Aboard the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Predator

The scout ships had reported back that there was a massive area of black holes between them and where the last beacon released by the Alliance ships was. What's more, apparently inside the cluster of black holes, at the very center of all of them, was a space station of some kind.

Stalker Prime listened as the report was given to Admiral Pryce and waited for her to dismiss the wing commander. As soon as they were alone in the briefing room, Stalker Prime said, "Whatever it was that I sensed, it was at the center of that black whole cluster."

"Indeed?" she replied, sounding both intrigued and hesitant. "If my memory serves me, it was believed by both the Jedi and the Sith of old that black holes were a massive disturbance in the force, able to suck down time, space, matter and even the force itself. If that's the case, why would you want to go in there?"

The Dark Stalker smacked his fist into his palm. "Because if there is a being strong in the dark side within, I'm willing to bet that the Jedi will gravitate to it. They'll want to destroy it and my brothers and I can engage them all at once there with the full support of your troops. Even the best Jedi wouldn't be able to stand an onslaught like that."

Pryce considered this for a long moment before hesitantly saying, "There is no real guarantee that the Jedi will go alone."

"Perhaps not alone;" acquiesced the stalker, "but they won't be willing to risk the whole group. More than likely, they will take an elite team with them. It won't be much more difficult or dangerous than if it were the Jedi alone."

"Don't underestimate these rebels, Prime;" Pryce admonished gently. "They haven't survived this long or done this much damage by sheer luck or only because of the Jedi."

"Even so;" the Dark Jedi said.

They gazed at one another and, after several long minutes of considering and reconsidering, Admiral Pryce said, "Very well. We'll go to the station but I want your stalkers to be at the helm of each of my ships. I trust them and only them to get my fleet through."

Prime smiled and pulled his comlink.

After each of his remaining brothers were sent to her principle warships, they formed into a tight formation and, following the scout ships, made their first hyperspace jump towards the black holes.

Orbit over an Unknown Planet - Aboard the Rogue Shadow

It had been awhile since Galen had to pilot his own ship and it wasn't that he wasn't able to. He just didn't enjoy it as much as others did. In the seat beside him sat Rahm and in the seats behind them were Kanan and Ezra. Ahsoka and Maris were strapped down in the back as they all headed to the lush, green planet below.

They could sense something down there - a malevolent force that was clearly of the dark side and yet was foreign to them. "Sensors are picking up heat signatures and large structures. Damn! Several of them seem to be as large as the temple on Corusacant! Still not picking up and energy reactors or power generators."

"A primitive culture then;" grunted Kota.

When they entered atmosphere, they were awed, not just by the natural beauty of the planet, but also by the massive cities that were clearly not as primitive as they looked. Indeed, they could see cloud cars and air speeders whisking back and forth and what appeared to be land speeders as well. "What the hell are they powered by?" murmured Galen as they flew over.

With the Rogue Shadow's stealth equipment engaged, the Jedi didn't have to worry about being spotted. Suddenly, their comms equipment crackled and from the speaker, a deep voice said, "The Crooked One rises."

"Oh no;" said Kanan.

"The Crooked One rises;" the voice repeated.

"Where is that coming from?" demanded Kota.

Galen looked over the equipment and ran a trace and the transmission, a transmission that shouldn't be able to crack through their stealth equipment or remotely activate their comms equipment as the voice droned on. "The Crooked One rises."

"Not from anywhere on the planet;" said Galen as he looked over the instruments. "It's coming from whatever it is the force guided us around during our jumps. We must have completely circumvented an entire star system."

"I have a really bad feeling about this;" muttered Ezra.

Suddenly, the ship completely shut down and was held still in the air. "What the hell is going on?" asked Kota.

As Galen answered, Ahsoka and Maris ran in. "We're caught in a tractor beam of some kind, but it's one that's using an energy source and equipment that we can't even track with scanners or sensors."

"It's the force, Galen;" said Kanan, his voice grim. "Whoever it is or whoever they are, they're using the force to pull us in."

"Yes;" said Galen, "towards that temple over there."

