Hapes Consortium

"Sir, with all due respect we're about to end this civil war," Admiral Gavin Darklighter said. "If my fleet pulls away now, the Hapan blockade will be broken." All the progress he'd made would be for nothing.

Gavin Darklighter wasn't entirely convinced that he was on the right side of this. The situation was similar to the rebellion against the Empire. But the Galactic Alliance had elected to join the Consortium, in hopes that by joining the more powerful side it would be possible to end the conflict sooner. Well, not anymore.

"I understand that," Intelligence Director Dif Scaur said. "I would not call you away like this if we had another option. But the defense of the Alliance takes precedence."

Gavin shook his head. "I will comply, under protest."

"Duly noted," the director said sourly. The transmission ended.

"Idiot!" Some of his officers were no doubt staring at him, but he didn't care.

Errant Venture: Orbiting Borleias

Leia and Han met up with Allana and Thrace as they descended the Sarlagesus' boarding ramp. The Chiss Jedi's left arm was missing, and he wore a black coat, with metal studded shoulders, that was a wee bit short on him.

"Lando's not gonna be too happy about that," Han said, nodding toward Thrace's left shoulder.

"Met up with that Barabel Sith," Thrace explained. "He disabled my arm with Force lightning, and I discovered that it made a passable I.E.D. Be sure to tell Lando that last bit."

Han frowned.

"Luke needs us in ops," Leia told Thrace as she walked over to him. She frowned at his left shoulder.

"So, Darth Plagueis is the dark man. And your father, Thorden was one of his apprentices," Luke summarized, after Allana and Thrace had described their adventure.

Thrace nodded. "Your turn."

Luke nodded. "Lecersen has an Eclipse-class Star Destroyer."

"Oh," Allana said. "That's nice."

"And," Luke continued, ignoring his grandniece's comment, "this Darth Plagueis, it seems, is coordinating Lecersen's Imperial forces."

"Destroying the Eclipse from the outside isn't an option," Leia said.

"Not a good one, anyway," Han commented. "We'd have to crash half a fleet worth of Star Destroyers into it."

"We'll have to do it from the inside," Leia said.

Kuat

Near the center of Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet hung the Shield of Dac. To the left and right, respectively, were the Mon Mothma and the Akbar. A number of Golan Defense platforms had dropped out of hyperspace to reinforce the Galactic Alliance fleet.

Talon Karrde's fleet remained nearby, and would enter the system shortly after the Imperial fleet arrived. Admiral Bwua'tu would have preferred to combine both fleets into one. Lecersen would certainly be expecting Karrde's fleet to return, so Bwua'tu didn't expect to be able to stage an effective ambush with them, anyway. But, the Bothan admiral could not have someone discovering that the Jedi were involved. Not when Dif Scaur had labeled them as criminals.

Karrde's fleet would arrive after the battle had begun, when it was unlikely that anyone would be digging too deeply into the nature of his fleet. Zuul Zuzu had given Luke Skywalker Admiral Bwua'tu's battle plans, so that the two fleets could better coordinate with each other.

Mighty flashes of light announced the arrival of the Imperial fleet. The largest of these flashes resolved itself into the monstrous obsidian dagger of the Eclipse. Appearing above and below the behemoth was the rest of the fleet, the rest of the fleet that was here at the moment. The Eclipse began turning its right flank toward the Alliance fleet.

Smaller, scattered flashes of light resolved themselves into TIE Defenders. X-wings and A-wings surged forward to intercept the Imperial fighters. About half of the TIEs remained to deal with the Alliance fighters while the others proceeded toward some of the Golan Defense platforms. Like a single minded swarm they assaulted the defense platforms, evading fire, and weaving in between and destroying Alliance fighters.

Twin Suns squadron, currently led by Tahiri Veila, dropped out of hyperspace along with the rest of what had been designated as Talon Karrde's fleet. Twin Suns, and Rogue squadron, under the command of Corran Horn, made their way over to the besieged Golan Defense platforms. As with the two previous battles, Tahiri could feel a certain intelligence exerting itself over, and guiding the Imperial pilots. There was a connectivity which reminded her of the hive mind of a Killik nest. It was as though the pilots had been made into Joiners, at least temporarily.

Corran Horn missed the days when the Empire used TIE fighters and Interceptors. Unlike the Defenders, they had lacked deflector shields and proton torpedo launcher. The newer TIEs were bad enough without some Sith Lord helping them out. He felt a sense of relief from his daughter, Jysella and her wingmate, Yaqueel, as they destroyed another TIE. If just one of those TIEs hit one of the defense platforms' deflector shields it could allow one of the other TIEs to get under the shield, dooming the entire 'engineless Star Destroyer', as Corran preferred to call them.

