It is truly me! I will get into the excuses at the bottom of the page, for now, please enjoy the read :-)

Chapter 19: Overkill does the job

The deck shuddered, the starlines became the mottled sky of hyperspace, and the mission had officially passed the point of no return. With a sigh that could have been contentment or resignation – even I was not sure which – I unstrapped my crash webbing and vacated the co-pilot's station. The briefing was not going to give itself, even if I did feel a tad uneasy.

"Ready Boss?" Knight Alicka prompted. Stationed at the Temple kitchens as her cover, the Broestian was one of the many pilots who flew for Jedi Intelligence. Being a rather good cook, her presence was doubly appreciated on this mission. Though, it would be all the more appreciated if she stopped calling me that.

I grumbled something to that effect as I collected a stack of datacards and proceeded aft. "Respect must be earned, and apart from letting the others arrange the gear as they saw fit, I fail to see what I have yet accomplished in that field. Besides, they are each ten years my senior, and that's being generous…."

"I would say that admitting your limitations went a good way in convincing the team of your worthiness to lead this mission." Alicka counselled, following me on my cautious path through the equipment-strewn passenger bay. The deck, and—perhaps—the dim lighting panels, were the only original parts left on the Kappa-class shuttle, if it could still be called that. Though the basic shape was still retained, the shuttle had become the Jedi equivalent of a SWAT van, packing a criminal amount of weapons, shields to make a crimp in anyone's day, and enough field equipment to take over a small planet.

Part of the set-up was a compact but comprehensive tactical suite, and it was to this that I made my wary way. Once all was ready, I turned to my attentive audience, and began. "Eight standard days ago, I received a datapacket from the Council. Along with everything Intelligence could come up with on our target, was this message."

I stepped to the side, letting a life-size hologram of Master Windu materialize and address the roomful of Jedi, "Padawan Sunrider, the Council is loath to pull you away from your studies, but a matter has arisen which requires a timely response. Jedi Intelligence has made headway in the Vandelhelm mystery, and it is rather imperative that you ascertain the threat posed to the Order by Corani Industries. Your team, as well as any resources you require, will be dispatched upon further communication. All relevant intelligence is attached to this message. May the Force be with you."

"Near as I can make it," I continued, resuming my former place, "I had the misfortune to stumble into a corporate war over supply lines and prices. One of the companies involved, Corani Industries, had concocted a surprisingly elaborate plan to undermine the hold FondWorks – the other rival – held over the Vandelhelm Collective. One of Corani's more promising coordinators had taken custody of a vacancy on the board of Subterral Mining and was tasked with amassing a powerbase from the smaller players in the VC. His loyalties shifted when his credit balance did, and he was far more amenable to taking the organization for himself."

"Pardon me for asking sir," one of my crew spoke up, Dovish Hokken, I tentatively identified him, "But Jedi – in our official capacity – are rarely roped in to mediating corporate disputes. That is more the line of work of the Trade Subcommittee, isn't it?"

"Usually, yes," I responded, thinking that perhaps I was overdoing the 'brief' in 'briefing', "However, our Executive had gotten too greedy, and FondWorks began to notice. They began putting pressure on the Javin Delegation, but with the stir already brewing courtesy of Corani, the situation proved too much. Someone, apparently, had significant clout with Coruscant, hence the presence of a High Councillor. It just so happened, that the suite in which we were to reside, had been reserved for the Subterral Delegation. And the Subterral Delegation was reserved for an assassination attempt. By the time FondWorks caught wind of the Jedi, it was too late to pull the plug."

"Let me guess," Serifa Altunen snorted derisively, "The two fools panicked, each deciding that the 'Jedi Threat' had to be eliminated. How I despise corporate types, all receipts, no reason. If they had just paused to think, they would have realized that you would leave, and they could scheme in peace, and, perhaps, even succeed."

"Right on both counts, Knight Altunen." I paused to think, and then added, "Or should I say on all three counts?" a ripple of mirth coursed through the room. When it died down, I continued, "They did, in fact, decide that the Jedi threat needed to be eliminated, but they hired the same guy for the job. FondWorks gave him explicit instructions to 'delay the Jedi', while Corani insisted that 'the Jedi' be 'no longer a threat'. Being disgruntled with the Order, 'Kinrath' chose to go with the latter, but used the resources provided him from both sides. Being rather unhinged, and having an unexpected variable alter the situation – namely the presence of Padawan Tur-Mukan – he bungled his own op – to my great relief."

