Tales From The BBS

presents:

Sith Of The Outer Rim Project

By: Wurth skidder

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
It is one year after the marriage of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. The stabalizing New Republic has made a peace treaty with the Imperial Remnant. But among the celebration and happiness of destroying a major part of the remanent of the Empire, a new enemy will arise. A former rebel and two Imperial operatives will join forces and pose the biggest threat that the New Republic has ever seen.....

Chapter 1: Jorg Sacul

Jorg Sacul stood in his newly refurbished apartment on Coruscant. A million thoughts flew through his head,
and he had to think hard to concentrate. Just one week ago, his personal and hand-picked squadron of X-Wings,
Conqueror Squadron, had assisted greatly in the capture of the capital. No, it should not have been assisted, it should
have been lead. Admiral Ackbar is too confident in his pathetic Rogue Squadron. Blech! I was a better pilot than Antillies
could ever have dreamed of being, and he knows it. In the mission, Rogue Squadron had lead, a decision that Jorg wished
he could challenge. He knew his squadron was better. His top five pilots had all been recruited by Rogue Squadron's own
General Antillies, but they declined to fly for Conqueror Squadron. Most of Sacul's squadron was mad along with their leader.
I should be where Antillies is now. I flew in the Attack on the Death Star too. I survived by effective
maneuvering and hiding, not by runing. Jorg's thoughts trailed off into the vastness of space as his doorbell rang.
"Severty two, can you get that?" Jorg yelled to his protocol droid SV-RT2.
Jorg heard the door hiss open, and RT2 greet someone in his normal monotone voice. Jorg heard the footsteps
come up to his door, then Severty two. "Sir, there is an Elrond Smith here to see you."
"Bring him in," Jorg replied, tiredly. The door to Jorg's library opened and before it stood a tall man dressed
in a pair of beige pants, a white shirt, and a rough red jacket. The man reminded Jorg a lot of the legendary Han Solo,
attire and all. "Agent Elrond Smith of the Imperial Remnant Security, I take it," Jorg said, extending his hand.
"You got it," was Smith's short and crisp reply. "My boss back in Imperial space, tells me that you are interested
in defecting, and you have quite an interesting resume too."
"I guess you could say that."
"Ok. Listen to me. My leader brought me up to date on everything you are wanting to do. Switching the ownership
of the contract to make X-Wings from Incom Rehpiced Corp. to Sith of the Outer Rim will be awfully risky. It could move your
reputation here on Coruscant way down. I mean way down."
"I'm willing to take the risk. I also talked to my squadron, they're willing to follow me. You will have a whole X-wing
squadron at your disposal. The best one in the New Republic."
"But I thought Rogue Squa-"
"Do not say that word around me. I am sick of them and their lousy "We're better than you are" attitude," Jorg
snapped at the Imperial Agent.
"Ok, fine with me. I'll take your word for it. We could benefit from those guys being gone, they cause lots of
trouble in Imperial space."
An evil grin lit Sacul's face. "I'm in."

Admiral Ackbar was awoken by a blaring light from his specially modified comlink next to his bed. He picked it up
and switched it on, grogglily saying "Ackbar here."
"Sir," a frantic voice said. "This is General Wedge Antillies. A squadron of X-Wings has just attacked the Imperial
Center and destroyed the Senate building. And two bombs just went off at Incom Rehpiced Corporation too. Both places are
leveled."
"What in the name of the Force is the meaning of this?" Acbar questioned as he stepped out of bed and donned his
uniform over his nightclothes.
"And oh my gosh..." Wedge's voice trailed off.
"What is it General?"
"Hurry Admiral, turn on the Holonet, frequency 1138. It's Captain Sacul, our leader of Conqueror Squadron."
Ackbar walked over to the holonet projector situated in his living room and changed the frequency. The image
was blurry at first, but it soon came into focus.
"Are you there yet Admiral?"
"I'm there, and record this Antillies," Ackbar commanded as a picture of Captain Jorg Sacul filled the screen.
"Already done."
"Citizens of our lovely galaxy. I am here to announce to you today that I, Captain Jorg Sacul of Conqueror
Squadron, am seceding from the New Republic. My squadron is following with me. We are sick and tired of the Republic
and their nice little ways of pleasing the people. They have completely ignored the requests of their best vetrans, and..."
"By that I'm assuming he means himself," Wedge interjected.
"...paying too much attention to the people." Jorg finished. "So I am seceding. And along with me, I am cancelling
Incom Rehpiced Corporations manufacturing of all starships to the New Republic. I am now transferring it to Sith of the
Outer Rim. New Republic take note: now that I have also destroyed Incom Corp, you will have to buy all your starships
from SotOR. Thank you all and have a nice day." With that, Jorg's image flashed away, and the screen returned to whatever
was supposed to be on frequency 1138 before it was hacked into. Ackbar switched off the Holonet and sat down in a chair.
"Admiral, can he do that?" Wedge asked, stunned.
"Unfortunately, whether he can or not, we can't stop him..." Ackbar let his voice trail off.
"We are just rebuilding the Republic, and our starfighter support is short anyways. Now we must buy from
a corporation that he owns two thirds of. He will get all the profits and everything."
"You are correct, General. We have quite a dilemma on our hands"
"And his whole squadron left with him. There were some good pilots in that group. Who do you suppose he will join up with?"
"Knowing Sacul, he will most likely turn to the Hutts or the Empire for support."
"The latter sounds more likely to me," Wedge replied. "Sacul and the Empire, this is not good."
"General, what else did the Incom Rehpiced Corporation make, besides our starfighters."
"Well Admiral, I believe that Rehpiced made our whole data card system, holonet reciever cards, and sabacc and other card games. Is the fanatic trying to disconnect us from the rest of the galaxy?"
"Unfortunately Wedge, I think he is. If he succedes, he could section of the New Republic, leave us with
no reinforcement fleet wise, and then take us over in the air," Ackbar said.
"Admiral, I have a bad feeling about this..."
"So do I."

