The planning discussion can be found here.

Saevita awoke from a pleasant nightmare and turned onto her side, letting her other senses awaken before her Sight. She yawned, stretched, and was about to wonder what it was that had awakened her when she heard it – a soft knocking on the door of her quarters. A handmaiden or servant, probably – Luke didn't knock that soft, or he would just barge in.

She sighed gently, wanting to return to dreamland where blood and torn flesh awaited her, but she sensed it was important. "Hold on a moment," she called, climbing from the huge bed. Dressing to hide her Sith tattoos and the amulet that had served her so well, she took up her staff and opened the door.

"Sorry to wake you," spoke the unremarkable servantwoman, bowing low. "King Tymen's monthly meeting is in half an hour. He requests your presence, and that of your apprentice."

A meeting… Saevita smiled. Perfect opportunities just couldn't come any faster. "Of course I will attend. It would be my greatest honor."

The servant bowed and departed. When she was gone, Saevita crossed the spacious suite and flung open Luke's door.

Luke Halcyon bolted awake, his lightsaber flying into his hands. Then his eyes cleared and it regestered on him that it was her. "Damn it, Saevita."

"Get up, Luke, and at least try to make yourself presentable."

"Ugh…" He raked his fingers through his hair as he slid out of bed. "You're grinning already. Whatever has you so happy cannot be good."

"Today, Darth Saevita will teach Luke Halcyon how a true Sith works." She flashed him another grin, stressing his full name to emphasize his pathetic lack of a Sith title.

"Well, of course," he replied, scowling. "You've been a Sith for so long. I can see how you would be such an expert."

She left his quarters, laughing.


The meeting was held in Tymen's throne moon, many plush, cushioned chairs arranged in a half-circle to face the throne. Though still feigning injury, Saevita refused a chair and stood instead by one of the room's massive windows that overlooked the main street of Theed. Luke stood beside her, watchful, interested in what disaster Saevita would cause today.

The King's staff filed in casually, chatting with one another, all robed handsomely. There were advisors, the higher-ups of the household staff, Captain Joryn of the House Guard, prominent citizens of Theed, and others who existed only to see that Tymen's every order was carried out.

Saevita immediately spotted Tymen's chief advisor, Ralan Mahk, and she smiled to herself. She would take her chance today and make her first move – Mahk would leave here stripped of all title, herself in his chair. It would be a sure foothold to taking Naboo. Sythis would love her for it.

Most officials had seated themselves to chat, Mahk in the chair closet to the throne, but when the grand doors opened to admit King Tymen, they all stood. They had been in high spirits, laughing, eager, but when Tymen stepped in, needing to be supported by two of his royal guards, a frightened hush fell over the court.

The King looked ill, his face gaunt, the skin around his eyes swollen and red. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin pale, so every purple-blue vein seemed to stand out. He supported his own weight, though his guards seemed to steer him. He made no eye contact with anyone as he hobbled to his throne, but just before he sat, he turned and fixed Saevita with a stare so strong, so Dark, that it made her gasp. Whispers filled her mind, a cold wind. She felt Nihilus' stare in those eyes, and, leaning on her staff, she bowed low enough to hurt.

"Your Majesty!" Mahk was the first to speak, his eyes wide. Everyone was too shocked to move to speak. "Your Majesty, you do not look like you should be here!"

Tymen's voice was not entirely his own. "I feel fine, Ralan. A brief fever struck me in the night, but I've been tended to, and believe me – I am quite well."

Others slowly sat, casting sidelong glances to one another, but Mahk remained standing. "My Lord, these are not pressing matters. They can wait another week, or –"

"They can begin now." Tymen sat back in his throne.

Saevita was grinning. The Dark Side was hungry in him. He radiated with Nihilus' power, but only she and Luke could feel it.

Everyone was quiet for a moment as something cold slithered through the chests of those at court: fear, a fear they had never felt before. Fear of their own King.

Mahk sat, and Saevita watched him closely. Unease, concern… This man seemed to really care for his King. It was going to hurt him pretty bad when he lost his job and his title.

One of the city's cultural advisors mustered the courage to suggest the first issue at hand. It wasn't anything important – funding for so-and-so's statue in honor of someone's tenth anniversary something-or-other – so Saevita didn't pay much attention. Her eyeless face, hidden respectfully beneath her overhanging hood, was always facing the King, but her sight was focused on the people out on the street far below. They looked like colorful, scurrying insects. She wondered if Sythis would let her venture into the city and crush a few of them. I'll string them up by their eyelids, play with them a bit, and then crush them.

The next couple matters brought up involved budget plans for the House, a structural issue with a new housing development not far from Theed, civilian protests of a new tax on certain art and goods.

Saevita sighed inwardly. With these petty issues, there was nothing for her to move in on. I need to contact my master and tell him Naboo is lovely for a vacation spot, but it's boring as hell… And she could sense it in Tymen. Nihilus was lying beneath the surface, hungry and wanting.

It only took another few minutes before Tymen surprised Saevita. And not just her, but everyone in the room.

Ralan Mahk had been in the middle of a report. "…I had received a call last week from a small town on the edge of Bell Ridge. A lot of locals there are farmers, and their crops are suffering due to what they think is illegal dumping into the river to the north. They're requesting we send someone to test the water and find the dump site. With your usual permission, my Lord, I'll tell them that we're going to send out a team and then–"

King Tymen raised a hand so abruptly that Mahk looked like he'd been slapped as he fell silent. The room became absolutely quiet, and then Tymen drummed his fingers on his throne. "I con't care about such petty problems as dirty water. There is something more pressing here."

Everyone froze. Even Saevita, though she was a little more delighted than the others in the room. No one knew what to say or do. No one moved. Then Captain Joryn stood slowly, squaring his shoulders. "There is a larger issue at hand, your Majesty. It's a matter of security, mainly here at your palace."

Target acquired, Saevita thought. She and Luke exchanged glances.

Yet Tymen sat back. "Security is not an issue."

"Forgive me, my Lord, but I fear it may be." Joryn shook his head, standing tall and militaristic. "I've been noticing that our numbers in the palace have been thinning, our men posted elsewhere, outside the palace walls. I think thinning the palace guard will be dangerous in the long run. As of now, we cannot afford for our security to lack."

"My security does not lack," the king responded. His eyes flashed with a cold light. "Adena Tadrro, come here."

Bracing herself on her staff, she answered his summons and limped to his throne, stopping on the first step of the raised dais and bowing low to him. "My Lord."

The King nodded. "Tell them about your security check, Master Jedi."

She was prepared to give an answer. "I haven't seen much better security than this." She addressed the court and Joryn with an intense gaze they felt rather than saw. "I was ordered to make rounds last night and see what I could see with a Jedi's eye, no pun intended."

Joryn studied her, looking surprised. "And you liked what you saw, Master Jedi?"

She nodded, leaning on her staff. "I've seen far more sloppy security work in places that required much more. From records and data I looked over, your planetary defenses seem very adequate, and your palace guard more than able to handle threats."

Joryn slowly frowned at that, addressing his king. "My Lord, I beg to differ on only one or two points."

To everyone's surprise, Tymen fixed his possessed gaze on Saevita. "It's your call, Miss Tadrro."

Saevita smiled and bowed her head, pleasantly surprised at his gift of power over the court in decision-making that rivaled his own.  "As you see fit, my Lord. Captain Joryn, I will hear what you have to say."

He looked confused then, puzzled as to why he should answer to a guest of the house rather than his king. "My Lord… Master Jedi, you have wisdom of things none of us here understand, but I have made it my life's work to understand matters of security – most importantly, of this house."

Tymen scowled. "Out with it, Captain."

Now, Joryn looked just plain shocked. No doubt Tymen had never been so curt with him. "It's… It's the royal guard, my Lord, Master Jedi. And our military forces. I fear as of late that we are spread too thin. Patrols used to fill the corridors, all your royal guards, and lately, there have been so few. So many of our men are out there, in the surrounding city and towns, that if something were to happen here within these walls, I am not sure we would have adequate protection to hold our ground, and it would take some time to reclaim our forces from outlying towns."

Saevita held her tongue. Joryn had seen the same flaws she had seen. She expected he would, but hoped he hadn't. The last thing she and Luke needed was more palace security.

Tymen sat in silence, then frowned. "What do you propose we do, Captain?"

"Recall some of the guard and soldiers now, re-station them at the palace. It's the sure way to keep the Theed Palace safe."

The King considered this, slowly drumming his nails on the arm of his throne. Then he gestured for Saevita. "It's your call," he said again.

"My Lord," Ralan Mahk said slowly, standing. "We all respect Miss Tadrro's opinion, but Captain Joryn has been this palace's security officer for–"

"When I want your advice, Ralan, I will order you to give it." Tymen's voice was a snarl. "Seat yourself and let our guest speak."

Mahk fell into his seat as quickly as if someone had kicked out the back of his knees. His face was turning red.

"On the contrary," Saevita began gently, carefully choosing her every word. "I feel that having more security outside the palace should prove much better in the long run. My Lord, in the last several decades, threats to your sovereignty and the sovereignty of Kings and Queens past have always come from outside. The integrity of your staff and your court has never allowed room for an inside threat. Strengthening your weaknesses is what security is all about."

Captain Joryn shook his head. "My Lord, please. I would not give you false information. We need more men here – my first priority is your safety."

Mahk somehow managed to find the courage in him to get back to his feet. "My Lord, please forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I must agree with Captain Joryn. He has never failed this house, and he knows the palace. I give Miss Tadrro all respect when I say that we cannot simply assume her word as gospel when we have a contradicting opinion here from a man who spent his life serving you."