"Jedi Intelligence," I began after a brief pause and a sip of cool water, "has backtracked the IG-86 Sentinels used in the attack to Corani Industries, how they did it when my own trail ended at Abregado Rae, I would rather not know. Our mission objectives are to: one, pull a dump of the financial database; two, acquire the personnel file of one Coordinator Darq; and three, to determine the threat posed by Corani Industries to the Jedi Order."

I felt a thread of curiosity move through the Force, and waved Knight Kej to proceed before he could ask permission. "Sir, aren't fourteen Jedi overkill for an information raid?" he asked, "Or are we expecting any abnormal resistance?"

"Usually, yes, this would be overkill. Though my theoretical knowledge of tactics and strategy is somewhat extensive, I have never actually led a mission." I paused to chuckle humourlessly, "After all, better 'overkill' than 'all got killed'. As a matter of fact, any input or alterations you provide to my plan would be more than welcome."

As I took yet another break to collect my thoughts, I felt a ripple of satisfaction and approval pass through the ranks arrayed before me, as if silently affirming that I was doing well.

"All stations, secure for reversion." I called into the intercom whilst swiping a row of overhead toggles to the stand-by phase. Transition into realspace tended to attract copious amounts of attention, and attention was something this mission could do well without. As such, what was usually only a flip of the hyperdrive levers now became a rather laborious procedure. Ten seconds elapsed, and I judged that my passengers ought to have taken the necessary precautions. "Lights off." I declared, ticking off the first item on my mental checklist. "Artificial gravity disengaged, life support disengaged, auxiliary power core disengaged. Stabilizers locked, drag fins locked, craft is green for atmospheric free-fall."

"Standing by, main core shutdown sequence." Knight Alicka reported. A probe through the Force told me that we were proceeding on schedule.

"Hitting planetary mass shadow in five… four… three… two… one. Dropping out." Among pilots, a realspace reversion was known by many names, most, of course, had little to zero baring on reality, in this case though, my utterance was an apt description of events. The deck wrenched, and I found myself flung against my crash webbing and seatback in rapid succession. The kaleidoscopic tunnel of hyperspace seemed to collapse in on itself, the black splotches growing to engulf the Kappa shuttle for a brief instant. Following that came a nauseating lurch and then we were through the dimensional barrier with the industrial side of Tallaan growing ever larger in the fore viewport.

"Main core shutdown sequence activated." Alicka announced, "Main core offline. We are running silent."

"Hull integrity green, all hatches ceiled. Cabin pressure stable and optimal. Oxygen saturation is optimal. Course is as plotted." With a sigh I ceased my status checks and relaxed into my co-pilot's seat. For the time being, there was no urgent task in need of doing. I could breathe easily. Well, almost… the rather bumpy reversion still held no appeal for me. I would have to look into improving the experience, for the effectiveness of any future operations.

I managed to steal a few precious minutes of sleep, but as the upper tendrils of the Tallaani atmosphere wafted past the canopy, I knew that the time had come for me to return to the assault team. Bidding a casual "Be Well" to Alicka, I stepped into the world of pre-mission chaos with which I would become acquainted over the next decade.

"How are the speeders, not too banged up?" I asked as I passed by Dalnus Cam, the leader of Theta Team.

"Boss, we're packing 74-Js, nothing short of a medium freighter landing on them will so much as scratch the paint." He was a friendly fellow, I would say two decades my senior, and had experience in mounted operations, in short, perfect for the job.

"Aruden, Ree, Dovish, you're dropping out in three!" I called in the direction of the vehicle bays. Originally manufactured for the deployment of aerial combat platforms and the early walkers, the bays were more than large enough to house the two speeder bikes and the equipment needed to keep even those sturdy machines operational.

I waited just long enough to hear the muffled acknowledgements, and then briskly strode past where Cal-I – the team's resident sniper – was going over his gear. Satisfied that all was well, I took up station near the tactical suite and got to examining the traffic flows in the city. After all, as I always said, even a smidgen of extra intelligence went a long way towards getting out alive.

The whine of repulsorlifts, the harsh wind blowing through the drop bay and tearing at hair and clothes, the sight of distant ground flitting by below one's feet, in the forthcoming years they would blend into one picture, that of a Jedi ready to lead his troops into desperate battle against the overwhelming forces of evil, a picture that would grow wearisome before the first month went by. For now though, wartime cynicism had not yet set in, and many of my team enjoyed the novel experiences that came with an aerial deployment.

"We are coming up on your drop zone. ETA, twelve seconds." Came Knight Alicka's report through the intercom. In less than a minute, her contribution to the mission would be over, barring unforeseen circumstances that mandated immediate extraction.

The illumination in the bay turned from yellow to green, and with a muttered "here goes!" I released my grip on the overhead railing and stepped forth.