Thirteen X-Wings, one with a pecuilar Imperial marking, pulled out of hyperspace near Dubrillion in
Imperial Space. First contact came from the ground control.
"This is Imperial space, please identify yourselves."
"This is Agent Elrond Smith and the twelve with me are Conqueror Squadron from Coruscant."
"Agent Smith, please send code clearance."
"Clearance M13M15S772."
"You are clear to proceed, please follow your escort that will be with you shortly."
Within two minutes, three blips representing TIE fighters showed up on Elrond's radar. They soon were ahead
of the 13 X-Wings. "Captain Sacul, please have your mean follow formation."
"Can do," Sacul replied.
Soon the squadron plus one landed on a docking platform in the capital of Dubrillion. Smith opened the hatch
to his starfighter and climbed out, taking off his helmet. "Captain, please follow me inside." Jorg Sacul and his men walked into a dimly lit chamber and made several turns through the hallways. Soon they came to a door, which was promptly opened at their arrival. The room inside was bright, with deep red walls. There was a table in the middle of the room with a man seated behind it.
"Please be seated," he said, waving his arm towards the charis in the room. Jorg cautiously stepped forward and
took a seat next to Elrond. "It is nice to see you here, Captain Sacul. My agent here has told me much about you. And you
did make quite a presentation on the Holonet this morning. Very well done. I assume that Agent Smith has briefed you on your current situation with us."
"He has."
"Good. You will be leading your squadron, and will be part of our crew stationed onboard the Super Star
estroyer Anguish. You -"
"There's a super star destroyer left???" Jorg said.
"Well, yes, there is. You rebels don't know everything."
"May I ask you something?"
"Go ahead Captain, you are one of us now."
"Who are you exactally?"
"Well, I am exactally not going to tell you. As of now, you can call me Dork Force Rising. That will
be what you know me as. Until we see if we can really trust you."
"Ok, I understand."
"And one more thing. This Sith of the Outer Rim, they are stationed on Kryessia, near Gamorr, correct?"
"Yes."
"Tell me more about them."
"Well, they are a ship-building company lead by a swindler name Drahcir Garfield. He makes simple starships with
cost-cutting parts, likely to fail for the New Republic. And he also has a few... let's say friends with him too. They are sorta
ike Luke Skywalker, you know him?"
"Not personally, but all too well." Dork Force Rising grumbled.
"Anyway, they have two guys, they're Sith. Awfully good. Them and Drahcir, they make a great team."
"Thank you Captain. You and your men may go to your quarters." Jorg Sacul quickly got up and left, along with his
crew. That left Agent Smith. "Elrond... Go to Kryessia, get those Sith for us. I don't quite trust Sacul, and we will need their help."
"Understood Dork Force. I will leave first thing tomorrow."
"Very good, very good indeed."

