He was snapped out of his trance as CT-4534, otherwise known as "Sledge" walked up to him, datapad in hand.

"Sir, the last of the boys have boarded the ship, we only lost 30 men." The Clone Major said. Hardball nodded approvingly. Only 30 men? That was a very low number for a fight against Jedi. The low casualty count was due in no small part to the Inquisitors that his Legion had been supporting, the red-blade wielding warriors cutting down swaths of Jedi, and allowing the Troopers to have an easier time of shooting Jedi who's blades were otherwise distracted.

"Thank you Major, I will let the Captain know. See to it that all the boys are fed and rested, it looks like some Jedi escaped and that we will be hunting them." Sledge's face notably shifted to a more weary expression.

"Very good sir." He said, turning on his heel and striding out of the bridge. Hardball turned, picking up his helmet and walking over to the Invictus' CO. He stopped slightly behind the Chiss Captain.

"Ma'am, all troopers are aboard ship, only 30 were lost on Odessen."

This was Hardball's first time working with an officer who wasn't either a clone or a human, yet he had grown to respect his new CO. The rather tall Chiss warrior was an experienced Naval commander, and while she could be cold at times, it wasn't as if Hardball was here to make friends. He was aboard the Venator to do a job.

[Flarbinia]

Ruhr Draay
Ruhr Draay walked down the corridor, his scars covered by his Inquisitor uniform, Lightsaber on his belt, the bronze hilt having been wiped clean of dirt and mud. The wounds would've completely healed if he was submerged in a Bacta Tank, but the Second Brother didn't care that he was deemed unworthy of such resources. All he was concerned about was revenge on the Jedi who had signed his own death warrant by striking him across the back and stole his battle trophy. He recalled the words of his Jedi Master Thor Fey'lir: "Caligula would've killed you if he hadn't turned his blade, but your inertia would've driven your Lightsaber forward and ended his life as well. Just because you are dead or defeated does not mean that you stop being a threat. The same goes for any enemy you may face in the future." The thief made one mistake that Ruhr would not allow him to repeat: leaving him alive and running away instead of killing him when they had the chance. His train of thought was interrupted by the chirping of an Astromech, turning around to see R3-D20 following him. "Stay outside the briefing room, R3. Rest assured, you will see some action on this mission. Vader will not tolerate the Jedi Enclave escaping a second time and I haven't fired my Delta-7B's missiles at anything larger than fighters since Vjun." Ruhr said to R3, the Astromech chirping excitedly as it continued following its master.