Tymen's face was like an incoming storm cloud. "Tread softly, Ralan! You insult my invited guest."

"I am only trying to speak with your best interests in mind, my Lord!" He looked flustered. "We all do!"

"This Jedi," Tymen snarled, "is a woman I requested, who was sent here for the sole purpose of ensuring my safety! Now that she has done the initial task that I appointed her, will I allow you to disregard it?"

By now, the whole court was bewildered, casting frightened glances at one another and not daring to speak a word. Tymen had never raised his voice to any of them.

Mahk was trying hard, bless his heart. "My Lord, you are not yourself today. You are ill. You instated me as your advisor – let me advise you today. You are not well. You must rest. We can put this matter aside for a couple days and continue when you're all better."

Saevita scowled. Inwardly, she grinned – he couldn't have set himself up better – but outwardly, she scowled. "You would put the very security of your King on hold? Is this the duty you have sworn to?"

"Do not challenge my loyalty, Master Jedi!"

Tymen pounded a fist on the arm of this throne. "Do not raise your voice to my guest, Ralan!"

"My Lord, please!" Mahk was pretty much begging. "You are not yourself! I will see to this matter myself and give orders, if I must!"

Slowly, Saevita turned and gracefully ascended the dais on which the king sat. She knelt beside the arm of his throne and lay a hand on Tymen's arm. Her voice was soft, sensual, gentle. "My Lord, listen to his words. In his age, he has grown bold. Power hungry. He wishes your very safety put on hold, and to make your decisions for you. I sense a grave threat to your throne, my King. Action must be taken."

"She feeds you lies!" Mahk shouted, advancing towards the throne. "She does not speak the truth! She seeks to supplant me! Perhaps even you!"

"That is enough!"

Tymen's bellow seemed to shake the very foundations of the palace. He rose to his feet, drew himself to his full height, and raised a shaking hand at his advisor, who froze mid-stride. "You insult my guest, you speak out of turn, you defy my orders, and now you seek to overthrow me! Captain Joryn, guards, arrest him for treason against this throne and this House!"

Joryn hesitated, looking shocked. As equally shocked as Mahk, perhaps. Then he started towards the old man, the guards in attendance swooping down, and Mahk was in binders, screaming. "My Lord, you can't do this! I am no threat!"

"Adena," Tymen snarled, "strip him of his rank and title."

It took a minute for her to understand. On Mahk's chest was a small, elegant medallion that marked his position. She reached out a hand and used the Force to tear it from his robes, tearing a chunk of fabric with it as it arched through the air and into her slender fingers.

Mahk was shouting as they dragged him away. "I have only ever been loyal to this house! I serve you, my Lord! Tymen, no!"

The doors slammed shut behind them.

The echo of the doors was the only sound. No one else dared move. Then Tymen suddenly collapsed, his legs buckling and dumping him unceremoniously into his throne. Gasps sounded as people rose from their seats. Saevita waved them back, then knelt at the king's side, lay a hand on his cheek, and turned his face to hers. "My Lord? King Tymen?"

He gave a shuddering breath, trembling.

Reaching out, she felt Nihilus' overwhelming presence. Lying a hand on his chest, she forced the spirit of the Sith Lord down. Not to much, my Lord! she thought to Nihilus. You could do him harm! Calm and release him…

Like a predator slowly releasing prey from its jaws, she felt Nihilus relax, submit. Tymen gave a shuddering breath, sweat on his forehead, exhausted.

"Master Jedi, please!" Hurrying forward was a member of the medical staff. "He's getting worse! I must take him!"

Saevita knew the King's state of health and that he was just fine, all things considered, but she didn't speak it. As the nurse called her medical staff, she leaned close to Tymen and whispered, "Name me. My Lord, name me!" She pressed the medallion into his hand.

The King of Naboo stared at her, blinking his glassy eyes, before reaching up in a daze and pinning the medallion to the front of her robes. "Take my seat when I cannot," he croaked, in a daze, before the nurses came running and ushered Tymen away.

The rest of the court looked as though they believed nothing they had just witnessed could've actually transpired. They stared at the door through which first, their advisor had been led away, arrested, and then where their king had been ushered, stricken with an illness only the Sith understood.

Slowly, Saevita straightened. The medallion flashed against her robes. Then, smoothing her Jedi's tunic, she eased herself into the King's throne, feeling it conform to her body. She nestled in deep and the court turned slowly to look at her.

But she smiled – she had a gorgeous smile, and she knew just how to use it. "My new friends and aides, our King is in good hands, I assure you. I hope you will acknowledge our King's wishes by permitting me to give you orders. I will not presume to have our Lord's power or knowledge, so I hope you will agree with me when I suggest that my first orders to you will be to resume your daily duties, continue on with your day, and prepare to present any remaining issues we've not discussed at a meeting our King or myself will announce this coming week."

It was agreed. Without a word, everyone in the court filed out, lost in amazement at the morning's events. Only Saevita and Luke were left, and Saevita turned in the throne, kicking one leg over the arm of the great chair. "Damn, this thing is comfortable."

Luke sighed, standing before her. "You know, I'm almost surprised you got away with that."

"Well, since you have neither looks or brains, it's up to me to use both and succeed."

"Har har." He folded his arms. "What now, Senior Advisor Tadrro?"

She smiled sweetly. "I have a call to make."


Yawning, Saevita dropped onto the couch in their suite and kicked up her booted feet, then punched in the contact code she'd been ordered to use. It took half an eternity for Lord Sythis to answer, his stern face and cruel eyes surveying her immediately. "Ah, my Apprentice. You look… comfortable. I sure hope you're making better use of yourself than that."

She sighed. "Master, it's lovely to see you, too." She continued before he could speak. "I'll have you know that I am taking a moment to relax because getting Tymen's top advisor arrested was tough work…"

"Arrested?" Sythis began to smile. "So soon?"

"Well, with Tymen under my sway, pretty much anything can happen with a snap of my fingers."

He laughed then, one of the rare times she'd ever heard him. "Well done, Apprentice! I am greatly pleased!"

"So when do I get to see you?" she asked with a smirk. "I miss you…"

He shook his head, but was actually in high enough spirits not to rebuke her. "I will contact you about my impending arrival soon enough, Apprentice. You have done very well."

"Forgive me, Master, but I have a reward in mind."

At that, Sythis' eyes narrowed into cold slits. "You presume too much, Saevita."

She chuckled. "On the contrary, Master… I think you might like what I have to say. I'll tell you when you arrive."

"Be alert for my call, Apprentice." Sythis smiled. "Again, you've done well. For the Sith."

"For the good of the Sith, my Lord and Master."

She smiled as Darth Sythis's stoic face vanished.

Re: The Return of the Sith

Dawn was almost upon Theed as Luke looked out over the sprawling city.  The Sun was coming to banish the night, bringing with it hope that light will overcome darkness.  Good will prevail against evil, and all will be right with the universe.  He looked out over the city square as the honey colored light revealed the landscape ever so slowly, creeping towards the castle where Luke leaned against one of the many marble balconies.  Luke knew that it was never as clear-cut and simple as that, he’d been on both sides of the line, and crossed over it more than a few times.  That line blurred and faded the closer you got, till you didn’t know which side you were on.  One day you just wake up and you see the results of your choices, cause you’ll look behind you and the line will be perfectly clear.  That day happened for Luke the day he merged with Venomous.  He saw everything he’d done as Venomous, and the actions he’d taken to create his alter-ego.  Repressing the memories of his family’s murders, denying his love for Jaide, and giving up on everything that ever mattered in life.  Taking the easy path, not because he didn’t know the right one.  No, he always knew without a doubt what was the right path, but he never took it because it was just…too…hard.

Leaning there, breathing in the air, the mists from the nearby waterfall adding a hint of crispness to the spring morning, Luke wondered what his life might have been if he’d done things differently.  If he hadn’t been so greedy as to get mixed up with Black Sun who put the bounty on his head, Jaide and their daughter might still be alive.  He knew that Kabal’s vendetta with him was more then just a bounty, but that’s what let him know where Luke was after 12 years.  What if he had stayed with the fellowship and trained more under Corran?  He might have been better prepared for Kabal.  What if he’d never turned to the dark side and just died on Corellia?  Maybe he was supposed to?  Then Saevita wouldn’t exist and poor Niobe wouldn’t be training under that sadistic bitch Sivan, having her innocence and any kindness in her heart being stripped away layer by layer until only a cold hard core of rage and hatred remained.  He shut his eyes at the thought.  He’d brought them to Sythis, he’d pushed them towards the dark side.  Sythis may have finished the job, but it was Luke that had laid the groundwork.  For that alone he should be held accountable, but not before he tried to make things right, he only hoped that he had the power to do so.  

He looked to the sunrise which was starting to creep up the side of the castle as the sun continued its revealing journey into the heavens.  Such a beautiful spectacle, Luke tried to savor it, and draw some comfort from it, but found none.  He could only think of how much Jaide would have loved the view.  For a brief moment he allowed himself to imagine her there cuddling up to him on the balcony, and settling her head in the crook of his neck.  A single tear fell along his cheek, as he had to remind himself that not only would it never happen, but also that it couldn’t.  Jaide was dead, and along with her a piece of Luke’s heart.  He wondered if it would always hurt this much.  If songs and sunrises and the smell of blue milk and banana pancakes in the morning would always have a hint of sadness attached to them now.  Maybe he would never find out the answer.  It was hard to imagine a different life then the one he was in.  A life in the future, filled with love and happiness.  Luke couldn’t even remember the last time he had been happy.  Just a vague image of what seemed like three lifetimes ago before Jedi and Sith, when it was just him and Jaide.  Maybe he didn’t deserve that again, in fact he was pretty sure that he didn’t, but that didn’t stop him from wanting it.  Which made it that much worse.