Chapter 2: The Plan

Luke Skywalker walked down the dark, musty halls in the underground of Coruscant. Stretching out through the Focre, Luke could feel all the creatures hidden in every crack and crevice of the walkway. Luke soon approached a door, hidden from view and colored the same as the walls. He looked up at a hidden security camera, which then gave a beep of acknowledgement and the door opened.
The room he walked into was a great contrast to the halls outside of it. The room had a well-polished floor and and shiny table sitting in the center. It was well lit and the temperature was regulated. At the table, Admiral Ackbar was already seated, and Luke took a seat across from him.
"I take it you saw Captain Sacul's address on the Holonet yesterday," the Mon Calimarian said.
"Well, to tell the truth, Admiral, I didn't. Do you have a recording? I have heard much about it."
"General Antillies has a copy of the message, he said he will bring it with him." The door behind Luke then opened with a sharp hiss as Generals Antillies, Madine, and Rieekan walked in. Behind them was Mon Mothma, the sixth member of the meeting group.
"Is everyone here?" Luke asked.
"We are still missing one other, be patient Luke," Wedge said with a grin on his face.
"Who is it? Han and Leia are away, I can 't think of anyone else who we'd rather have here."
"A former Imperial. He was going to be a pilot, but dropped out of Flight School and became a mechanic instead. He knows all the ins and outs of thie Empire's craft, and he will help us prepare an attack strategy. Believe it or not, my friend, there are still some things we don't know about the Empire's machinery."
Another seven minutes passed, and light chatter filled the room. Admiral Ackbar glanced at his watch, and let out an unnoticeable sigh. Suddenly, the sound of blaster fire lept into the room, muffled by the door outside. Luke jumped up from his chair and took his lightsaber into his hand, awaiting trouble. He streched out into the Force for any signs of danger but felt none. The Jedi Master felt a presence outside in the dark hall, one human. Soon, Wedge was next to Luke, blaster ready, awaiting any surprises. The duracrete door hissed as it slowly opened.
Well, this can't be too bad if the camera likes him, Luke thought.
Wedge tensed as the door came open to its full capability and a two-meter tall man dressed in a black mechanic's uniform. Luke calmed down, recognizing that he was the last member of the meeting group.
"Darned varmints in the hallway, thought they were gonna kill me," the mechanic said.
"Ah, welcome DS-00-0 Flight School Drop Out-turned mechanic. As far as the granite slugs go, I doubt that they will harm you," General Crix Madine said with a chuckle.
"Oh, that's what they were?"
"Be seated, DS, please. We have important buissness to attend to."
"Okay, Mr. Ackbar," DS-00-0 said with a smile. As the mechanic took a seat next to Luke, Ackbar started.
"As you all know, our manufacturing company for X-Wings, Incom Corp., and their partners Rehpiced, have been put out of function due to the likes of Jorg Sacul. Rehpiced is still alive, but has been shut down, and Incom is mostly rubble now. By closing down Rehpiced, who makes our Holonet cards, data cards, and sabacc games, Sacul is trying to break us off from the rest of the galaxy."
"See, our pilots main pasttime is playing sabacc, and Rehpiced's version of the game. Now the new company manufacturing a new version of sabacc, Sith of the Outer Rim, is going to try to make us buy their game, their data and holonet cards, and their starships," Wedge said. "We just can't do that, and no sabacc could draw many of our squadrons into complete restlessness, with nothing to do. Amazing that such a simple game could cause quite a stir. Luke, do you have anything to say?"
"Well, yes. Sith of the -." Luke felt something poke his right arm. He turned ninty degrees to look into the face of DS-00-0. "Are you really the Jedi Luke Skywalker?" DS asked.
"Yes, now, as I was saying."
"Great to meet you!" DS said as he stuck out his hand. Trying to keep his cool, Luke shook his hand and continued. It isn't easy to put up with someone like him after three hours of sleep. "Sith of the Outer Rim are operated by Drahcir Garfield, who is under the influence of two Sith, one named Darth Namffor, the other named Darth Abugirae. Both have some how stayed hidden and unnoticed since the fall of Thrawn and Jorrus C'Boath. I propose that we make a strike at their station as soon as Incom is ready to produce X-Wings again."
"That should be within the month that they can begin production, but you know that the corporation would soon be under another attack," Rieekan said. "I suggest that we buy from Sith of th-"
"I will not help them in any form. They are not going to gain the support of the New Republic. I fear that Sacul has something hidden up his sleeve, and I think that it will deal with us being checked into buying from SOTOR," Luke strongly interjected.
"Well, Luke, I think that we should not wait until Incom is back up. I had Tycho run a check yesterday before he left for a short vacation, and we have 840 Incom X-Wings on hand, but only half are stationed on Coruscant or not working in a current. So we have 420 at our disposal, which is 35 squadrons. I think that will be suitable for now."
"Ok Wedge. Then what do you propose we do with our 35 squadrons?" Luke asked.
"I propose that we attack SOTOR as soon as possible. We must catch them off guard. I think that someone from the Empire will be there soon to talk with them, since we believe that is where Sacul is. I then think that we should send a spy onto one of the fleeing transports. Preferably someone high up in our ranks. We don't want many people to know about this."
"Oooo, ooo! I have a great idea for a spy!" DS-00-0 said, waving his arm in the air.
"And who would that be?" Madine said with a hint of skepticism.
"General Wampa Dan. He helped us out during the Dark Flame incident, and I think that he could again! He's on Hoth right now, I could contact him for you!"
"Um, what do you guys think?" Madine inquired.
"I'd be inclined to say no..." Wedge trailed off.
"What?!?! Wampa Dan would be great. He is fast enough to get onto Kryessia safely, then he could also take care of himself. He's quite a fighter you know. And he can be quiet too... I think. We'd just have to make sure that he was away from the Sith guys, not on the same ship, you know."
"Well, what do you think Admiral?" said Wedge.
"How about we take a vote," the mechanic said. A chorus of agreements came up around the room. "I guess that's a yes. I say yes, Wampa Dan should be our spy," DS-00-0 said.
"I'll second that, DS had some good reasoning," Wedge Antillies said.
"I think we need someone, should I say, smaller. So no to the Wampa," Mon Mothma said. The vote was now at 2-1 in favor of Dan.
"I'll follow Mon Mothma," was Madine's response.
"And so will I," Rieekan followed up.
"I must disagree with you three, send the Wampa," Jedi Master Luke Skywalker said. The vote was tied at 3-3, with Admiral Ackbar left to vote.
"And I will say that the Wampa should go to Kryessia."
"WHAT?!?! You gotta be joking Mr. Admiral. You gotta be. YOU agreed with ME?" DS-00-0 was estatic as he babbled on.
"So that settles it... Wampa Dan will go to Kryessia and get onboard one of their shuttles when they evacuate," Luke said.
"They will evacuated only if we succeed, remember that," Madine said to the Jedi Master.
"I understand, and I don't want to underestimate their defenses. Still I think that we can pull it off."
"Then DS-00-0, you will go get General Dan for us, will you not?" Ackbar asked.
"Sure will Admiral. I'll be back in less than 4 days, I hope."
"Then go, and good luck."

A lone black and red X-Wing, bearing the Imperial insignia, flew towards the wastes of Kryessia. Kryessia was three parsecs away from Gamorr. The planet was formerly a complete forest with a few large lakes, but, after being colonized, turned into a rocky, humid place. All indigenous life on Kryessia had died within the first few years after industry sprouted in the remote forests. Kryessia was now home to the starship company known only as Sith of the Outer Rim. They now controlled the entire planet, and had driven off all colonists.
It's a little sad. Agent Elrond Smith thought to himself. But there's nothing I can do about it. And I won't even be here long. They just did it because they have a job that they need to do too.
As Elrond neared Kryessian space, his comm unit blinked. He proptly pressed the receive button and the comm crackled to life.
"Unidentified fighter, this is Kryessian security. Please identify yourself."
Security, sure. More like Sith of the Outer Rim's super-tight security designed to keep everyone out. "This is Imperial Agent Elrond Smith, requesting permission to land. I am a partner of Captain Jorg Sacul, and I am here to see the leaders of SOTOR."
"Standby."
Why in the world would Sacul want to get involved with these guys. They'd have to be a problem a standard minute. That guy really makes me wonder.
"You say you are with Sacul?"
"Well, he's not with me, but he and I are partners in the Empire."
"Ah, so that's where he went after his little speech last week."
Arrrgggghhhhhh! I should have kept my mouth shut. Oh well, I would have had to tell them anyway how I was in the Empire and working with Jorg. What's done is done. "You got it smart one."
"Well, anyway, can you prove it. We don't let just anyone onto our planet, you know." Elrond was getting agitated at the obvious delay.
"How about after you let me down there, then I'll comm him and have him talk to you?"
"Uh, how about no. I'm under strict orders."
"How much do you want then, 20 thousand credits?"
"Are you trying to bribe me?"
"Well smart one, what does it look like?" Elrond said sarcastically.
"It looks like you're in trouble, my friend," came a voice that Agent Smith did not recognize. He looked at his sensor display to see a squadron of unidentified starfighters launching from the planet below.
Kryessia security. They're gonna try and kill me, I don't believe it. I'll have to teach them a thing or two. The twelve starfighters soon registered on Elrond's sensor as uglies with shields. They had a long body like an X-Wing and hexagonal wings like a TIE. This should be good, Agent Elrond Smith thought as the enemy neared.