Minotaur

Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld, after making the request to Lecersen, had been given command of the Minotaur and three other Star Destroyers, the Death Blow, the Chupacabra, and the Daala. It wasn't a whole fleet, of course. But, it would be enough to demonstrate his military skill to his fellow Moff.

Gatterweld was quite impressed by the coordination of Lecersen's fleet. He'd heard stories of Emperor Palpatine endowing Imperial forces with such a capacity. Zedekiah had always known Lecersen was hiding something. Of course, all Moffs were. I should know. But he hadn't expected his fellow Moff to be hiding something of such great magnitude as an alliance with a Sith. And perhaps more than one. He moved his left hand toward his pocket, in which resided that 'family heirloom', then thought better of it. Not here.

Gatterweld's mini-fleet focused the majority of its attention on the Shield of Dac and its two escorts, the Mon Mothma and the Akbar. General Hiroyuki Niathal was bound to be on the Shield. And perhaps that was where Admiral Bwua'tu had been moved to. The Mon Cal vessel was slightly larger and more powerful than the standard Star Destroyer.

Zedekiah Gatterweld sighed as a potentially dangerous plan began to take shape. But, with all the chaos it was possible that no one would notice. And if Gatterweld was successful, or came close enough, he'd certainly prove his worth to Lecersen and his Sith friend.

Shield of Dac

The Death Blow suddenly lurched forward and increased power to its forward deflector shield. The Imperial Star Destroyer was headed straight toward the Shield of Dac. "I suggest we move-"

"Order the Mon Mothma onto an intercept course with the Blow," Admiral Bwua'tu interrupted General Niathal. "They want us to move the Shield," he explained after the general had relayed the order.

The nose of the Death Blow suddenly slowed down. The stern of the Star Destroyer slowly swung to the left, orienting the weapons trench toward the Shield of Dac and its escorts. The Akbar commenced fire on the Death Blow's stern as the Imperial vessel moved forward, or to the left of its original orientation. The Shield of Dac's forward deflector shield began to ripple furiously as the Death Blow focused almost half its firepower on the Mon Calamari cruiser's bow.

If the Death Blow continued forward, it would scrape against the forward shields of the Shield of Dac. Any attempts by the Mon Mothma to ram the Death Blow would slam the Imperial Star Destroyer into the Mon Calamari cruiser. That would cripple and most likely destroy all three vessels. The Akbar would likely also suffer significant damage, and would be left to fend off a trio of enemy Star Destroyers.

General Niathal relayed Admiral Bwua'tu's order for the Mon Mothma to break off its intercept course, and turn toward the right. Power was shunted from the Alliance Star Destroyer's starboard side weapons to the port side batteries. The Death Blow increased power to its port deflector to deal with the extra fire.

The Minotaur and the Daala began attacking the Akbar, while the Chupacabra went after the Mon Mothma. "Get Darklighter's fleet," Admiral Bwua'tu told General Niathal.

Eclipse

"Another fleet just dropped out of hyperspace."

Lecersen glanced at the sensor screen. The majority of this fleet was heading toward the Eclipse's right flank. But two of the vessels had broken off to join the Shield of Dac and its escorts. "Fire when they're in range," the Moff ordered. "And when they're too close to break off, open the Ninth Gate." Lecersen could feel his excitement growing as Alliance vessels began to close in on both sides. Fire was exchanged for a few minutes, and then space lit up like a supernova.

Kuati Dagger

The bridge of the Kuati Dagger began to shudder under the Eclipse's increased rate of fire. Alarms began to wail. and the lights dimmed. "Shields down to sixty nine," an officer shouted over the klaxons, which soon went silent.

The Eclipse's rate of fire soon subsided back to a merely monstrous rate, but the damage had already been done. Five of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers had been just about obliterated, three floated dead in space, and the rest, including the Kuati Dagger, had sustained significant damage.

Admiral Gavin Darklighter imagined that the Eclipse's secret weapon-well, it wasn't secret anymore-had brought the massive Star Destroyer dangerously close to an overload. A hit to the right area...

The admiral activated the comm as it began buzzing. A small holo-image of General Niathal appeared near the human admiral's chair.