Luke knew these thoughts weren’t healthy, and they certainly did not help his mission to destroy the Sith from within.  Then again neither did being up at 5am to watch the sunrise, but that really wasn’t his choice.  For the last week, after the long day of bureaucratic events and audiences, standing by Saevita’s side like a good “apprentice”, he had been plagued by nightmares.  Images of hitting Rax with the force orb, of  seducing Niobe to think it was ok to explore the dark side, battling Adena, cutting down the Jedi students, watching his frozen daughter fall from Kabal’s hold, and Jaide’s last words of “Please Luke, you are our only hope.” He would wake up with these reminders of the horrible things he’d done, and the ones he failed to prevent.  He had rewatched the murder of his master from 10 years ago.  Seen the look of horror and revulsion on Adena’s face as he had raped her.  He swallowed reflectively trying to get the bad taste of that image out of his mind.  It made him question what kind of man he was to have had the potential to do these things inside him for so long.  When the darkness was released, he let it envelope him, and embraced it totally.  When Luke thought about how he’d explain his actions when the time came, he thought about telling them that it wasn’t him.  That he hadn’t been in control, and that he’d reformed.  He knew in his heart that it was a lie.  At some instinctual level he’d enjoyed it.  Every dream he had the same face, that same satisfied smirk, or a sly grin telling all who saw it that he was having fun.  FUN!  Raping, killing, what kind of person enjoys that?  “I do” he reminded himself, as he looked to the stone cold floor.  The power coursing through his veins, people afraid of him, it was exhilarating.  It felt good to be that much in control of your own destiny.  “Do I even deserve redemption? If I do manage to stop the Sith, will that make up for my past crimes?”  He thought to himself, making sure to watch Saevita through the force, and be assured that she was asleep and hadn’t heard the stray thought.

He looked down to the star shaped scar on his chest, the one he’d acquired on his first trip to Yavin.  It was a lasting reminder that he was able to successfully resisted Exar Kun’s temptation.  He swore that he would never turn to the dark side, to the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known.  He remembered Luke Skywalker telling him “I sense that great things can come from you Luke, but I fear that without proper training eventually your strong force abilities will be tempted and you along with them. This is a dangerous time for you, when you will tempted by the dark side of the force.” Luke had not taken the advice lightly, but looking back he didn’t really listen to what the Jedi master had said.  Not that he’d passed temptation, but that he would be tempted.  He had been tempted only a short while later, and failed miserably.  Luke again looked at the scar and saw that the rising sun had cut across it, illuminating the bottom half of his body, and leaving the top half in darkness.  Luke found it ironic, seeing the line he now tried to walk everyday, balancing the two sides of the force battling for control within him.  

Corran had taught him the basics, but he hadn’t known how little he knew till he’d spent a week doing it.  It’s never ending, relentless.  The light and dark sides of the force are in such contrast, that trying to use both is a constant battle not to fall to one side or the other.   It was hard, but Luke knew this is one path he had to walk, for he was already too far down it.  He knew that it’s what he needed to do to get Sythis on his side.  Listen to Saevita, and do what she said without question, if he did this enough, Sythis would give him his own title, and bring him further into the fold.  All the while keeping his abilities and true motives secret.  He was beginning to think that he should have thought this through better.  Unlike any other job, Luke had to look over his shoulder constantly, or he wouldn’t be alive at the end of the day.  For that was Luke’s penalty should he fail, not being fired or sent away, but death by Sythis’ hand.  After Saevita’s takeover of the throne, Luke had been given a suite joined to Saevita’s.  While it was nice sleeping in a bed and not a couch, Luke hadn’t been sleeping much due to the nightmares.   

He heard the double doors that joined his suite to Saevita’s swing open violently, the door slamming into the marble walls creating a loud *crack*.  A chill went up Luke’s spine as he watched Saevita cross the room in her black satin robe, raise Luke’s bed into the air and slam it down to the ground.  “Wake up fool!” she hissed.

“Already am Saevita, can I help you, or would you like to continue to destroy my bed?” Luke asked her very non-chalantly.

Saevita spun around at Luke’s comment, and without a word Luke felt a surge of force energy heading towards him.  Luke put up a force wall as quick as he could, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough.  Sure enough he felt the force of Saevita’s push break through his hastily prepared wall, and slam into him.  He opened his eyes expecting to have to save himself from falling as he had a few times this week, but to his surprise, he was still standing in his room facing a confused Saevita.  Confused himself, Luke put his arms down that had reflectively blocked, he calmed himself down.  Getting into a fight won’t help anything.  He crossed his arms and said “You wanted to see me, or just look at me funny?”

Saevita just stared at him, it was hard to tell with her not having eyes, but Luke thought she looked genuinely surprised.  Saevita had known the force she’d put behind the push.  It had been reflective, and at full power.  It was early, maybe she hadn’t done it that hard.  Regaining her composure, she stood up straight and said “You have a mission today, so get dressed my Apprentice.” She elongated the last word letting him know his subservient position.  Luke knew she was trying to get a rise out of him, but he’d learned to not react to the jibs and jabs at his ego.  She slithered back to her chambers and Luke went to the fresher to prepare for the day.  Once Saevita had left, Luke tried to center himself in the force, and found that he had more force energy then usual, but that the two sides were slowly coming back into balance as the surplus faded away.  As he brushed his teeth, Luke stared at the mirror and wondered what had just happened.  Also in the back of his mind, he wondered where he was going.  

TO BE CONTINUED…            

Re: The Return of the Sith

Luke splashed water across his face.  The cool sensation rippled across his skin.  Freshers were the norm in the galaxy, sonic vibrators that cleansed the skin of dirt and oils, and water in the morning a rarity, especially for space faring people like Luke.  Having spent the majority of his adult life on a ship of some kind, these small morning rituals seemed like an odd luxury that he had not had since his childhood.  Splashing some water on his head to help rid the last remnants of bed head, Luke stepped out of the bathroom and went to the closet.  Normally he would not have unpacked.  He was use to overstaying his welcome in places, and usually planned on leaving in a hurry.  However, after Saevita’s successful coup, the castle servants had unpacked for him, figuring correctly that they would be here a while.  Since Saevita had said that he’d be traveling, Luke decided to forgo the traditional Jedi Robe disguise for something more…traditional.

Luke took out his dirty old black boots and pulled on his navy pants, finding them to be a little loose.  As he tightened his belt, he could almost hear his Mom lecturing him in his head for wearing navy with black.  “No son of mine is going to go to school looking like a big bruise” she use to say before making him march back upstairs to change for school.  Luke smiled at the memory, thinking how it’s funny those are things that you remember once people are gone, and what once seemed overbearing and annoying can become a bittersweet remembrance.  Pulling on his white shirt, the material was nice but worn, for  Luke was a firm believer that once a man purchased an item of clothing it had a lifetime contract with him.  Luke’s wardrobe never really accumulated to more then 4 or 5 outfits, which R1-9 washed thoroughly to keep his master “presentable”.  Luke could have sworn sometimes that his Mother had somehow programmed subroutines into the droid from the grave. He looked down at the worn, old leather spacer’s jacket, taking it and holding it up to his face, and grinned slightly at all the adventures he’d had while wearing it.  Some good, some not so good, and *he ran a hand down the back and his pinkie slid into a familiar blaster hole* some that came a little too close for comfort.  Looking to the ornate door leading to his neighbor’s suite…like his current situation.  


Luke knocked before entering Saevita’s room, he had learned that this was a good thing to do, ever since dodging a silver candelabra that had enough force behind it to imbed it in the wall.  So there he waited until the words “You may enter my apprentice” were uttered from beyond the door.  Accepting the title, as it seemed useless to protest its use, Luke opened the door to a room much grander then his.  The room was constructed ceiling to floor in bleached white marble.  A heavy Nabooan oak desk, hope chest, and white four-poster bed sat in the corner.  The silk sheets were ruffled, and the white lace on the canopy had been let down so that the bed itself was behind a sheen of white, hiding while at the same time revealing its occupant.  And standing inside this angelic room was Saevita adjusting her faux Jedi Robes in the vanity mirror, making sure the black Sith tattoos on her back, arms, and other places that Luke suspected but had not seen were covered up so as not to arouse suspicion.  Luke closed his eyes and opened himself to the force.  The picture in front of him was vastly different.  Saevita’s aura radiated pure malice, as if she had gathered all the hate in the castle and centered it upon herself.  It rose within her, churning and boiling until it dripped out of her pores.  Which she may have just done, with the help of Lord Nihilis, who knew the limit to her power now?  The entire room was tainted.  Wherever she touched, laid, walked, she left a trace of her true self.  Luke shivered, as a feeling of cold death started to creep over him.  The dark side energy in the room was almost tangible.  Looking back to the focal point of the energy, Luke began to wonder if Adena was alive in there at all.  He quickly shook his mind of the thought and cleared his throat.  “Putting on your costume Master Jedi?” Luke added as he went to plop into the chair by her desk.