Though he had dropped out of flight school early, DS-00-0 still knew how to fly, to an extent. As he approached the ice planet of Hoth, he went over in his mind how he was supposed to land. Slow during atmosphere entry, find flat ground, bring ship down parallel, drop landing gear at 5 meters to surface, ease down. "There, I think that I've got it," DS said to himself.
As he entered the atmosphere, the Lambada shuttle Lightfoot jerked to port, and DS-00-0 quickly countered. Soon he had the ship slowly descending to the icy ground below. Keep parallel, keep parallel, keep parallel. Lightfoot came down to fifteen meters above the ground when it was hit by a hard wind. The wind caught the bottom starboard wing, tipping the ship ominously.
"Woah! Calm down here..." The ship tilted back as another gust of wind hit the top wing. DS-00-0 looked down at his instrument panel, and panicked. 2.5 meters to the ground.
"Oh shoot, oh shoot," DS muttered. He quickly flipped a switch and the landing gear started grinding out, hitting the surface of the snow below. The ship jolted, but finally came down smooth. "Now I see why we were supposed to learn in flight school!" DS lowered the ramp and walked out into the cold of Hoth.
"Not much here, I'll have to try to find Wampa Dan now, with a pretty blind guess."
DS-00-0 opened up a heat sensor and looked for any signs. Suprisingly, there was one about 4 meters behind him, close to the vicinity of his ship.
"Ok, that's strange. I was just there and..." DS heard a low growl behind him. He unholstered his blaster and whirled around into a sea of white. He was promptly met by a large paw, swinging across open air at his face. DS pulled the trigger on his blaster, hitting the Wampa square in the stomach. It growled in agony, but continued its swing. The paw hit DS-00-0 in the face, sending him sprawling out onto the snow. His blaster slipped out of his hands and slid across the ice into a snow bank.
"Oh wonderful," DS-00-0 said through a mouthfull of snow. "Just spiffy." He rolled over in time to see the wampa charging him, bleeding from its wound. The Wampa was within five feet of the mechanic when he heard a soft whine. The wampa froze still, and then slowly toppled over, revealing yet another wampa behind it. But this wampa was different.
In place of an arm, there was a pulse rifle, which was just powering up from a shot it had taken. The wampa was tall, and...
"DAN!" DS-00-0 cried. "You just saved me."
"Ah, don't worry about it. He was just a wampa that, well, got in my way. I wanted to get rid of him anyway."
Brushing the snow off his suit, DS-00-0 stood up and retrieved his blaster.
"I'm here to ask a favor of you," DS said.
"Shoot."
"Well, you know Jorg Sacul?"
"Yeah."
"Did you see the whole incident with Incom?"
"Yep."
"Well, the high up guys at Coruscant want you to be a spy and help us find him." DS-00-0 then explained the whole happening of the meeting and why they needed the wampa. "You wanna do it?"
"Well, I guess. But I just cooked three taun-taun steaks. Lemme get those for the trip. You want one?"
"Uh, I'll pass," DS said, seemingly getting a little pale.
"Ok, I'll be right back."
"Hurry, cause we got a job to do."