At the top of a ziggurat, a strange bulbous structure protruded with three great spires rising from it. Ahsoka pulled her lightsabers from her belt. "We should get ready at the ramp. Come on."

All six of them headed towards the ramp and the ship was guided to a space at the base of the ziggurat. "No need to jump right into the a fight;" said Kanan. "We don't really know what's going on here so let's proceed with caution."

When the Rogue Shadow thumped lightly to the surface on its landing struts, the ramp lowered and they strode down, side by side. At the bottom of the ramp was a large gathering of Human, or at least near-Human, beings - males and females from young adults to ancient ones. They all wore strange robes and their faces were painted. "Oh boy;" murmured Ezra, "I bet there is going to be language barriers to overcome here."

"Welcome, strangers from distant worlds;" said one of the eldest of the gathered beings. "You have come aboard the shadowy ship as it was prophesied many millennia ago after the Infinite Empire began to crumble and decay."

"What?" said Ezra, totally baffled.

Kanan put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Greetings. We are Jedi of the Rebel Alliance. Were - were you expecting us or..." and he trailed off.

The elder motioned them towards the temple. "Come, Jedi. We will show you the histories and the prophesy."

Hesitantly, they all glanced at one another before Kota said, "Lead the way then. This is the first we've heard of any of this."

"We understand;" the elder said. "Come."

They were guided towards the ziggurat -towards a tall, long stair that led upwards to bulb at the center of the spires. "Very much like the Jedi temple;" murmured Ahsoka. "But this one seems far older - and darker."

Even as they continued towards the darkness, none of them sensed any danger. It was as if the dark side were a dormant monster, docile unless awakened. When they reached the main entrance, most of the locals stayed outside as the elder seemed to conger a glowing sphere of light from within and lead them in. "Come, Jedi;" he said, "use your weapons to summon enough light to see by."

Each of them unclipped a lightsaber and ignited it. The entry hall was of white stone that seemed to reflect and enhance the lights, sending blue, green, silver and bronze sparkling throughout the hall. "This great monument was constructed by the Builders in honor of their Infinite Empire. We are in the great hall now but soon, we will be in the hall of records."

They followed in silence for several long minutes until they went down a much smaller corridor into hall not so tall or wide as the great hall. What's more, it was crammed with shelving units and ancient monitors of some kind. The shelving units had thousands upon thousands of books and scrolls on them. Their guide continued along until they were past the books and looking at a huge wall that was covered in carved and painted designs. "These were painted over twenty five millennia ago by one of our priests after the Builders enslaved our people and used us to power their warships and build their monuments. This temple is in their honor, even though it was abandoned after the prophecy was given."

The Jedi looked upon the carving. It showed very stylized images of six figures. Two of them were blind - one an aged warrior and the other a young monk. Two more of them were younger and clearly warriors while the remaining two looked more to be hunters than warriors and were decidedly female. They seemed to travel in a shadow that took them in towards a large structure surrounded by stars. It was a space station of some kind. "What does all of this mean?" asked Galen in a quiet, shaking voice.

"Here is the shadow that you came in on;" and he indicated the carving, "and this is you here, entering this temple. Soon, you will take your ship and fly back into the stars and meet a terrible and ancient being - a Builder so corrupt and vile that even his own kind stripped him of his name and imprisoned him and his loyal followers aboard a Star Forge in the midst of a black hole cluster into which and out of which, there are only two ways. This depictions shows you entering that station and facing him but how this ends, only the words of the prophecy state."

"And what are the words?" asked Kanan.

"In the ancient tongue, they are a poem but it has long been lost to us. Only the meaning remains. The Je'dii will return and six warriors will defeat the Crooked One for the last time."

"And that part there;" pointed Ahsoka to a large area that had been struck and chipped away at crudely, as if with primitive hand tools.

"No one knows;" stated the elder. "Long before our time, that part of the prophesy was blotted out. Come, I will show you the means by which you will navigate the cage of black holes."

As they followed, Ezra cleared his throat and tried to ask casually, "So, sir, we've been receiving these communications telling us that the Crooked One rises. Were you sending them?"