Jedi were fellows fond of recreational free-fall. Over the millennia, they had developed many techniques for circumventing gravity and avoiding injury associated with altitude and falling. Some of these techniques revolved around negating one's mass, others had you increase air resistance in your path, yet more were aimed at absorbing the force imparted on impact. The most common approach to the latter was a simple, well-timed Force Push that generated resistance and gradually slowed you to a manageable velocity near the ground. My approach differed somewhat from the norm, as did most of what I learned on Tython.

Master Meetra, in her training, counselled that one can have a tool for each task, but that it was also important to know how to accomplish several tasks with but one. In keeping with that principle, I deployed a Force Barrier the moment I cleared the ventral hatch, and waited a negligible amount of time, something between two and four seconds, for impact. What would have been a bone-crushing re-acquaintance with terra firma – well, duracrete rooftop – became a soft alighting, the impact force of many newtons having been absorbed by my Barrier.

A moment was spent in sending a mental thanks to Meetra, after which I turned back around to see the others land on the rooftop, Master Adi and Knight Alrix doing so in my fashion, while Knights En, Karagan and Altunen made use of the aforementioned common technique. What Knight Kinning and Padawan Bylissura did, I was not certain, as my awareness was drawn to a nearby intersection, and the large speeder truck awaiting its turn to pass through.

It looked like we were about to catch a ride.

"All teams, Penetration Actual. Call in." I hissed into the squad net. The Isk-220 Operation Coordination System was of the Order's own make, and proved to be vastly superior to its open-market brethren in both reliability and effectiveness. It worked best in environments with heavy airwave traffic, piggybacking messages onto unsuspecting signals. Though this approach lacked the precision of a tight-beam relay, it also served to mask the location of both the sender and the recipient. It was, in practice, ideally suited for making a clean urban job.

"Penetration, Ferry here. I've just received a docking assignment from Orbital-27. Heading there now." Despite the interference and heavy encryption, Knight Alicka's voice was only slightly distorted, being reminiscent in quality to AM radio, a testament to the marvel of engineering that was the Isk-220.

That positive report was followed by ones from Gamma and Theta teams in rapid succession, Aruden and Dalnus signalling clear in their zones. A further thirty seconds preceded a call from Cal in which he affirmed readiness, and it was time. "All teams, Penetration Actual. We're going in. Aurek, move as you see fit. Theta, Gamma, maintain Pattern Three-Besh, Ferry, enjoy the show. Penetration Actual, out."

Keying off the circuit, I turned to Knight Kinning, the team's slicer and all-out electronics specialist. Having lost her left arm in a conflict with the Arkanians some decades prior, she had become quite adept with matters of technology, establishing a department that supplied technical expertise – be it with security systems or food fabrication units – to Jedi in the field.

"I'm almost through," she mumbled, before I could ask. "They must really be paranoid, five-layer encryption to even access the holocam feed. Most banks stop at three or four. On the bright side, they are using a Loedorvian Krill-334 Shield Wall, which we have learned to bypass a month after the system was on the market."

"Anything special about it?" I asked, as much out of professional interest as to pass the time.

"The -334 focuses more on preventing external access than actually securing the systems it protects against subtle tampering. While any breaks in the chain – be they deactivated sensors, or even shot up lights – would immediately set it off, a looped feed would be unnoticed." Came my reply, spoken rather distractedly as Kinning keyed in command after command into the datapad cleverly spliced into the outdoor terminal.

Scant few seconds went by before there was a muffled, yet very much triumphant, exclamation from our slicer and a whispered "We're good to go." reached our ears. Stepping over to the door barring our entrance, I held up a breaching charge in one hand and a security spike in the other. After inspecting the interface, I dropped the spike into one of my innumerable belt pouches and began priming the charge. The system – which was on a different circuit to the Shield Wall – was too hard to slice in any reasonable amount of time, however, with the sensors that verified the presence of doors in doorways muffled by Kinning's all-clear loops, the high-tech console could be entirely bypassed by an age-warmed method. "Stand clear!" I commanded, doing just that, "Three, two one!"

There was a subdued thump, and with very little theatrics the duralium slab toppled down, leaving the way clear. "Go! Go!" I called, shouldering my KA-74/0 assault rifle and doing as I myself instructed.

Though perhaps not evident in their delight during insertion, my team were masters of their art. Rees Alrix broke off and took up station on the other side of the entryway, covering the foyer with her own -74. Kinning and Byllussura hung back, keeping an eye on our rear and letting the others sweep the nooks and niches with their more compact submachine blaster equivalents.