Saevita brushed her hair back over her ear, a small gesture, but it was enough to send the chair underneath Luke over a few inches, so that he missed the seat entirely, but was close enough to scrape his spine against the hard wood as he fell to the ground.  Luke clenched his teeth at the pain, he really had to stop leaving himself open.  Saevita feigned disappointment.  “Luke, how am I going to confidently trust you with this important mission if  you can’t even handle sitting in a chair?” Saevita sighed loudly “So hard to find good help these days.” She added as she handed Luke a datapad.  “Your instructions are inside.” She said casually as Luke fumed on the floor.

Luke clicked on the datapad, and scanned the mission as Saevita put her hair up with the force.  It was a simple mission.  A small town on the other side of the planet was stirring up anti-Jedi propaganda and gaining support.  The leader, some guy named Kohler, was to be…eliminated if he proved unable to silence.  Luke swallowed hard, he knew this was part of why he was here, Sythis had said as much when they had left, but he had secretly hoped he wouldn’t have to kill anyone.  At the bottom there were additional instructions.  He was to dye his hair, and bring his Venomous costume.  He would infiltrate the insurgent’s base if there was one, and was to make it look like a Sith terrorist had done the deed.  This would create new support for the Jedi regime, and make Sythis’ total takeover when he arrived that much more efficient.  Luke acknowledged that it was a sound plan…but would he be able to pull it off?

“Wait a minute, if I’m gone, won’t they figure it out that I was the one doing this, I mean if I’m not standing behind you at court?”  Luke asked Saevita

Saevita calmly pushed a button on the vanity, the mirror flickered and a viewscreen of the royal court appeared.  The timestamp and date said that it was a live picture, but standing next to it was Luke.  Hands clasped around his back, waiting for Saevita.

The real Luke approached the mirror, but Saevita cut the connection before he could get a close up look.  Instead he was just staring at his reflection.  “You cloned me?”  Luke uttered, turning to Saevita.  

Visibly repulsed by the notion, she replied “Please, one of you is quite enough, ugh.  What your tiny little mind cannot comprehend is that this is actually old Nabooan security technique.  A member of the Royal Guard is surgically made-over as the subject, unfortunately for him, that happens to be you in this instance.  Then the actual person is free to go about his or her business as the duplicate becomes the intended target or stand in as it were.” Saevita closed by putting her robe hood over her eyes.  Getting up gracefully, her robes flowing around her, she walked to the door and looked back.  “Please try and disappoint Halcyon, I’d love to get the order to terminate your life.”  With that she opened her chamber door and made her way to the Royal Court.

“I guess that’s the Sith version of Good luck” Luke thought as he studied the datapad.

 
TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

It was going to be a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the air was clear, and she'd gotten Luke pissed at her already. Whatever the day held, she was ready to meet it with high spirits. Her high spirits were a different standard than most people's, but she was proud of herself anyway.

To be free of Luke for a day was a blessing. No pathetic whining, no sob stories, no complaining. Nobody to hold her back. That man was a boat anchor, a slave collar around her throat. What did Sythis see in him? Why would the Dark Lord waste his time? Well, maybe Lord Sythis knew Saevita liked to use "meat shields."

Not to mention Luke seemed so… useless lately. Without energy. On Yavin, she had felt sick around Luke. The dark side had raged in him. Now, he felt… disquieted, his power diminished somehow. He wasn't the same man she had fought. He wasn't the same man who had raped her and forced her to be his own.

How the tables had turned.

Saevita frowned where she walked in the gleaming, sun-lit corridors. Luke could be up to something. The odds were high. He'd betrayed the Jedi – why not the Sith? Ah, hell, she thought, securing her cloak around her where it concealed Nihilus' mask over her shoulder. Why should I worry? Luke poses as much a threat to me as some small Naboo fish. Let him betray Sythis! I'll get to kill him that much sooner.

Still, the odds of a betrayal were slim. What could he possibly do on Naboo? Ally with the gungans? On second thought, he probably had the same I.Q. as that pathetic, duck-billed race.

Saevita smiled. The image of Luke in her head leading a gungan army into battle was amusing. Nor did it feel terribly far-fetched.

The odds were higher still that all the power and strength she was gaining was making Luke feel weaker to her. It would make sense that he felt more useless than usual. How could he ever compare to her? She who had summoned Darth Nihilus, disciple of Darth Traya, apprentice with Darth Sion, the great Master of Pain, immortal and unending, and made him her own! He had demolished – no, devoured – whole worlds, including the original Miraluka homeworld. Knowing this, Saevita couldn't blame him. That was millennia ago.

Nihilus devoured souls. His drank the Force until it ran dry, like a drained lake. The Force just ceased to exist where Nihilus walked. And that great Dark Lord walked in her shadow.

Saevita felt like a goddess among sniveling, pathetic mortals.

Sythis must have seen Nihilus in her. He truly must have. He must've felt her hunger, her bloodlust. Saevita wanted to learn to drink souls of the living from their mortal flesh. She wanted to be the great Executioner, cleaving flesh from bone, wanted to know the darkest methods of torture. Instinctively, she was capable of a lot of that. But Nihilus… he knew it all.

As she approached the throne room, she felt a chilling presence at her side. She didn't look; there was no one there to see, anyway. "My Lord," she acknowledged.

She was pleased by the icy caress of the long-dead Dark Lord.

The throne-room doors swung open when she arrived. Inside, a desk had been set up before Tymen's throne, and it was there the king sat – gaunt, pale, his eyes bloodshot, his regal attire hanging on him like he'd lost 30 pounds overnight. Off to one side stood a group of nervous aides, advisors, and handmaidens, all talking quietly amongst each other, casting anxious glances at their king. Standing with the security guards was the guard who would replace Halcyon until he returned. He stood still and silent, patient. She liked that version of Luke so much better.

Tymen looked up when Saevita entered. She went to him and knelt before him, her eyeless face full of concern. "My King."

"Master Jedi…" He lay a bony hand on her shoulder. "I will need your help today."

"In all ways, yes," she said softly. When Tymen touched her, the Sith amulet around her neck throbbed. "My Lord, you do look ill. Moreso than yesterday."

"A darkness," he croaked proudly, "has come over my body. But my mind has sharpened tenfold. My doctors are treating my exhaustion."

"Exhaustion? Shouldn't you be in bed, my Lord?"

"My kingdom does not sleep, Adena." He gestured. "Come, advisor. Sit beside me. Petty matters require my attention."

This caught the attention of a nearby district representative. "Your Majesty," she countered quietly, "how are matters of state petty? These are the voices of your people. You used to take such good–"

Tymen raised a hand. "Blatant rudeness does not become you, Cerif. Your silence would please me more."

She swallowed and bowed, backing away.

Saevita looked to the attendants, using her Sight to see the workings of their mind. Their thoughts were filled withy fear, angst, worry, and almost near-panic. They knew something was wrong with their king, but they also knew they were helpless against it.

With a yawn, Saevita, Tymen, and Nihilus set to work, their triangle of dark power a link to Sith success. As Saevita sorted through the old papers on his desk, paper crafted in the delicate Naboo style, she was pleased to see that what she was looking through were petitions and daily reports. There will be something here, she thought. Something for me to work with.

And it was Tymen who found it. The king had sat silently, signing his name to certain pardons and giving orders when he suddenly hissed through his teeth. "Unforgivable."

She looked up. "What is it?"

"There's a manufacturing plant in the city that has been floundering for a while. Now it seems they draw closer to bankruptcy." He shook his head. "I can't believe this… They provide repulsorlift and computer technology. This is going to be a setback for all of Theed and possibly all of Naboo." He scowled, holding up the report and turning to one of his aides. "Who owns this damn company, anyway?"

Before the aide could answer, Saevita touched his arm. "My Lord, if I may?"

"You may."

"If the company is so close to struggling, then why not aid them?"

"I've given them money in the past." He sighed. "Giving them money now would be useless."

Saevita frowned and sat back. She felt Nihilus touch her, and a dark idea occurred to her. "My Lord… I may have an idea."

He turned his head to study her. "And what is this grand idea of yours, Adena?"

Folding her arms, she smiled. "There is an industry Naboo needs to survive, Your Majesty. And as luck would have it, the workers are already well equipped. Not to mention they would be paid handsomely." She chuckled when Tymen continued to scrutinize her. "The Jedi need some equipment, my Lord. And doesn't your city itself need defenses? They can be manufactured there. We'll even train the same workers so nobody will lose their jobs or be displaced, and so the economy of this city will maintain its current pace, if not improve."

The king of Naboo smiled slowly back at her, then nodded. "I have faith in you. See that it gets done."

Darkness shone through Saevita's grin. "As my King commands."

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

The great northern plains of Naboo shined a bright emerald green in the noonday sun.  The plains stretched thousands of miles from the Gallo Mountains in the center of the continent.  Just verdant hills, and grasslands for as far as the eye can see.  Rocketing over this serene landscape, passing by herds of Nerfs grazing in the fields is a silver chrome bullet speeding its way across at over 1000 miles an hour.  Nearly 20 feet above the ground the hover train is the Nabooans way of quick transcontinental travel without disturbing the natural wildlife.  Trains like these were important for the poorer rural economies of northern Naboo.  Usually, one representative would be sent with the town’s goods to sell or trade at the markets of the bigger cities like Theed.  This particular train was on a 1400 mile “track,” its furthest stop only a chrono and a half away.      