The elder shook his head gravely. "No. No communications were sent. Indeed, I would hazard a guess that the frequencies aren't even compatible with your equipment. If I were to hazard a guess, the Crooked One is using ancient techniques and technology to contact any outside of the cage."

That put an even bigger damper on the mood. Before long, they entered a room where a strange devise was. As they approached, the elder lifted his hand and the sphere of light floated to the device and it began to come to life. A strange metal globe lifted into the air and a primitive star map appeared. It showed the stars of the system, indicated the planet that they were on and then a path through a series of what could only represent black holes. "Damn;" murmured Ahsoka; "that really is a cage of black holes, isn't it? The way that space, time, energy and even the force would be manipulated by them would make them nearly impossible to travel without a pre-existing and pre-known path."

"How do we take it with us?" asked Ezra.

Galen smiled and tapped his head. "With this. Use the force as you gaze at it and seal it in your memory. Later, when we need the information to travel, we can use the force to locate the memory with perfect precision and clarity."

"Huh;" said Ezra and did as he was instructed.

The elder nodded in satisfaction. "You must go now. If you have been receiving communications from the Crooked One or any of his servants, you are already in grave danger. The entrance on this side of the cage is small - too small for any of the star ships that the Star Forge within could produce if successfully powered up. The entrance on the other side could possibly allow a fleet to get through if the navigators were strong in the force and guided by scout ships."

Galen looked at Kota and Kanan grimly. "The Empire is going to meet us in there, aren't they?"

"Probably;" said Kanan, equally grim.

"The only reprieve is that I doubt the Stalkers will try to win this Crooked One over for the Emperor. More than likely, they'll try to kill him too."

"Unless they can use him to kill us first and then betray him;" grunted Kota.

That was not a comforting thought. "There nothing to be served by remaining here;" said Kota. "Let's go and get this taken care of. With any luck, we'll be able to eliminate this Crooked One and a good number of the Stalkers before we rendezvous back with the fleet."

"Be blessed, travelers;" the elder said, making a strange gesture with his hands. "Go to victory."

As they headed back to the Rogue Shadow, Ezra muttered, "Am I the only one who found those priests a little creepy?"

"SSHHH!" said Kanan.

Aboard the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Predator

Pryce watched as they dropped out of hyperspace. The darkness was eerie and the only light that they saw was from the stars whose light made it through the hundreds of black holes that surrounded them. Out in the darkness floated a space station and it was bigger than any that Pryce had ever seen - three spires all connected by a huge central sphere. No lights emanated from it. "What do you sense, Prime?" the admiral asked.

The dark warrior's yellow eyes were narrowed slightly. "The dark side permeates the station and the space around it. We will need to be careful. Who knows what awaits us there."

"Scan the station for power output or any signs of life. I don't want our assets going in there blind;" ordered Pryce and she stroked her chin.

Before the crew could even completed their scan, lights began to flicker to life all over the station and it clearly went from simply floating in space to having thrusters that kept it in a chosen area. The crewman who was scanning the station said, "We're picking up and increase in power output somehow. At the beginning of the scan there was nothing - no energy signatures and now power generators. Now we can tell that something is powering the station but we still aren't picking up and reactors or generators - at least none that run off of known sources."

"Life signs?" demanded Pryce.

"One moment, Admiral;" he said, staring intently at his monitor. Moments later, he looked up and said, "Over a million living beings, Admiral. Judging by core temperature, bio-electrical frequency, brain-wave activity and so on, none of them are human."

"Check the Imperial archives. I downloaded them before leaving known space;" she said.

While they waited, Stalker murmured, "The beings on board are strong in the force - especially in the dark side. That station is powered by it as well. That's why the scanner isn't picking anything up."

Pryce considered the clone for a moment before saying, "Should we be sending a full boarding force then or just you and your brothers go?"

"Let's wait and see what the Jedi do."