The all-clear was given, and we advanced through the Corani administrative complex, intent on the data storage core, three levels above and two sectors away from our entry point.

Though the danger posed by roving security droids – which were, to no-one's surprise, IG-86 Sentinel units – was maximized by the complexity and length of our route, it was less than what it would have been had we infiltrated through the roof and sought to make our way down, those floors being occupied, likely as not, by staffers aiming to finish off the day's work before the night shift had time to harangue them for their lack of productivity or some such.

Before too long we had reached our goal, and with a sliced security console were safely – well, relatively – barricaded inside the administrative data storage vault. Reminiscent of the Archives' lower levels, the chamber was of a modest size, with concentric circles of databanks emanating from a FlowCorp datasifter, handily furnished with a comfortable office chair.

Once the area was secured, Kinning and I got to work, she penetrating the databases and beginning her sift, while I, with my comparatively lower skill set, checked in with the other teams before breaking into the central complex mainframe. From inside the heart of the facility, where terminals were less guarded from both complacency and for ease of use, it took little effort and time for me to pull up maintenance schedules, security patrol routes, and other nitty-gritty elements of daily life that could give us an advantage over the situation.

It was good that I did. "Master Kinning?" I inquired in a casual tone, as if ordering dinner, "How soon can you pull the data we need?"

The casual approach, it seems, never works. Without visible signal Rii'ke and Clarin moved to take ambush positions before the vault doors, and were swiftly followed by Rees, who set up for high cover, while Serifa and Master Adi assumed crossfire stances.

Instead of answering my question, Kinning asked one of her own. "How much time do I have?"

I took a moment to consider, before saying bluntly "Not enough. Five minutes if I try to stall them. There's a janitor team en route. Five wets, two droids. MSEs look harmless, but if they are tied into the system with all the cams and sensors, taking them out will alert the whole sector."

Squire confirmed my doubts. "It will. I am already pulling Darq's profile, but the financial and assets databases are each over sixteen petabytes. Without knowing what exactly it is that we are looking for, no way we can do this in time."

That was not good. So far as I could see it, we could pull out now, leaving the op unfinished, we could try to pull what we have time for and hope that it would be enough, or we could have a classic 'Protect the terminal while the data is being mined' fight against constant reinforcements, or— "Squire?" I asked, rather informally, already moving to inspect the databank nearest to me, "Tell me, can you isolate which drives have the databases we are looking for?"

The answer was prompt. "Bad idea. The things are probably exit tagged. We take these anywhere near the door, we'll have the entire security detail on us in minutes. Besides, the data may be spread over several drives, as a technological precaution, if not an anti-theft one."

I could not but agree, yet, punching out would be several magnitudes easier than holding the doors and then doing the same. For one, a greater element of surprise. Just as I was about to argue this point, the situation derailed.

Alarms blared through the room, the lighting went out, being replaced with an eerie red emergency glow, and a synthesized voice bellowed a call to security stations, declaring "Alert level three. Alert level three. Secure all class indigo and class blue areas. Non-essential personnel to safe rooms." As the message repeated, I thought back to the time we cleared the room. The door plaque was, as I had suspected, indeed a rich blue.

"We're out of time." I said, voice steady, and mind calculating escape routes, "Doing this quietly has just become moot."

"Altunen, MOVE!" I bellowed, seeing the vibroblade hurtling at Serifa's back, and the droid who had launched it. A capable combatant, she would have been quite able to avoid the attack and disembowel the attacker, yet that would require us to slow down for a precious few seconds, seconds which I would rather have in reserve, being ever conscious of the security patrol on our heels. Following training as engrained as the Jedi Code, Serifa leapt to the side, allowing me a clean line of fire at the IG-86 Sentinel. A quick burst of emerald lanced out of my rifle, drilling the droid in the chest and tracking up to its head. On the move, my aim was not the steadiest, so I went for certainty over finesse.

"Clear." I declared, as the droid's carcass collapsed in a heap. "Next intersection, turn left."

Being in the rear-guard, though liable to get one shot, provided immense opportunities for wanton property damage, as I learned on the Tallaani mission. Not being an extremely malicious sort, I refrained from complete annihilation, yet even so, I left a fair few fused blast doors in the wake of our passage.

I had long since contacted Alicka, asking her to retrieve Theta and Gamma teams, who, per one of my numerous contingencies, broke off from their holding routes and awaited extraction at RV Jenth when things first began going south. It was, thereby, an expected though unwelcome moment when static crackled in my earpiece and the squad net opened. "Penetration Actual, this is Ferry."

"Ferry, Penetration Actual. What's your situation?" I responded dutifully, all the while getting that feeling that came in hand with danger and disasters.