Luke sat in his cabin sleeping, his body slumped against the seat with his head resting against the metal wall, moving slightly with the vibrations of the train.  He kept tossing and turning, images of his and Adena’s duel, Rax flying back into a tree, and the feel of the weightless lightsaber impaling the kneecap of a Jedi Padawan barraging his unconscious mind.  In his sleep, Luke clenched his eyes, trying to block out the images, but they came still. He was bobbing, weaving, countering, slashing, and all the while smiling that sick demented smile.  As he struck what he thought was the killing blow on Corran, Luke woke with a start and fell promptly to the floor.  Lying there on his back, his eyes wide, his breathing heavy, he realized that he was staring into a pair of beautiful yet concerned blue eyes.

“Must’ve a whopper of a nigh’mare to getcha so worked up. Your’aright?”  She asked, kneeling down and helping Luke sit up.  He flinched at the touch; it had been awhile since a friendly female hand had touched him.  
“Tis a’right silly, I’m not gonna bite ya.” she said reassuringly, her northern Nabooan accent coming through.
“Right, um, sorry I’m a little out of it” Luke said as she helped him back up to his seat.  Holding his head a little, trying to banish the dreams from his mind.  He sought distraction in the creature in front of him.  Luke scanned her figure.  Strawberry blonde locks of wavy hair fell down her back, a part of it draped fetchingly over the left shoulder.  Her skin was smooth, with the faintest hint of freckles around the cheeks.  The blue eyes that shined with a bright color contrasting her pale complexion, a common feature of the area, and contrasting nicely with the faded green peasant dress she wore.  Her top was cut to her frame, which was curvy but not overly so, or as his father use to say “just the right amount in all the right places”.  The thin straps letting the white of her arms show complete with the faintest hint of red hair on them, indicating her natural hair color.  The bust had a lace accent to hide what would have been a decent amount of cleavage, the bottom half of the top was decorated with a single strand of white lace going around the back of the dress in a belt like fashion.  Looking to her left he saw a matching jacket to the ensemble.  Luke continued to rub his eyes to try and make like he wasn’t looking as well as to get the sand out of them from his nap, a thought popped into his head to see what she thought of him.  He knew he shouldn’t, but surface thoughts couldn’t hurt right, Luke rationalized to himself.

Picking up traces of malaise and anticipation at returning home, Luke heard “He’s cute, but why is he starin at me, I hope he’s not some kinda dwarfnut”.  Luke realized that he was staring directly at her head, and quickly turned away.  “Sorry” he started looking away “I didn’t mean to stare, your just…well your quite beautiful” he said to try to cover up his transgression, by telling the truth as the female figure before him stretched languidly.  She blushed in response, and Luke quickly changed the subject “How far along are we?”

“Wel, we got-a-bout half a chrono before the last stop now.  Oh, I hope ya didn’t a need to be getting off before then, as it’s a wee bit late now.” She asked.

Luke let a little smile show on his face.  Even if he had missed his stop, he would be sorely tempted to stay on the train a little longer, but as good fortune would have it, his stop was the last.  “Nope, heading to Stirling, the last stop”.

“What a fortunate turn of events then that you auffered to share your cabin with me, such a gentlemen y’are” she said batting her eyes.

Luke leaned forward and gestured for her to come closer, after a moments hesitation she complied, and face-to-face asked, “So by ‘me offering’ you mean that you snuck in and desperately hope I don’t kick you out” ending with a playful smile.

Rolling her eyes back into her eyes feigning deep thought she snapped them back to look into his, and replied “Aye, that be about right” she followed that with an innocent smile and almost a giggle.

Luke sat back nodding his head, the young maiden watching his reaction.  Luke’s first instinct was to tell her to get out and never come back, with what he was mixed up in he didn’t need distractions, and certainly didn’t need any complications.  This was good clean common sense, direct, concise, and well thought out.  None of which means a damn thing to a guy with an attractive woman in front of him, “Nah, don’t worry about it.” Luke said and thought there was no harm in having a pleasant train ride.  “So what’s your name?”

“Wel, brace yerself, it’s a bit of a whopper.  I am Ana Subee Pfingterrion-Bigelopose.  My Ma and Da were unconventional.” She added sheepishly.

“Were?”

“Aye, they died during the war here a few months back.”

“I’m sorry”

“Thankee” a short silence fell over the cabin before Luke broke it “I’m Jaden Hakkon, nice to meet you Ana” Luke said giving his cover name

Her smile returning “Aye, good to meet ya Jaden”

They talked the rest of the train ride.  Luke found that she was busy running her parents shop now that they were gone.  He listened intently, but always with a little voice reminding him that he was on this train to silence opposition to his boss whom would more then likely oppress these people more then ever before.  And do it legally to boot.  Luke told her his background story, which was quite similar to his own, except they left out the slavery part.  He was a cargo runner on vacation in the northern country, Luke thought it to be a little thin, but apparently there was some kind of spring festival that was going on soon, so it would seem that the security detail had done their jobs in researching a reason to go to the rural countryside not normally known for tourism.  This topic prompted a question from Ana.

“Oh, so yer goin to the festival are ya?” she said her eyes perking up.  

Luke had never intended to go, and was jerked suddenly as the trained slowed to it’s final stop.  “Um, I thought about taking a look, maybe” he replied obligingly, he had no such desire to go to a village party, and started gathering his bag.  “Well it was a great train ride Ana, see you around I guess.”  Luke said waving goodbye as he stood.

“Right, bye” she responded as Luke started to walk out the door when he heard Ana say “Ya know…” Luke paused in the door opening and looked back.  She blushed and looked down at the floor then back up at him.  “This may sound a wee bit forward, but…if your planning to take a looksee anyways, maybe you’d like some company?” her maturity melting away Luke saw a young woman putting herself emotionally on the line asking him on a date of sorts.  Luke knew the right thing to do, it was to reject her, and walk away protecting her from what he was really here to do.  Luke got the feeling that there were going to be times in the coming years when he would wish that he had done just that, but at the moment he couldn’t bear to see her lovely face fall in disappointment, and he didn’t like the thought that he may never see her again either.  A little fun never hurt anybody, right?

Luke exited the train and extended his hand to help Ana down.  “Such a gentlemen, thanks for the ride, I’ll see you tonight.” She said giving Luke an affectionate hug goodbye.  “I’ll see you at 7” Luke replied as Ana and him parted ways.

The town was quaint, and Luke thought to himself, that to find a place in this galaxy so simple and wholesome was refreshing and inviting.  Most of the planets he’d visited were harsh and cruel.  Man-made creations of duracrete and despair like Nar-Shadaa and Coruscant, or barren and cold like Tatooine and Vjun.  Here, ivy was allowed to grow on storefronts, the roads were stone, the air was fresh and crisp, and children played in the street.  As if following Luke’s thoughts the children headed his way and he watched as they passed.  Even though he wasn’t even 30 yet, he felt old.  “It’s not the age Luke, it’s the mileage” he commented to himself as he walked along watching the store owners trying to coax others into their shops.  Passing by the market he came to the inn he had his reservation under.  Luke looked at the sign of a ornately carved Dragon hanging above the door.  “The Kryat Dragon inn?” Luke read the sign puzzled.  “Aren’t Kryat Dragons native to Tatooine?” Luke thought to himself.  

A half hour later Luke finally got to his room after the owner had to triple check his reservation, and then berate him for using a discount to book his best room during fair week.  Luke could only shrug and made a mental note to have a talk with the Royal travel agent.  As he unpacked, he started examining the floor, and after a half hour or so of discreet knocking, he found it.  A floorboard was loose, Luke put his hand on it, and concentrated.  He extended his force sense to cover the room, letting him feel the connections of the electromagnetic field radiating off the light, the slight movement in the currents of the air, and even the connection between the wood and the nails.  Focusing on that connection he tried to sever it.  The nails started to move out, when Luke heard loud screaming in his head.  

“Oh, I wonder what I’ll wear tonight, I want to look my beast for Paige, I can’t believe she said yes, this is my chance to impress her.  Hopefully things will go really well, and I didn’t rent this room for nothing.” A young man’s voice said

“Why does he drag me up to this stupid festival every year, it’s just a bunch of hicks having a party, I should’ve married Jonsen, he’s a pilot now, and I…” a women’s voice complained

“IgonnagetcandyI’mgonnagetcandyI’mgonnagetcandy…Oooh! Look a bug!” a young boy shouted enthusiastically.

Luke pulled his force sphere in, shrinking it to just his immediate surroundings 3 feet from his body.  He slowly sat up holding his head, he’d been concentrating on the nails so much that he’d let his sphere of influence expand more then he wanted to.  Those were all surface thoughts of people in the rooms around him.  Shaking away the incident, Luke went back to the nails, being more careful to only focus on them.  Normally he would have just grabbed the board with the force, and torn it out.  However, he wanted to make sure that no one would know that the floor had been tampered with.  After 2 minutes, he managed to cleanly pulled out all the nails and lift the board up.  Leaving them floating there, he took his Venomous costume and lightsabers and hid them in the floor.  He would need these later possibly, but for now, he did not want anyone finding out who or what he really was, not even by chance.  Returning the board and nails to the floor, he set out on his first task, reconnaissance of Kohler’s factory.


TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The 1st time on Naboo

“Hey wake up, you look like you’ve were having another nightmare.  I guess you overslept the captain’s page.  Well hurry up were all waiting.”  The familiar female voice awoke Koto from another nightmare.  Sitting up in his bunk he quickly pulled his legs over the end on the ground as he leaned forward breathing.  Glancing up at the female Theelin named Diva Glacie, Koto gave her a nod while simultaneously whipping the sweat from his face with a towel next to his cot.  In there short time together Koto and Diva had created a strong friendship more than anyone on the ship.  Koto got up and tossed an undershirt on as the Theelin walked past the room out of his sight.  After a quick stretch Koto searched in his backpack to make sure his belongings were still there.  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the captain and his crew, they were the one’s to find him and help him this far.  It was more of a comfort basis for him.  His search was satisfied as he found a lightsaber, the pair of DC-15 blaster pistols given to him by the captain, and a mask.  