A portion of the Eclipse's deflector shield, near one of the hangars, began to ripple slightly as what remained of Admiral Darklighter's fleet focused their fire. With his X-wing inside the Stronghold and connected to its navigational systems, Luke Skywalker flew the Corellian Corvette toward the hangar bay of the Eclipse. R2D2 controlled the weapons systems. The Millennium Falcon, the Sarlagesus, and eleven StealthXs, mostly from Jaina's Flaming Swords squadron, remained with the Stronghold to provide defense against a throng of TIE Defenders and Avengers.

The Stronghold began to disintegrate under the relentless fire of the Eclipse's weapons. Luke was counting on it. The Corellian Corvette was meant to be a shield, not a sword. Before what was left of the Corvette could crash into the Eclipse's hangar Luke pulled it up. There were sparks as the deflector shields of both vessels clashed.

"Disengage," Luke told Artoo. An internal explosion tore a hole through the hull of the Stronghold, and an X-wing rocketed out. Preprogrammed to go downward after the X-wing's departure, what remained of the Corvette slammed down onto the hull of the Eclipse. One of the Stronghold's engines exploded against the great Star Destroyer's deflector shield, near the hangar bay. A pair of proton torpedoes put a small, temporary hole in the shield. Two StealthXs and Luke's X-wing managed to sneak through a split second before the deflector shield recovered.

Allana whipped the Sarlagesus around as, through her Force bond with Thrace, she felt the familiar energy signature of the Eviscerator approaching. The Sarlagesus' shield rippled as the YT-4900 freighter and a TIE opened fire. Along with the weapons turrets above and below the body of the YT-4900 freighter, a third one had been installed between the mandibles and below the cockpit.

Allana could hear the scraping of buzz droids scurrying about. Evelyn had sent them to the places most likely to need repairs during the battle. "Them again," she muttered unnecessarily, as she felt the presences of the Barabel Sith and Vestara.

Thrace reached out to Seff Hellin, who was nearby. The older Jedi sent back a sense of reassurance as he joined up with the Sarlagesus. His StealthX rocketed toward the Avenger, firing away.

Like two oversized fighters the two freighters charged at each other, firing all their weapons. The Eviscerator took some damage as a torpedo exploded against its deflector shield. The YT-4900 freighter launched another pair of torpedoes at the Sarlagesus. "I got this," Thrace reassured Evelyn, the ship's droid brain, as he used the Force to slam one torpedo into the other. Space was lit up like a short lived fireball, like one of those elements which decayed after a few seconds.

Eclipse

Drikl Lecersen stifled a curse as he returned the comlink to his pocket. Krayt had just informed the Moff that three Jedi had gotten aboard the ship. Lecersen knew better than to underestimate the Jedi. He shook his head. This could be bad. But arrangements had been made for such an eventuality.

A young woman with long red hair ran around the corner, her eyes glowing an angry amber. Jaina charged toward her. Allana's clone launched an arc of crimson fire at the Jedi Master, who deflected it with her lightsaber. Their weapons met in a shower of sparks.

Jaina created a tensor field around herself as less than a second before the Sith kicked her in the sternum and sent her slamming into the bulkhead. Red Force lightning slammed into Jaina as she slid down the wall. She groaned. As her niece's clone prepared to behead Jaina, she reached out in the Force and deactivated the red lightsaber. Luke had done that to her a few times when she was younger. Jaina Force slammed her opponent into a wall and jumped back to her feet. She was a little bit dizzy.

Darth Krayt could feel the storm troopers dying as the two Skywalkers approached his location. If the two Jedi got close enough, they could potentially disrupt the Sith Lord's coordination of the Imperial forces. If Lecersen did not arrive first, then Krayt might have to leave without him. Or, he could fight the Skywalkers. But Darth Krayt did not want to be one of those poor fools who underestimated them and died as a result.

Darth Krayt felt Lecersen's relief in the Force as the Moff finally reached the Sith Meditation Sphere. The human scrambled up the ship's lowered boarding ramp; there was sweat on his forehead. "The Jedi brought fighters into the ship."

"Bugger," Lecersen muttered. They were going to destroy the Eclipse from the inside out.

"Not all our plans work out," Krayt said. "That is why those who are wise have many."

The clone was drawing heavily on the dark side. And after being struck by Force lightning a second time, Jaina was growing tired. Allana's clone continued to batter the Jedi Master's defenses. She swung again, almost knocking the lightsaber out of Jaina's hand. The Jedi Master backed up and, just as expected, the Sith swung her weapon again, with even more force. Jaina shut off her lightsaber, and reactivated it when the clone was facing away from her. Allana's clone shrieked as the lightsaber blade pierced her spine, just below the shoulders. She tumbled to the floor, motionless.