"Penetration Actual, passengers are secure, and I am on final approach to RV Qek. Over."

"Ferry, what's our extraction window?" I queried, hoping for one more piece of good news. It did not come.

"Zero-fife seconds if covert. Enemy has mobilized air assets and ground forces are converging on your current position. "

Ahead, barely six meters lay before us and one of the facility's civilian parking garages. Through the gaping doors, I could see the Kappa heading on a sweeping loop that would bring it alongside the portal just long enough for us to embark. Lifting my comm unit to my mouth I spoke, "Ferry, I have you on visual. You, and a Corsair-class fighter. Ferry, pull up!"

Knight Alicka's instincts were up to par. Even in a shuttle ill-suited for atmospheric manoeuvring, she was banking to the side and coming to bear on the hostile, instants before a missile tube lit up with an exiting warhead.

The shuttle was safe. The building wasn't.

When the floor stabilized and the dust cleared somewhat, I had time to assess the situation. Where once was the speeder garage, now gaped a crater that engulfed the two adjacent levels and spread for a significant distance to either side. To add to the peachy situation, my earpiece buzzed to life again.

"Boss? Are you alright? Respond!" It wasn't proper voice procedure, but then again, neither Alicka no I were in the mood for formalities.

"Everyone's alive. Now haul drives before you're blasted." I was, perhaps, too abrupt, but I could feel Alicka's desire to come around for another pass. The Kappa, however, was not designed for rapid extraction, and thus had to lower shields to let on passengers. With trigger-happy hostiles in the air, that was not a risk I was willing to take.

Alicka knew that too, but she was still determined to get us out. "Permission to engage hostiles?" she queried.

It took me less than a second of consideration to come up with an answer. "Negative, Ferry. Get back to Coruscant. I do not want to lose any people or assets on my first mission. We have another contingency."

A resigned sigh came through the comm, "Understood Penetration Actual. Returning to home."

The shuttle wheeled about and engaged the drive, powering hard for deep space. I followed it with a proud gaze, when it counted, my team followed my orders. The dark speck vanished, but then another took its place. As it approached, I could hear the roar of its drives, and identified it as corvette mass. Then, cresting an industrial complex across the square, it caught the glow from the other facility's floodlights. In the evening haze of the Tallani atmosphere, the bright red of the Republic Judiciary could be seen.

"Director Sunrider. This is Kol Vast, Aerial Deployment Divisions." A battle-worn voice cracked through my earpiece. "Stand by for extraction."

"Roger, stand by for extraction. You have perfect timing, Major."

Breathing a sigh of immense relief, I signed off, and, once sure I would not be heard, muttered under my breath, "That isn't a contingency I would rely on too often..."

Greetings all.

I have been away for approximately 4 months, a relatively long time, and for that I apologize. I have been on the wrong end of long update delays (some taking years) and fully feel the frustration.

The reasons for this hiatus - well, those that I am at liberty to speak of - are mostly thus:

• turmoil at my job • study • loss of confidence in this project - I re-read chapters 1 through 12, which made me feel that writing what, essentially, is an SI is not exactly what I should be doing as an "aspiring part-time author" • several distractions, including, to my shame, SWtOR • several literary (original fiction) side projects, and, finally • a serious planning spree.

As part of said planning spree, I have made decisions which will shake up the course of Young Jedi and hopefully turn it into a more reader-friendly and brain-friendly story.

For the near future, this is my writing agenda: Please note that the dates posted are the "worst-case" estemates, and I may be able to proceed ahead of schedule, though the "may" is a very tenuous one.

○ Upload chapter 20 for this story » around the 11th of May

○ Upload the epilogue for this story » around the end of May/start of June

○ Publish a a handful of short stories that have been sitting on the back burner for a while now » through June and possibly spilling into July

• And, the thing I hear most people wish to read: my Season Five fixfic will start hitting the web in mid-July, the 13th-14th if all goes according to plan.

○ Beyond that, I wish to re-write and update chapters 1 through 12 of this story, and go over the others in a clean-up capacity, though with my attention focused on SW:EiH, I give this a timeframe of Novenber-December at the earliest. Please bear with me on this point.

○ The second installment in the Young Jedi series has no timeframe set, as I may be too preoccupied to work on it in 2015, to quote Master Yoda, and one of my favourite lines, "Always in motion is the future, and may possible futures there are..."

That, I believe, covers it, so, let me retroactively wish everyone a Happy Easter, regret at not being able to post-or even finish-my April Fool's project, and wish you all a good [apply appropriate time of day here] and May the Fiction Be With You!

Clean word count: 4249 | Published: 1128, 28/04/14