He slowly picked up the mask and instantly some memories seemed to appear in his head.  He was much younger probably 14 or 15 years old.  He was sitting in a classroom observing a holoprojector of the galaxy by a figure in a hood.  “You all are here because you all are gifted each unique from the other.  As you progress you will all learn to harness your power and use it.” Another image flashed into his mind and was on a jungle planet.  “Get the ship ready to leave, that’s an order.” He shouted at another woman who he seemed to care deeply for.  She nudgingly agreed and raced off into the forest toward some large temple in the distance.  Another memory of him running down a dimly lit corridor as alarms are going off all around him.

“Hey hurry up Koto we’re all waiting for you in the map room.” A voice shouted as Koto jumped back into reality.  He quickly put the items back in his locker and headed out the room in a faster pace than normal.  When he entered the room he could feel six pair of eyes reprimanding him for being late.  “Sorry I overslept.”  Koto said trying to fix the situation with the crew.  The captain an older and slightly overweight Rodian, named Haj Bumu broke the awkward silence by walking up to Koto putting an arm on his soldier “My boy, make sure it doesn’t happen again.”  Koto quickly took a seat next to Diva, who gave him a mischievous smile, as the Rodian turned his gaze back on the older version of a holoprojector.  “Now then let’s get down to business.  We seemed to find a buyer for the Glitterstim, the trouble is that it is on Naboo.”  The rest of the crew displayed their disapproval as they remarked on how dangerous flying threw Naboo’s customs and clearance.  It had been like that for more than 40 years.  The Rodian lifted his hands up to silence and calm down his crew.  “I know it seems like it isn’t worth it however the buyer has guaranteed safe passage along with 30,000 credits per crate.  As you know I pride myself on my crew therefore we will receive equal distribution upon delivery.”  

How do we know this isn’t a set up?  The New Republic has been cracking down on smugglers lately?”  The male Omwati known as Saymin asked.  Saymin was the only one Koto didn’t get along with.  Every since he arrived on the ship he seemed to have it out for Koto after losing a game of sabacc to Koto.  The next day coincidentally Koto’s credits and clothes seemed to disappear while they delivered some spices to Bespin.  On another occasion he was caught trying to steal the lightsaber after breaking the lock.  This caused the captain to decide to let go of Saymin as a crewman during the next stop.  

“Saymin, you and I have known this person for years; we all have been through a lot together.  I trust him as much as I trust you.”  Their eyes met in together. Koto believed he could cut the tension with a vibroblade.  “Is there anything else you wish to say captain?” “Nothing that is all dismissed.”  The captain replied to Saymin eyes still fixated on each other.  Koto and the rest of the crew knew where it wasn’t there place to stay around and quickly dispersed themselves through out the ship.  Koto returned to his room.  Closing the door behind him as he crept into his cot once more.  Koto didn’t know who he was, but he was sure he didn’t enjoy space travel.  So boring, so dull it seemed like ages between planet to planet.  The crew had been gracious enough to help him out however he wondered if this was the life for him, probably not.  

For now he focused only on the itch in the back of his mind, the key to figuring out who he was.  Countless times he had felt as if he was on the brink of regaining his memory yet each time he seemed to loose it.  He instinctively could do things his mind couldn’t understand.  He was able to anticipate things, feel and move things around him.  Diva joking told him he might have been a Jedi.  However for some reason he couldn’t explain he knew this not to be true.  The lightsaber he posses initially made him think he had killed a Jedi, but after hours of deep meditation he recounted in almost flashback images that it was his along with the mask.  But if he wasn’t a Jedi, then what was he?  This was his itch and he had tried desperately to solve it however it seemed unattainable.  Maybe he wasn’t suppose to know.  Koto continued wondering about himself as he turned to get more comfortable on his cot.  “Space travel is so boring.  They’ll wake me up when we get there.” He listen to the slow humm of the YKL-37R Nova Courier's engine in the room next to him that allow a slight tremble to relax him into slumber.  It wasn’t soon before he fell asleep.

********

A knocking of on his door made Koto wake up from one of the most relaxing and enjoyable dreams he think he ever had.  Grunting for a moment he quickly got up and opened the door to meet face to face with Haj who seemed enthusiastic for once.  “You ready?”  The Rodian said putting a black Jacket on as he spoke.  Koto intimidated the Rodian grabbing reaching into his locker and grabbing his tan Jacket and placing it over his black shirt.  With a nod Haj headed toward the ramp as Koto went to grab his backpack.  For some reason he was hesitant to leave his room.  Just then Diva walked by “Come on I’ve never been to Naboo I need someone to come with me around the city.”  Koto let out a pathetic smile as he tried to make reassure himself.  

“What’s wrong?” Diva said now seemingly upset.  “Nothing.  It’s just something doesn’t seem right.” Koto replied as Diva walked forward.  “That’s your Jedi intuition huh?”  Koto let out a more genuine smile along with Diva.  “Come on Master Jedi we need your help unloading this stuff.”  The two left the ship shortly after…

As soon as Koto got off the ramp the sun impact of the sun blinded him causing him to shield his eyes as he walked down the freighter.  Soon his eyes readjusted as he looked at his surroundings.  It seemed like another Bespin, buildings with round top just different colors.  Along with this with many people in the street walking around gave this place a busy environment.

He soon walked over to where the rest of the crew had walked to.  “Where are we?”  Diva asked putting on a pair of glasses to shield the sun.  “Keren, the only semi-busy city in the northern part of Naboo.  Everything else is either rural or farm land.  Kohler preferred this rather than Theed for the lack of personnel of authorities.  The sooner we find Kohler the better.”  Koto’s eyes quickly got fixated on the Cantina down the street.  “Well I’m gonna be in there when you find this guy, you know where I’ll be at.”  He gave a semi salute and headed towards the Cantina followed by Diva.  Not knowing who you are is difficult and for Koto was especially affected because of his special abilities.  This soon led to a semi drinking problem of his within the past couple weeks.  The Cantina was just like the street, crowded.  As he made his way through the crowd he felt the arm of Diva grab his jacket as they slid through the crowd, until they got to a couple seats at the bar.  They struck up a short conversation before a robot from in back of the bar rolled forward.  

“Welcome to Naboo, would you like me to take your order?”

The two began to drink exchanging looks and jokes.  The minutes soon turned into an hour and Koto and Diva both had consumed a lot of brandy, Koto’s favorite.  “Still nothing on the COM link about finding this guy huh?”  Diva shrugged her shoulders and continued to drink.  When she was finished she squeezed Koto on the shoulder, “I’m going to check on everyone I’ll be back.”  Koto gave a nod as he motioned for another brandy.  The hairs on the back of his neck crept up as he suddenly heard a scream cut short.  Instantly looking in the direction he stumbled to the exit of the Cantina.  When he got there he saw the limp body of Diva on the ground as he sensed an attack coming from his left side.  He ducked the butt of a gun to his head as he shoved his elbow into the frail ribs of someone.  Another attack came in back of him as he did instinctively did a leg sweep then reached for one of his pistols and shot the individual in the face.  The shot sent panic through the street as waves of people began to run in all directions.  Koto stood there looking down at Diva’s body before looking at the wheezing figure who he hit moments before Saymin.  As Koto raised his pistol at the Saymin his eyes got wide.  Koto squeezed the trigger four times although he knew the first shot had killed Saymin.  Concealing his weapon he rushed down the street in an attempt to blend in with the people.  His limbs seemed to react to his desire as he sprinted and was soon immersed into the crowd.

When the Naboo authorities arrived to restore order Koto overheard a couple of stories and attempted to tell the same story as other civilians did.  When they searched his backpack however he was thrown against the wall and arrested.  Within the hour he was in a ten by ten holding cell protected by an energy shield.  He reflected on seeing Diva’s body and what she had said “…my 1st time on Naboo.”  He wondered if he would get out though he highly doubted it…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

The enclosed speeder was lavish and comfortable, and Saevita just sat back and watched the city slide by. Secretly, she found Theed's architecture to be stunning and beautiful, but she highly doubted it would keep her from painting the town with civilian blood.

She reached up and slid her hood back, her eyeless face staring out the window. She had the back of the speeder to herself, so she felt comfortable playing with the amulet around her neck. She stroked the slick stone in the pendant before sighing. "In all honestly, I could slaughter every last Theed citizen. Lord Sythis is so discreet…"

From beside her, a voice snarled non-words that made sense in her head. "Sometimes it is the way of the Sith to be discreet."

"This coming from a Dark Lord who devoured worlds like candy." She turned her head and smiled. "Cute."

Nihilus sat beside her, filling the seat with shadow. "I had no cause to be discreet. My hunger had to be sated."

Saevita's hands tightened into fists. "And so does mine." She turned back to the window, expanding her Sight beyond the shielded transparisteel. "I've always had a hunger. I've always had a lustful mind. To be truthful, I desire more now than just pleasures of the flesh. I want the desecration of it." She looked back, deep into Nihilus' mask. "Perhaps that's your doing. Maybe you awake in me some kind of new, unholy need."

"And on what, Miraluka, do you want to feed?"