Chapter 3: Mission to Kryessia

Agent Elrond Smith tensed as the squadron of Kryessian uglies neared. Twelve kilometers untill they hit, here goes. Eleven, ... ten. Elrond looked up out of his X-Wing's cockpit when the uglies were nine and a half kilometers away. The TIE-shaped wings of all twelves starships folded out, making them perpendicular to the body of the fighter.
This is new, Agent Smith thought with a grimace on his face. "R5, lock S-Foils into attack position." The astromech droid bleeped a short affirmative reply, then went about his other duties of inspecting and monitoring vital systems. The lead flight of four uglies was four kilometers away, just out of firing range.
Agent Elrond Smith flipped a switch on his piloting yoke, switching from lasers to his eight concussion missles. The lead ugly, which was designated as Kryessia 1, fired first. Four short bursts of energy came from the fighter's wings, forcing the Imperial Agent to snaproll to his left and break his missle lock. The four fighters followed after him, pouring on the fire. Elrond fired two missles into the nearest incoming group of uglies, the ones designated Kryessia 5 through 8. One missle was promptly destroyed by one ugly, but his wingmates were seemingly incompetent of doing the same. The second missle flew into two flight and exploded, disinegrating Kryessia 6, and igniting Kryessia 7 in flames. The flames of 7 quickly died out as the oxygen in the cockpit left, freezing the pilot.
Two down, ten to go. The four uglies behind Smith were closing in again as the agent dove towards the planet. Twelve bursts of laser followed him, most of which spattered against his rear shields. Elrond then flipped over his starfighter, heading straight into the lead group of uglies. His astromech beeped a nervous squeal, which Elrond ignored. Switching back to lasers, Agent Smith dotted the incoming craft with fire, taking down their extremly weak shields. One laser penetrated the bottom an ugly's X-wing nose, shattering the engine inside and sending the fighter into a wild roll towards a wingmate. Unaware of the imminent danger headed towards him, Kryessia 2 remained on his current course and was soon enveloped into a ball of flame as Kryessia 4 crashed.
The third flight of uglies was now upon Agent Elrond Smith, pouring laser fire into his shields. All eight remaining fighters convereged behind the lone X-Wing, greatly weakening the rear shields. "Arfive, open fire on them!" Elrond smiled. This was a little trick he had taught his astromech. The astromech opened up a compartment in his head, revealing what looked like an arc welder. But this was different. The welder was fitted with a device so that it shot a pure beam of electricity. The beam wouldn't destroy an ugly, but, with a well aimed shot, temporarily shut down all the ship's systems or just give the pilot a jolt. Five shots went out from the R5 unit, striking Kryessia 12's cockpit dashboard, shutting the whole thing down. Three other shots converged onto Kryessia 8, electrocuting the pilot and causing him to jerk, forcing the ship off course into the engines of Kryessia 11. The pilot of 11 ejected, and floated in his bubble that contained fifteen minutes of life support, towards the planet below. That's a new one, one I didn't teach him, Agent Elrond Smith thought, smiling. The smile that lit his face soon turned to a frown as one attacking fighter managed to get a shot into the X-Wing's shields while it was juking. The shields flickered, then came back online. Arfive sent a concerned series of notes though the inner-ship comm unit.
"I know, I know, they won't hold out much longer. We'll just have to try something new."
Arfive had been in too many of Agent Elrond Smith's "new maneuvers" and let out another concerned warble. The Imperial Agent just ignored it. Elrond flipped the fighter over and rolled to port, causing his stomach to roll, despite the internal compensators in his fighter. When his eyes focused again, he found himself less than two kilometers away from Kryessia 3. The ugly's pilot was stunned at Elrond pulling such a suicidal maneuver, causing his brain to not react to the danger around him. Agent Smith pulled back on the trigger on his yoke, and watched in surprise as two concussion missles screamed out of the nose of his X-Wing into the Ugly and its stunned pilot one kilometer away. The missles exploded, enveloping Kryessia 3 in a giant fireball. The blast came back at the X-Wing, slamming into it at full force and sending the fighter spinning out of control.
The internal compensators were once again of no use as Agent Elrond Smith and his fighter spun at breakneck speeds. The pilot nearly lost his lunch twice, as Arfive-Deethree screamed in disbelief. Elrond jerked on the piloting yoke, pulling himself out of the spin and nearly snapping his neck. I must've hit the weapons switch during that roll, darn it. I needed those. Red lights were blinking all through the fighter, signaling damage to most every part of the starship.
"Arfive, fix as much of that as you can, I'll try to stay away from the last five." The droid let out a bleep of confirmation and began working. Among the most vital of the damages, engines one and two were in the yellow, almost red, and the shields were shot. The hull had minor damages, but nothing Arfive couldn't fix. This is insane. I'll have to have a talk with Dork Force when I get home about him sending one person on a mission for six.
Twelve kilometers in front of him, Kryessias 1, 5, 9, and 10 converged into a new flight group. As they neared, the internal lights of Kryessia 12 flickered back on and the pilot, who had miraculously survived on the little bit of life support in his cabin, joined the fight. Elrond switched his now-armed lasers to quad fire and speckeled the incoming enemy with fire. Kryessia 9 's shields flickered and went out in a briallant blue flash. Smith then concentrated all fire on the shieldless fighter. Kryessia 9 rolled to starboard, but Elrond's reflexes were too fast as he disenigrated the Ugly with a short blast of laser.
I think I'm getting the hang of this. These last four are gonna be gone in under a minute, Elrond thought, now feeling cocky. "Hey Arfive, hold on back there, we're gonna pull the old Elrond Wonder that I used back at Borealis during takeover. Remember it?"
The droid let out yet another mournful tone as Agent Elrond Smith angled his fighter at a forty-five degree slant to the incoming fighters, easing the throttle up so that the X-Wing went as fast as possible. The dive placed him below the four Uglies, providing a perfect place to strike. The Agent switched to his four remaining concussion missles as he turned sharply back up, heading directly for the underbell of Kryessia 1.
"Arfive, code red oh-seven-one!" At the sound of the command that had been installed in the little astromech's circuitry years ago, Arfive verified the voice and opened the two extra angled missle tubes hidden in the belly of the X-Wing. Elrond Smith pulled the trigger and watched in joy as four missles, two of which had been hidden in the secret compartments, flew in at the confused and disoriented Uglies. The two concussion missles aimed forward hit Kryessia 1 hard, demolishing the X-Wing-like nose. One of the angled missles headed into the cockpit of Kryessia 10, sending the wings off in a spiral to the infinite expanse of space. The final missle hit the shields of Kryessia 5, killing them instantaneously. Then the front of the warhead detached right before explosion and hit the starfighter, sending a shower of sparks into Agent Elrond Smith's slowly regenerating shields. The nose of the dead ugly spiraled off and hit Kryessia 12, destroying the ship without a trace of it having ever exsisted.
"It's amazing, Arfive, how these pilots are clumsy enough to crash into each other," Elrond said with a laugh as he angled his X-Wing towards the planet below.