That was clearly not what the Dark Jedi wanted to hear but he nodded none the less, trusting her judgement. "In the mean time, all the stalkers are returning to the Predator. They'll be ready-"

"Admiral;" the scanner officer's voice was shrill and shaky. "I think that you and the Lord Prime should come to take a look at this."

After exchanging curious glances, they went over to where the officer was. On the screen the station off in the distance. "Star Forge;" murmured Prime.

"Yes, my Lord;" said the officer. "Apparently they were built by an ancient and now extinct race known as the Rakata. We don't know much about them other than that they conquered a large amount of the galaxy. Oh, and it seems that they are an extra-galactic species."

"Extra-galactic?" said Pryce.

"Yes, Admiral;" murmured the officer. Suddenly, he gasped and said, "That Star Forge, apparently it is a massive factory station that can pull raw materials from nearby stars or worlds and can convert it into weapons, ships, droids and equipment. By the Emperor! Can you imagine what we could do with that kind of technology?"

"Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, war droids, weapons and armor produced at a fraction of the cost;" murmured Pryce. "An unending supply. All we would need is enough beings to man the ships and the whole of the galaxy would be completely under our control."

She considered for a long moment before saying, "We will be launching a full boarding operation to that station and taking it in the name of the Empire. Technological specialists and droids will be sent with them. Prime, you will be commanding my forces with your brothers. We'll sweep the rebels and whoever these Rakata are away with ease."

The dark sider nodded as orders were relayed to all the officers on the Predator and those on the other ships. Pulling his comlink, he contact all of his brothers and told them to prepare.

The Star Destroyers began to move into firing position around the Star Forge, powering up their ion cannons in order to completely disable the station before they boarded.

The Black Hole Cage - Aboard the Rogue Shadow

As soon as they dropped out of hyperspace, the cloaking device was engaged. The Imperial fleet arrayed around the space station. "I'm guessing that's the Star Forge;" murmured Ezra quietly, as if he feared breaking the silence.

"Most likely;" said Galen. "The Empire is attacking it. They have their ships surrounding it and are launching boarding ships. If they get their hands on a station like that - one that can produce capital ships, fighters, armored units..."

"It would be an unending tide of Imperial war machines;" said Kota, his voice grim. "We're going to need to call the rest of the task force in on this before we board. It's going to take a full assault to destroy that thing and it needs to be destroyed."

"Then it's a good thing we dropped repeater relays each time we needed to drop out of hyperspace and recalculate;" muttered Maris. "Even so, I'm betting that the transmission won't be clear."

"We'll get it through;" said Ahsoka firmly. "We have to. Let's go see what we can do."

As they headed back to the comms station, Galen began running scans on the Star Forge. "I wish Juno was here;" he muttered, "she's so much better at this than I am."

He managed though and was highly disturbed by the readings. "General, listen to this: the readings are picking up any kind of reactor - no fusion, no nuclear, nothing that we'd see even in ancient technology like that. There are no solar panels of any kinds and I have no idea how they're powering it. Whoever these Builders are, they have technology that we don't understand yet."

Kota frowned and his sightless eyes gazed into nothing for some time. Kanan was frozen in the same eerie stance. Finally, the latter murmured, "It's powered by the dark side of the force. Can't you sense it? There is something wholly unnatural about that station. Whoever these Builders are, they aren't going to be our allies."

"No, they won't;" murmured Rahm. "We need to be ready for anything in there. As soon as Ahsoka and Maris get their message sent out to Hera and the task force, we'll be boarding that thing."

Galen nodded as he continued to study the data from the scan. "There are hangers all over that thing - at least around the core. Woah!"

Across the expanse, they saw the drive trails of dozens of Imperial dropships, light armored vehicle transports and shuttles blazing towards the station. From behind them, Maris muttered, "That isn't good."

"Message sent;" said Ahsoka, "let's get in there."

Galen gunned the engines and angled towards the station. "At least thirteen Imperial ships have already landed. Is there anywhere they haven't yet?" asked Ezra as he studied the instruments. "Nope - it seems every hanger is occupied;" he murmured, answering his own question.

"What about docking hatches?" asked Kanan.