She smiled slowly. "On blood. On the warm, ripped flesh of men. Destruction… empowers me, Nihilus. Destruction is my reason for living." She sat back, folding her arms. "I think I will make myself Sythis' executioner. He can unleash me upon unsuspecting masses and let me feed."

"Your words sound threatening and full of dangerous ambition. A Sith's ambition. Your master will sense it."

"I believe Sythis knows that, unlike the others, my desire to overthrow the master is nonexistent. The old Sith – yes, those like you – cast down your masters, but I will treasure mine." She smiled. "He'll see that in me, and he'll know that I can and will do anything he needs me to do, no matter how dirty the work."

As the speeder passed through an archway that was engraved with DuPont Innovations, Saevita gestured as she drew up her hood. "Go now. I have a corporation to sink my teeth into."

She didn't look to see if Nihilus had gone. Instead, she waited until the unseen driver stopped in front of a large entranceway before opening the door and climbing out. Behind her, another speeder stopped and six of Tymen's Royal Guard emerged, falling into step behind her. Without acknowledging them, Saevita strode through the front doors and into the lobby.

The lobby was a pretty room of earth-colored marble, its design functional and minimal in style. There was a long desk with a pretty receptionist whose jaw fell open when she saw the entering ensemble. Though she did not recognize Saevita herself, she certainly knew the look of the Royal Guard. She stood quickly and bowed very low.

Her hood hiding her lack of eyes, Saevita glanced around, almost casually. "I am Jedi Master Adena Tadrro bringing an edict on the behalf of Lord Tymen, King of Naboo."

She bowed again. "Please, Master Jedi, wait only a moment. I'll call Mr. DuPont down immediately."

She studied the receptionist, thought about giving her a hard time, then sighed. "Sure, I'll wait."

It did seem only a moment before the lift doors at the other end of the lobby opened up. The man that hurried out could only be DuPont. He was in his late 50s, was quite on the heavy side, balding, with a moustache.

The receptionist stood quickly. "Mr. DuPont," she announced, "Jedi Master Adena Tadrro."

"Master Jedi!" he greeted, puffing his way across the marble floor, his pudgy legs working hard. "Goodness, what an honor! You are a messenger of Lord Tymen, I heard?"

"I bring a message, yes."

"Wonderful!" He grinned, assuming good news. "If you'd called me sooner, I would've brought in my other staff members. They would want to be here for this."

"Your opinion is the only one that matters, Mr. DuPont." She faked a smile.

He chuckled. "Come with me to my office."

Turning, Saevita gestured at her guard escort to stay put. DuPont was hardly a threat.

She followed the man to his office, taking the lift to the top floor. The lift opened right into his office, which wasn't as lavish as she expected. His company must be doing really poorly.

"Please, have a seat," DuPont offered, gesturing at the chair before his desk. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine." She sat back. "Mr. DuPont, King Tymen has appointed me his new head advisor. It's come to our attentions that DuPont Innovations is… struggling."

He slumped into his seat, already looking grim. "To tell you the truth, Master Jedi, we are a Naboo-based company. We only sell to Naboo citizens, not off-world. We're a small company, local, and competing with large corporations is not ideal for me."

"You were doing well here. Why the sudden decrease in profits?"

He sighed. "A Naboo import/export company started buying a new line of speeders from another company off-world and selling them here. They truly are a nice model, and they risked a lot to sell them for half the price to attract buyers here. Unfortunately, it worked. They're going to run me out of business."

"So you asked your most gracious King for a grant."

"Yes, madam. You see, with more funds, we can produce a new generation of landspeeders and airspeeders that will overshadow the others by far and win over Naboo buyers."

"Your proposal was well-written, and King Tymen and I certainly understand the reality of your situation. It's not passed our attention that if DuPont Innovations should fail, Theed will feel its impact economically. You bring money to the city, and that's important."

DuPont sighed with relief, relaxing in his oversized chair. "I'm so glad you understand."

Saevita smiled. I'm going to make him sweat. "We do," she replied, "but unfortunately, King Tymen does not have the money to grant to you. I'm sorry."

DuPont looked stunned. He looked like his best friend had, in the middle of a conversation on how much they meant to each other, stabbed him in the stomach. "Doesn't… D-Doesn't have the money?! He's Naboo's king!"

"And Naboo's king requires a greater security force than we have now, which is where the money is going to."

"You said it yourself, Miss Tadrro! If DuPont Innovations fail–"

"Theed will feel it, yes."

"So then why?"

"Theed needs no more speeders, Mr. DuPont."

"But…" He stared at her, his eyes glimmering.

He's gonna cry, Saevita thought, and despite it all, she grinned wide.

"Please," he said at last, his voice trembling. "You have no idea how many people work for me. If we go out of business…" He stared at her. "Think of those people, Miss Tadrro!"

She sighed. He wasn't going to cry. The fun gone, she sat back in her chair. "The tricky thing about continually interrupting a king's aide, Mr. DuPont, is that you might never get to the good news."

He silenced himself for a moment before giving her a look. "What good news?"

"I said that he and I find that Naboo has no need for more speeders. That doesn't mean that we are not in need of something else."

"Something else?" he blinked. "You want my company to produce other goods?"

"Your King asks it of you, not I."

From inside her cloak, she withdrew a datapad. It was wrapped and sealed with the king's insignia. An accompanying datacard was also wrapped and sealed. It had been done by the king, and its message, so long as the seals remained intact upon delivery, was word and Law.

DuPont broke the seals and slid the datacard into the datapad. He did so slowly, reverently, and it dawned on Saevita that he'd probably never received a direct message from the king, or anyone from the palace, for that matter. He read the message slowly and looked up quickly. "War droids?"

Saevita smiled. "You know, Mr. DuPont, Theed isn't safe. In part, it's why I'm here." She stood to look down at him. "A glorious future for Naboo is coming. I am here to safeguard that. Yet with the great wisdom that comes with being a Jedi Master, I've found Theed to be dangerously weak." She rounded his desk, reached out, and laid a hand on his shoulder. "DuPont Innovations is Lord Tymen's key to safeguarding his reign, his capital city, and his planet. What do you said to aiding that cause?"

He stared up at her, then back down at the datapad, then back up. "What of my employees?"

"Keep them!" She grinned, clapping his shoulder. "You'll still need them. Your company will remain the same; only your product will change."

"And… and profits?"

"King Tymen will pay you directly for your contribution to making Naboo great."

DuPont swallowed, staring into her well-hooded face. "As my king commands," he said at last. "What shall I do?"

She felt a rush of pleasure. "Give all your workers a paid vacation. While they're gone, the King will have people come and revamp your factory. When all is finished, your employees will be trained to make the new products and the cast will pour in."

"What droids will we make?"

"That's up to a droid designer I'm working with." In truth, she hadn't gotten that far yet, but there was no need to tell him that. "And I want you to know that just because Tymen has changed your company's production doesn't mean you'll be left out of the loop. You will still be in charge and have a say. In fact, your say will be a requirement. No droid will go into production without your approval."

DuPont bought this with glee, puffing up with pride, and Saevita grinned wider. With is approval, he'll be the first one people will blame is something goes wrong. Not to mention that his job of staying involved should keep him happy with the change in his company and make him more willing to comply.

The company owner nodded. "This is a big change for DuPont Innovations and quiet a large change of mindset. But I am honored that King Tymen would be so willing to help me by letting me help him."

Of course you are. "You know, symbiotic relationships are the most beneficial."

"Indeed." He smiled. "Will you be working with us, too?"

"I'll be keeping an… eye on things, yes."

"Good." He stood and extending a hand. "I won't lie and say I'm not nervous, but thank you for your generosity."

"You're most welcome." She chuckled. "We'll be in touch."

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

As a boy, Luke had wondered what the mythical realm that some called “hell”, others “the pit”, and the more space faring people like himself called “the Maw” was like.  It is a difficult concept to comprehend.  Mindless torture every chrono of the day, day in and day out.  Luke used to wonder what that was like, thinking that it couldn’t have been any worse as his life as a slave.  Now, he had a very clear glimpse of it.  It was walking through a refining plant that was 20 degrees warmer then anything remotely comfortable to humans.  The décor is a mix of hanging chains, with noxious fumes, low light and freshly orange painted railing, to better blend in with the rust underneath.  You get to gaze at all this while walking slowly on metal walkways, while listening to a woman droning on about temperature cycles, and the many uses and materials made from and using the plasma found in the deep recesses of Naboo herself.  Add to this the tourists who half-blind you with the holo-cam flashes, and Luke had a very clear glimpse indeed.  When he was finally released from his torture, he made his way through the gift shop.  Normally the tour and gift shop were not open, but this being festival week, Kohler tries to get a little money from the tourists by playing up his refining factory as an attraction that they can go visit.  The impromptu public tour was of little use to a spy, but it did give Luke a basic layout of the plant’s main areas, and at least 2 exits.

Luke had kept a wary eye out, but he didn’t see any signs of open rebellion.  He hadn’t really expected to on the tour of course, but there weren’t any signs in town either.  No malcontent, no rallies, no announcements.  Heck, the local news network wasn’t even showing that much concern.  Just a 5 minute spot on the king’s health which was just quotes from the PR fluff that the palace gave to the media.  In fact he hadn’t heard one bad thing about the government since he’d been here.  “This might be a wild bantha chase, I wouldn’t put it past Saevita to send me on a pointless mission.  But how do I get inside to make sure?” Luke thought staring up at the plant.  It was a twisted pipe-ridden mess of a place.  Sure there were plenty of air ducts, but some would lead to the offices inside, and others could lead to the reactor.  There was no way to tell one from the other.  There was also the matter of armed guards, not uncommon for a large business to have security, but Luke had seen concussion rifles on some of them.  Those were heavy armaments for such small factory in a backwater town.  