Jaina felt horrible. She knew she hadn't been given a choice. The poor girl had begun her life being tortured by Abeloth, so that the monster could feed off her suffering. And then the girl had somehow been 'rescued'-by that Sith with the tattooed face, most likely, and used as a pawn. Used to keep the Jedi from getting to him so that he could escape.

Jaina deactivated both lightsabers, attached them to her belt, and picked up her niece's dead clone. The Jedi Master reached out toward the tattooed man's presence, as she ran to the hangar bay by which she'd entered the Eclipse. The Sith Lord had left the mammoth Star Destroyer. There was another presence with him. Lecersen, probably. The Sith Lord had no doubt remained nearby so that he could continue to coordinate the Imperial forces.

Luke and his son, Ben deflected countless bolts of crimson fire as they ran toward the hangar. With the tattooed Sith having departed from the Eclipse, there was no sense in staying aboard. They reached the hangar moments later to find Jaina putting Allana's dead clone into her StealthX's cargo compartment. The Jedi needed to have the proper evidence if the charges against Allana were to be dropped.

The three Jedi were soon in their fighters, and began firing their laser cannons and launching proton torpedoes. After a couple minutes, Luke led them out of the hangar. There was a large explosion inside, a second later. The three Jedi put their fighters into terrain following mode and, remaining under the Eclipse's deflector shield, proceeded to take out its shield generators.

The Chupacabra's shields flickered violently under the relentless pounding of the Mon Mothma and one of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers. Fire began slipping past the shield, ripping off chunks of hull plating. Eventually the deflector shield buckled, and a few more targeted barrages rendered the Imperial Star Destroyer dead in space. The Death Blow was in a similar state, while the Minotaur and the Daala had gone into a retreat.

The Galactic Alliance fleet maintained a steady stream of fire as the Imperial fleet made the retreat back to Adumar. A number of Star Destroyers, both Alliance and Imperial, including what remained of the Eclipse, floated dead in space. Five of Admiral Darklighter's Star Destroyers had been turned into giant slag heaps. This battle had only been a partial victory.

Shield of Dac

Luke Skywalker walked into the room to find Admiral Bwua'tu and General Niathal engaged in an intense game of holochess. The Jedi Master was impressed with their skill. They seemed to be thinking at least ten moves ahead. Luke considered himself a decent player, but rarely could think more than five moves ahead.

He felt a mild sense of frustration from Hiroyuki when Nek eventually managed to defeat him. "He wins every single time," said the gravelly voiced Mon Calamari general as he turned toward Luke. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just to see me get humiliated."

"No." Luke sighed. "The good news is that the charges against Allana have been dropped. But, the bad news is that we have a new Chief of State."

"Don't say it," Bwua'tu muttered.

"I don't I have to," Luke said.

Minotaur

"Dif Scaur," Moff Drikl Lecersen told Darth Krayt, naming the new Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. "And I also recently learned, from the Mandalorians, that Scaur is Daala's source. I have informed Gatterweld of this, and he agrees that Dif Scaur must not be harmed."

Krayt nodded his tattooed head in approval. "What have you learned about Gatterweld's run for Head of State?"

"I will be surprised if he is unsuccessful," Lecersen said. "His public condemnations of my actions and formal apology to Adumar for allowing me to 'turn the world into a battleground' are making him even more popular among his fellow Moffs. Gatterweld has also taken a fleet to the Hapes Consortium to reestablish the blockade against the Freedom Federation."

"We must keep a close eye on Gatterweld," Darth Krayt said. "I don't distrust him, but he is hiding something."

"There does seem to be something peculiar about the man, aside from his eccentricities," Drikl Lecersen agreed.

"I did not devise the maneuver he used against the Shield of Dac and those two other Star Destroyers," Plagueis continued. "Unless he had known exactly where those vessels were going to be, he could not have planned such a thing."

"So it was spur of the moment," Lecersen reasoned.

The Sith Lord nodded. "Now, consider the precision needed for such a feat."

Lecersen's eyes widened so slightly that most beings would have missed it. "He used the Force?"

"How else?"

Poison Moon

"I had high hopes for Thorden," Darth Plagueis told his apprentice, Vestara Khai. "I believed that he was destined to play a very important role in the Grand Plan. But, I was wrong. That role will have to be played by another."

The Sith Lord placed a hand on Vestara's shoulder. "You demonstrated great power and skill in the Force, by killing Thorden. A mere Sith Saber would not be able to do this. From now on, you shall be called Darth Nefaria."

"We are proud of you," said Darth Blight, who stood nearby.