"Ummm..." Ezra rechecked before wincing, "...yeah there are some hatches but they don't look promising. I'm not sure any of our hatches will be able to couple with them."

"We'll have to risk it;" said Kanan.

"I'll take us in;" said Galen.

Stalker Prime had sensed the resistance well before his drop ship had landed. He could sense Imperial troops panicking and dying and the strong connection to the force of those defending the Star Forge. The doors opened and he rushed out into the fray.

The aliens, the Rakata he assumed, were smashing the highly trained Imperial navy troops and commandos with great ease. Snarling, the Prime slashed through the first three and thrust out his hand, catching another two with an intense blast of force lightning. That caught the attention of the others. Some were armed with strange and bulky energy weapons, fixed blades of some kind and weapons that were very similar to lightsabers and yet were so steeped in the dark side that it was exhilarating to sense them. Whatever they were, they stopped his weapons and the warriors were quite skilled. Two engaged him, roaring at him in an unintelligible language. But he was the Sith Stalker, a warrior and assassin trained by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader for the express purpose of destroying their enemies, especially those enemies powerful in the force.

With a flurry of blows and force attacks, he cut down his enemies and forced all of them to focus on him. As he charged into combat, he vaguely sensed two more dropships with troopers inside landed behind him. Blaster fire began blazing across the open space and the Rakata found themselves for to divide their attention. One of them wielding one of the odd energy weapons began shouting order, indicating both Prime and the Imperial troops. With a savage snarl, Stalker Prime blazed towards him and met him blade for blade.

It was a vicious fight. Prime attempted to use force lightning but the Rakata snarled contemptuously, throwing up a barrier that stopped the force lightning before countering with his weapon. Prime was only put on the defensive for a moment before he drove his enemy back. The Rakata seemed to realize he was about to die because he roared out something in his feral tongue. All around, the Rakata began to fall back in tactical pattern, covering one another as they did and securing the doors. It was the Rakata commander alone with the Imperials. "Stay back;" ordered Prime. "He's mine."

The Imperial troops around began working to secure the hanger, effectively ignoring the Rakata commander - the the commander understood. He turned his full attention to Prime and snarled, flourishing his weapon with deadly intent. Prime gave a cold smile and they circled. With a roar, the commander attacked skillfully with his strange weapon. Again, he put the Stalker on the defensive and again, Prime countered, driving his enemy back, weaving a web of red energy around the strange, glowing blade of his enemy's weapon until, with a series of skillful maneuvers, he disarmed the Rakata and slashed it across the chest where, for a human at least, the heart would be.

The alien fell dead to the ground. Looking around, Prime was satisfied to see that they had established a beach head. Four dropships full of troops were in the hanger and more were being dropped off. Grabbing his comlink, he contacted his fellow Sith Stalkers. "This is Prime. Report."

One by one, he received replies from his brethren and was satisfied to hear that they had established footholds where they had landed as well. Once he was satisfied, he contacted the Admiral. "This is Stalker Prime;" he said, "we have established numerous footholds on this station and engaged the Rakata. They are dangerous and well trained. I would urge all officers and field commanders caution and to allow the Stalkers to advance ahead of them in case they meet any powerful force using Rakata."

"Very well, Prime, the message will be transmitted;" replied Pryce. "Proceed of your own volition and contact us with constant updates."

"Will do, Admiral. Stalker Prime out."

As he clipped his comlink to his belt, he studied two of the strange Rakata energy weapons as they lay on the deck plating. The feeling of dark side energy radiating from them was fascinating to him. Reaching down, he scooped up two of them and as soon as his hands touched them, a jolt of power rushed through him. They weren't adding to the Prime's already considerable power, they were simply so in sink with the dark side that they, even more than his own lightsabers, felt as though they were in tuned to him. The handles were primitive, longer than the hilts of the weapons that Darth Vader had given him. The blades looked unstable, with heat radiating from them as if the energy fields that contained them were not fully effective.

With a grim smile, he resolved to pull them apart and study them when the mission was over. Until then, he would test their limits in battle. Hopefully soon, he would even test them against the Jedi.