Agent Elrond Smith carefully landed his X-Wing in a deserted area of Kryessia's wasteland, among the jagged cliffs and caves. He opened the cockpit and climbed out into the warm, humid air of the wasted planet. Tree stumps littered the redish colored soil and there were patches of malnourished yellow grass scattered about. Elrond took off his flight helmet and put in the the cockpit before making his way towards the distant city kilometers away. He abruptly turned back around towards the fighter, and stopped to get a canteen of water.
"Arfive, stay here with the ship, I should be back by tomorrow morning." Arfive whistled an acknowledgement as Agent Elrond Smith headed towards the captial of Kryessia. After walking twenty-seven kilometers, Elrond sat down on a large rock to take a brief rest. He took a long drink from his canteen, then gazed off at the city. It was large, from what he could tell, with giant columns of smoke rising up from the largest of the buildings. The sky was an eerie orange/red, with some dark black clouds forming, indicating an incoming storm.
Better get moving if I want to beat the storm. Agent Elrond Smith got up from his makeshift seat and continued towards the main city on Kryessia. Four hours later, he reached the city, which was properly marked at the ouskirts as Abugirae. The clouds above Elrond grew darker by the minute, and more numerous too. Agent Smith finished off the water in his canteen and began to lightly jog into the interior of the town.
A loud crash filled the air as lightning struck just a few miles away. The wind picked up, blowing dust and red soil everywhere. The few pedestrians that were on the streats soon retreated to shelters. Agent Elrond Smith followed a small group dressed in black hooded robes. They came up to an old, beat up stone building and opened the door. Nothing inside was visible, just pitch black. Elrond followed the four people into the building, making sure to shut the door tightly behind him.
The room Agent Elrond Smith walked into was extremely dark, with a few glow lamps in corners, illuminating small tables with a dim green light. As his eyes adjusted, Elrond saw a small bar with a kitchen behind it. All around him were tables with beings, mostly humans, sitting at them. The people paid no attention to Agent Smith as he walked towards the bar. At the far end, if you could call it far, sat the four beings who had come into the diner before Elrond. Three were hunched over plates of some exotic food and the fourth was looking over his shoulder, scanning the crowd. The fourth strangly paid no attention to Elrond as he approached the stools. Agent Smith took a seat, leaving one between him and the four hooded people. He glanced in their direction, but they paid him no attention. Soon, a cook, with a greasy blue shirt came over to talk with Elrond.
"Welcome to my diner, the name's Putz, what can I do for you today?" the cook said.
"I'll have some of that, whatever it is he has," Agent Elrond Smith said, motioning to the hooded man closest to him. "And I'll have a Juri Juice too."
"We don't serve those kind of drinks here, don't you know that?"
"Sorry, I wasn't aware of that, I'm new here."
"A newbie! Well, how'd you manage to get onto this waste planet. And... why?" Putz inquired. Immediatly, Elrond realized that no one was supposed to come to or leave this planet. This could mean major trouble. Elrond thought. Let's just hope that those guys next to me aren't the local authorities.
"Uh, I just landed, came for an investigation for... MerSonn Corp. off of Corellia. We were, uh, interested in buying some of those ships you make here." Putz let out a big laugh, startling a pair of quarren at a table near the bar.
"You want to buy our ships? Well I'll be. And anyways, back to the conversation we were having. I don't sell intoxicants like Juri Juice, the local governor, if you would call him that, forbids them. He wants all his workers in tip-top shape, unhunh he does," Putz said, rolling his eyes.
"Who is this... governor?"
"You must know him if you are here to buy his ships. He's Drachir Garfield. I wouldn't call him a governor for two reasons though. One, he is more of a dictator, he wants something he gets it. And two," Putz leaned up closer to Agent Elrond Smith, to whisper whatever he was going to say. The smell of grease and marinades filled Elrond's nose. "... he's under the control of these Sith guys, they're the real ones in charge here."
"I see, thank you my friend," Elrond said, leaning back away from the cook.
"And here's your food, sir. Since your, well, new, I'll make this meal on the house. How's that sound?" Putz said with a huge smile, sliding a yellow fruit towards Elrond Smith.
"Thanks," Agent Elrond Smith said as he cut off a slice of the whatever it was. He took a bite as Putz walked back into the kitchen, preparing some sort of pastry dish. The fruit stung Elrond's senses. It was very sour, with a hint of sugar in it. Interesting, he thought. As he ate his meal, the hooded man closest too him tapped him on the shoulder. Elrond looked at him inquisitively.
"Mister, come with me. My name's Darth Zuckuss, and my boss want's to... talk with you. And please don't make me use force, I will," the man said with a harsh whisper.
"Um, it looks as if I have no choice, do I?" Agent Elrond Smith said, getting up and sliding away the plate in front of him.
"Let's go," Elrond said, unbuckling the strap on his blaster's holster and reaching down for the butt of the weapon.

Chapter 4: Introductions

DS-00-0, along with Wampa Dan, in the shuttle Lightfoot, landed on docking bay 247723SE on Coruscant. DS swivled around in his chair and yelled back into the cabin.
�Hey Dan! I�m ready to go when you are. I called Ackbar, he said he�d have everyone ready for a meeting in a room under the capital building.�
�Ok, I�ll be right there.� A loud crash sounded from the cabin of Lightfoot, causing DS-00-0 to jump.
�It�s ok, it was just a cargo case, no big deal,� Wampa Dan said. Soon he joined DS-00-0 in the cockpit and stopped. �My gosh, look at all that,� Dan said as he looked out the window.
�All what?� DS-00-0 responded. Dan raised a furry paw and pointed out the window at where the Senate building used to stand. �Oh, I see now. I guess I sorta got used to it. That�s what Jorg Sacul did, with just his squadron of X-Wings. All by complete surprise. And let me tell you, never believe a guy who says he�s going out on a training run at one o�clock in the morning!�
�Uh, sure. I don�t think I�ll ever be in that position, but sure,� Dan said. �Let�s get going.�
�My idea too.� DS-00-0 reached over and flipped a switch, sending a metalic click through all the doors in the shuttle. He got up from his chair and walked over to walkway door, lowering it. DS stepped down, followed by the Wampa, and then shut the door, making sure it was well sealed.
�First turbolift, floor 3. I�ll show you the way from there,� DS-00-0 said. The duo entered the lift, and then DS-00-0 pressed a button, begining the long descent.

Agent Elrond Smith was surrounded by the four cloaked men as he was led down a narrow hallway. He and his �captors� had left the diner, and then rather quickly went to a tall, smoky building. The interior of the building was dark, just like most of the other places on Kryessia. The hooded men then lead Elrond through a large number of doors, and then into the hall they were in currently. The hallway had multiple lights on each side, illuminating the walkway quite well. The contingent stopped at a door with a light shining from a window in it. The window was made of a transparisteel that obscured vision, allowing the viewer to see only blurs through the window. The men just stood there, surrounding Agent Elrond Smith all the while. They did not knock or do anything else. They just stood.
Finally the door opened, revealing a room beyond with a very eloquent desk and a large window overlooking some of the factory that Elrond had just passed through. The man in the chair was tall, from what the Imperial Agent could tell, with hard lines in his face and a gray goatee. He reminded Agent Elrond Smith vaguely of someone he had seen in holovids before, but the name escaped him. He followed the cloaked man in front of him, the one named Darth Zuckuss. Once again, Elrond reached down for his blaster, making sure that it was still there if worse came to worse. The other three men came in behind him, and then shut the door.
�Ah, it is nice to see that you made it without my men having to use any of their... tools,� the man at the desk said.
�Well, I�d agree it�s nice. I sure don�t want to be dead right now,� Agent Elrond Smith replied. He sensed something, something little, with his little bit of Force-sensitiveness. It felt as if one of the men behind him didn�t quite trust Elrond, suspecting him of doing something rash. Seeing that this probably wasn�t a good time to pull someting, Agent Smith inconspicuously tucked away is blaster.
�Away with the pleasantries, Mr. Smith, we need to talk,� the man said with surprising sterness. The four men who had flanked Elrond now backed away, all of them standing in a straight row behind him. �I don�t want to leave you out in the dark as to who we are and where we�re from, so I�ll begin the introductions. I am, what you would call the ruler here, Drachir Garfield. I run everything. All of everything. Nothing goes by without me overseeing it.�
�And who are these men standing behind me?� Agent Elrond Smith asked.
�Ah, them,� Drachir Garfield said with a wry grin. �They�re my assistants. They run the errands, they get who I want, when I want, and get rid of who I want, when I want. Why don�t you turn around and meet them?� Elrond turned around to see the four cloaked people, happy that he would finally know who these men were. The four now had their hoods down, revealing their somewhat grotesque features.
�The one on your far right is Darth Namffor. He is the leader of these group and their many similar friends who are not with us at the moment,� Garfield said. Dork Force had told Agent Elrond Smith about some of these men he might run into, and Namffor had been mentioned. From what Elrond remembered, Darth Namffor was a Sith. Namffor was a short human, with thick, deep black hair, closely cropped around his ears and neck. Namffor�s face made him look near his late thirties. The right side of his face was laden with scars. As best Elrond could tell, they were from multiple blaster shots. Now that his robe was pulled back, Agent Elrond Smith could easily see the metallic cylinder hanging at his belt, which was known all to well by many as a lightsaber.
�The next assistant of mine is Darth Me,� Drahcir Garfield said, motioning to the man standing next to Namffor. �He�s sorta a second in command, in our little line of Sith.� Darth Me was in his mid twenties, and at least a foot taller than his counterpart, Darth Namffor. His wavy brown hair lay atop his head in a mess, showing evidince of no grooming lately. At his belt hung a peculiar contraption. It was silver in color, like Darth Namffor�s lightsaber, but It appeared to be three of Namffor�s lightsabers. The three were welded together at one-hundred and twenty degree angels, so if you connected their ends, they formed a perfect triangle. The weapon looked cumbersome, but deadly nevertheless.
�The man next to him,� Garfield continued, not giving Elrond adequate time to study the previous person, �is DVD ROTS.� DVD ROTS was the shortest of the three so far, but by far the most muscular. He wore a black cape over a sleveless black shirt, which showed the contours of his strong body, making him far more intimidating then the rest. His head was shaved completely, and he had no facial hair whatsoever. At his waist was yet another lightsaber. This saber was all black, instead of the usual silver hilt, but was the same shape as was accustom to the weapon of a Jedi.
�And finally, we have Sithmaster3. He is third in command, hence the three in his name.� Sitmaster3 was a full two meters tall, and quite lanky. His blond hair was neatly cut at above the ears, and completly shaved below. Under his Dark Jedi-signature black cape, he wore a gray suit of light armor. The armor appeared strong enough to stop a few blaster shots, but Agent Elrond Smith tucked into the back of his mind to remember that appearances are often decieving. At his waist hung a lightsaber, whose hilt was at least six inches longer than the rest.
�Well, it�s nice to meet you all, but from the briefing I recieved from my boss, I heard that there was one of you named Darth..... was it Abugirae?� Agent Elrond Smith said. Immediatly the face of Darth Me turned bright red, but not as if he was embarassed. It was more of an angry red. He snapped a glare at DVD ROTS, who grinned lightly.
�That would be me,� Darth Me said, glaring once again at DVD. �My nice little counterpart here decided to make up names for who owned this place and ran everything. Of course, to get me back for something I did to him, which I won�t get into, he changed my name to something totally stupid.�
�Oh, I see,� Smith said, still not quite understanding these Jedi sorts. He had heard they were all serious, but then this trivial incident made him reconsider. �Well, you know me, I know you, and you haven�t killed me yet, I guess this is a good start.�
�I would say that. Most people don�t make it this far in my place without and invitation,� Drahcir Garfield said. �Now, tell me why you are here, before we have to add you to my little growing list of people who barged in univited.�
Agent Elrond Smith, seeing that he had no choice, told Garfield about the incident with Jorg Sacul, making sure to fabricate and make up details as he went along. He couldn�t give them too much.
�So you know Sacul. And he�s the only one ahead of me. Guess that means you can�t kill him, Namffor.�
�Well that�s awfully comforting you guys. I have the backing of the only one better than you, so I get to live. I must be real lucky,� Elrond said sarcastically.
�Yes you are, but don�t push you luck,� Drahcir said, narrowing his eyes at the Imperial Agent. �Now, since you were sent here by Sacul, we need to show you around, there are many surprises here that might kindle your interests. We are hoping to use much of what we do here against the New Republic, and since you are up high in the Imperial Food Chain, you�ll need to know what�s going on. Lemme give you a quick overview before I give you a tour of the place.�
�First off, we�re here, as you know, making pretty much faulty ships for the New Republic. You know all this, so I�ll make this even breifer and cut to the chase. Our ships are much like the ones that were accidentally sent after you. Which reminds me,� Garfield said, turning and facing DVD ROTS. �DVD, go have whoever was in charge of docking when Mr. Smith here landed exterminated, we need someone less trigger happy. Feel free to get anyone to replace him you want, but you�re accountable if they fail.�
�Yes sir,� DVD ROTS said, turning away from the group and quickly exiting the room.
�Now back to what I was saying. Just in case Incom would try to rebuild and make X-Wings, we have set up a vast mine field underneath their little operation without them knowing. So as soon as they start making ships, the whole place goes boom,� Garfield said with a smile. As a little picker-uper, we have an army of Sith being trained here. They are by no means full Sith warriors, but they have some Force abilities, and can use a lightsaber. They should give those New Republic Jedi a nice challenge. So when the fleet of the New Republic is weakened because they can�t get new ships, unless they�re from us, we�ll bring in a ground force so strong, they�ll never know what hit them. We should be able to take Borealis easily. Then Borealis gives us a nice staging ground towards Coruscant, the rest is self-explanatory.�
�Ah ha. Very good,� Agent Elrond Smith said, with a smile that beat any of Garfield�s by far. �Now let�s see the intricate details of how we will crush the Republic once again.�

Chapter 5: Wampa Dan, Master Spy

DS-00-0 whipped out his blaster and let off two quick shots, burning holes into the musty walls around him. A large, geletanous form dropped from one of the holes and began to slowly crawl away along the floor, leaving behind a silvery trail of slime. DS-00-0 aimed carefully and shot the creature, leaving a burned spot where it used to be.
�I hate granite slugs.....� DS-00-0 trailed off.
�I noticed,� Wampa Dan said, looking at his counterpart curiously. �You know, they won�t hurt you.�
�I know, I know.� DS-00-0 led his companion to a semi-hidden door at the end of the hallway, and then looked up at the ceiling and the hidden camera. A little red light flashed, reading his retina, and then acknowledged him. The door opened with a muffled whoosh and DS stepped into the bright lights inside. As Dan tried to follow him, alarms went off all around the door. Hidden cannon emplacements opened up, and the camera began screeching. A mechanical voice yelled �Intrueder! Intruder!� and let off a loud siren. The door slammed shut before the stunned Wampa could do anything.
DS-00-0 and the everyone inside the room, which was a small total of Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antillies, and Admiral Ackbar, got up and ran to the door. Before they got there, blasterfire started outside, and multiple pings were heard from shots hitting the metal door. Luke drew his lightsaber and pressed the OPEN button on the door. Immediatly, a voice came on and said to the Jedi, �Sorry, sir, but we are under a lockdown. An intruder has tried to enter this room without proper identification. Please wait until he is exterminated.� A loud blast sounded outside the door, and then a huge explosion. One alarm quit screeching, but the camera made up for the difference.
�Luke, you�ll need the access code!� Admiral Ackbar said, hurrying to get to the door. �Punch in oh two three three seven oh four six eight one oh!�
�And hurry! Dan�s good, but I don�t think that he can hold up much longer!� DS-00-0 yelled over the noise. Luke nervously began to enter the numbers into the controls as the blasterfire outside lessened. The door said �Very well sir, you may exit, though the situation is still a little dangerous.� Another shot was heard outside the door, then silence. After what seemed to DS-00-0 to be ages, the door opened to reveal the grim sight outside.

Jorg Sacul awoke in his room, shivering. His room was spacious, but very cold. The controls to the thermostat were broken, and repeadtedly Dork Force Rising had told him that they would be fixed soon. He had been on Dubrillion for nearly a week now, but had done absolutly nothing. He had gone out and taken training runs with his squadron at least once a day, but they didn�t need training runs, they were way past that stage of piloting. Suddenly a tone rang out from Sacul�s nightstand, jolting him. No one ever raised him. He flipped the switch and a hologram filled his nightstand.
�Ah, nice to see that you are awake,� Dork Force Rising said.
�Good morning to you, sir.�
�I trust that you are finding things comfortable, no?�
�Sure,� Sacul lied.
�Well then, I�d like to see you in my office, in fifteen Gamorrean minutes. I have a new assignment for you.�
�I�ll be there,� Jorg Sacul replied. Gammorean minutes??? Why not standard? Jorg switched off the holo transmitter and pulled out his datapad. He opened a time converter and entered 15 Gammorean minutes, then hit the CONVERT button. A little mechanical voice rang out. 15 Gammorean minutes is equal to..... twelve standard seconds.
�WHAT???� Sacul cried as he slipped on a uniform over his night clothes. �You�ve got to be kidding me.� Sacul put on a pair of shoes, and took off out the door, slamming it behind him.

The hallway was a charred black, with multiple potholes in the walls from blaster cannons. In the spaces where most of the blaster cannons had been, there were now smoking burn marks. There were at least half a dozen granite slugs dead on the floor. But in the midsts of it all, the only survivor of the battle stood tall, checking himself for unknown injuries.
�Wha... Dan, how�d you do that? I mean, there were dozens of �em, and you...� DS-00-0 stumbled.
�Eh, they�re just blaster cannons, I�ve faced worse,� Wampa Dan said, grinning. Parts of his brilliant white fur were blackened, but he had no serious wounds. �Now, can I enter. I shot that annoying camera too, just in case. I am really beginning to like this pulse rifle.�
�Sure, come on in. We�ll have to add you to the list of �acceptable guests.�� Luke Skywalker said. �Let us explain to you what the whole idea here is, we�ve changed a few things.�
�Go ahead.�
�Well, I take it you are familiar with the Sacul incident, correct?� Wampa Dan nodded. �Well, the company he set up to make starfighters for us, Sith of the Outer Rim, doesn�t make good ships. We will be forced into defending ourselves with the few snubfighters and capitals we currently have, or buy them all from SOTOR. If we buy them from SOTOR, more pilots will die due to the faulty design, and make us look like the Empire, not caring at all about our people.
�So we have devised a plan to take out SOTOR, and hopefully find Jorg Sacul and bring him to justice. We were advised by your friend here,� Luke said, motioning to DS-00-0, �that you would be a good person, er, spy to send down to Kryessia to help us. And this is where the change of plans comes in. We are going to attack in three standard days, and when we do, Dan, you�ll lead our ground forces. But, when either side retreats, we can�t afford to say we�ll win yet, you will stay. Hopefully, we are correct in thinking that if we do enough damage, SOTOR will leave the planet. At that time, I wan�t you to sneak onboard one of the escape shuttles, preferrabally one with the high-ranking officals aboard. Then, when you land, send us a transmission with this.� Luke handed the Wampa a very small, shiny comlink.
�This can hook right under your fur, and it will be unnoticable. And most likely, the transmission will not be picked up or noticed either. Then when you tell us where you are, we will come and smash Sacul. We are thinking SOTOR will run to him. DS-00-0 has spoken very highly of your abilities, and belives that you would be perfect for this job.�
�Perfect for this???� Wampa Dan said, looking at DS.
�Uh, I thought so,� DS said uncertainly. Wampa Dan faced Ackbar, Luke, and Wedge again.
�You got yourselves a deal. When do I leave?� Dan said, smiling. Or at least to the best extent a Wampa can smile.