Luke watched as a Hover Transport flew over the crowd and towards the security gate.  Luke decided to try and see if there was a way in through the loading dock.  Going through the gate obviously wasn’t an option.  Too many ways to be spotted, even at Force Speed, Luke could be shot.  “Better not to take chances” Luke thought, “Especially when I don’t know if anything’s wrong yet.”  There was a decorative tree line along the fence of the plant.  Luke wasn’t good at illusions, so fooling the guards minds was not an option.  He could use Force Speed, but he would have to time it just right.  “Damn, never a distraction around when you need one, well guess I’ll have to make my own.”  Luke commented to himself.  He walked away from the crowd, and hid behind the first tree.  He expanded his sphere of influence, feeling the force’s connection to the crowd, the trees, the guards and the guard’s weapons.  With a small gesture, Luke flicked his hand, and the guard nearest to him dropped his concussion rifle

“FRAK!” the guard cried out, and with another flick of Luke’s hand the trigger was pulled and the blast of concentrated energy was released.  The resulting explosion against the factory was just the distraction that he needed.  As all the guards ran to see what had happened, Luke let the force within himself concentrate in his legs and he took off like a shot.  To him the guards running to the charred scar on the orange factory were moving in slow motion, and if any of them had looked towards the tree line, he would only be a blur.  Using force jump, he leaped into the tree nearest the loading dock.  He landed crouched on the tree limb, bracing himself with his hand, his breath was rapid and haggard.  Using the force constantly is like flexing a muscle, only a skilled master could use it indefinitely, but Luke was no master.  

Taking out his macro-binoculars with his free hand, he let the device adjust focus as he zoomed in, he saw the transport had already backed up into the loading bay, in the time it took to make his distraction.  Droids were busy unloading the crates.  “Probably just some routine supplies.” He thought to himself.  He focused the binoculars more to try and get a closer look at the supplier name so he could verify what the shipment was.  “T-E-N-L-O-S…what the frak, it’s Tenloss!” Luke said shocked.  He checked the name again, getting the whole name in focus to be absolutely sure.  Tenloss was a weapons manufacturer, and they only made one model.  The very accurate, very illegal, Disruptor, a gun so powerful that a direct hit with a fully charged round can disintegrate a person in seconds.  “Well there may not be any government hostility here, but there is definitely something fishy.  It’s funny” Luke thought “…how illegal weapons smuggling is downgraded to ‘fishy’.  I guess its relative when your working for the most evil man in the galaxy.  Smuggling Disruptors is child’s play next to what Sythis is planning.”  Luke thought to himself as he scanned the outside of the complex.  A roof access ladder leading to a flat roof with a door was exactly what he was looking for.  No one was looking in his direction, the guards still occupied on the other side of the compound from his distraction.  “Time to get a closer look” Luke said to himself as he put away the binoculars and jumped out of the tree, drawing upon the force with ease to cushion his fall across the fence and into the compound.  “Wow, I feel great; guess I didn’t push myself as hard as I thought.” Luke thought to himself as he used force speed again to run across the yard and up the ladder.  If he would have looked back, Luke would have seen that amongst the flourishing green foliage of the tree he’d been sitting, there was now a patch that was turning golden brown and wilting.  

Approaching the door on the roof, Luke intended to just flick his fingers and be inside, but instead suddenly found himself wishing that the macrobinoculars had a higher zoom, or more specifically that he had his lightsaber.  The door was magnetically sealed from the inside, with no outside access point.  “Well Luke, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into.  On a roof your not suppose to be on, with a door you can’t open, and you can’t run back across the yard” he said to himself as he glanced back over the edge, “cause the guards are back at there posts.  Now what do you do hotshot.”  Trying to find an answer to this question, Luke started looking around.  “Ok, think, there has to be a reason for this door.  Some kind of control mechanism that someone would need to access, otherwise this is a really secure place to get a breath of fresh air.” Luke reasoned.  Searching the rooftop he found four large industrial fans, but no control box.  “Well, looks like the door is to check on the fans if they go down.  I think I can do that.”

An hour later and Luke was having severe doubts about his plan.  He had disabled the fans by holding their blades still with the force until the motors had broken.  Figuring the temperature would rise inside and they would send a maintenance worker up to investigate letting Luke slip in.  All he had to do was play the waiting game.  Problem is Luke was never very good at waiting.  “Patience is a virtue” his mother would say to him, to which Luke always quipped back “One that I don’t possess”.  As a kid he was so bad, that his parents would never let him order things off the holo-net.  They would rather take him to the store so that he wouldn’t drive them crazy while waiting for the item to arrive.  Things hadn’t changed much as an adult.  Luke hated waiting, it only made him anxious.  Wondering about all the possibilities of things going wrong.  More upsetting, it gave him time to dwell on the things he’d done.  “I have to make things right” he said to himself.  “Somehow”

Rubbing his eyes, he gazed out over the village.  From his vantage point he could see the banners being raised for the festival.  Booths were being set up for games of chance.  “Probably rigged” Luke thought.  He even saw a droid band starting to unpack.  “This thing might be fun after all.” Luke pondered.  His reverie was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.  “Friggin festival day, and I get called in on my day off to fix some blasted fans.  What do I care if the tourists are sweltering” the short heavyset man who had emerged from the door grumbled angrily.  “Probably some laser brained animal nibbling on the power cables again like last year”. As the man walked along, Luke held the door open with the force, and floated down, making sure not to make a sound.  He backed his way into the doorway, and before closing the door, he force pulled the worker’s keycard to his hand.  *Slam* Luke shut the door, and was plunged into darkness. He heard cursing through the door, and grinned slightly.  “Your turn to wait…”he looked at the id card with the light from his datapad “…Mr. Darvas Lemu” Luke said as he clipped the id card on his belt and descended into the refining plant.  Switching on his datapad, and letting the light guide him through the dark stairwell, Luke came to a door.  Opening it gingerly he slipped into a lit hallway.  It was empty, the floor orange and white tile in an alternating pattern, and cinder blocks for the walls.  He didn’t see anyone around, so he went into the maintenance closet which was directly in front of him.  There he changed into coveralls and grabbed the janitor’s cart.  If he ran into someone, hopefully the id badge and the disguise will give him some time before instantly being discovered.  Luke went to the first office door, and swiped the id card.  The door slid open with a hiss, and Luke found himself in a restroom.  “You need a security pass to take a leak?  Paranoid much?” Luke whispered to himself.

On he went, door after door, and in each one he found nothing.  No clues, no incriminating evidence, no people, nothing.  Even Kohler’s personal office yielded no useful info, except that perhaps he should actually turn his computer off when finished looking at porn on the holo-net.  “Looks like it was a wild bantha chase after all” Luke thought as he went to exit Kohler’s office.

“I don’t care if it’s festival day, I want the merchandise in storage now.  I’ll call you in a few minutes about the pick-up in Keren.” Luke heard from the hall.  Quickly looking around, Luke saw that Kohler kept his office surprisingly free of furniture.  “Frak!” Luke swore under his breath.  He knew he had seconds before Kohler opened the door.  Looking up he got an idea.  “This is gonna hurt.” He thought as he quickly slid two of the ceiling tiles away.  He crouched and force jumped his way towards the ceiling.  Knowing that he probably only had a few inches of clearance he rotated his body horizontally and landed on the four corners of the rectangle the tiles had made.  The ceiling creeked as his weight was added to the durasteel supports.  He heard the card reader beep, and the door start to open.  Using the last bit of concentration he could muster he slid the tiles back into position just as Kohler walked in.  The ceiling tiles were slightly grated, and Luke could make out the movement of Kohler as he walked over to the computer and woke it up from standby.  He quickly close the window of porn, and opened his dialer.  “Call Ogden” he stated.  The computer replied by changing the display and dialing the number.  After a few rings, the display changed to a hologram of what Luke assumed to be Ogden.  “Yes boss?”

“How did the proposal go with Saymin?” Kohler asked.

“Um, good boss, he took right to it, and relieved his captain of duty.  Then he went to see his friends in town.”

“And…”

“And then he got shot, Dunno what happened, but one of his friends is dead and I heard the last of them was arrested for shooting Saymin.”

“Where is the shipment?” Kohler asked forcefully.

“Unloaded and secure” Ogden replied

“The payment?”

“Turned up missing in the morgue I think, so sad what crooked law officers we got round here.”  Ogden commented while feigning disappointment.  

Kohler smiled, he had just gotten 90,000 credits worth of spice for next to nothing.  “You’ve done well Ogden, see the shipment makes delivery tomorrow at the usual time.”

“You got it sir, we’ll be there.”

Kohler hung up the line, and Luke silently asked whatever deity may be watching over Naboo that he would leave.  Luke was 6’2" and 235 pounds.  He was in good shape, but he didn’t know how long he could stay in the push-up position.  It had only been 90 seconds, and already he was shaking from the exertion of keeping his body in the position.  As if sensing Luke’s need, Kohler shut down his computer and pulled out his communicator, speed dialing a number, and started walking through the door.  “The shipment will be here first thing in the morning, so don’t go having too much fun tonight at the festival…” Kohler’s voice faded away as he walked out of the door.  Luke breathed a sigh of relief.  He slid the ceiling tiles away and hopped down.  His legs buckled from the strain they’d just been under and he landed very ungracefully on the floor with a thud.

“I don’t care if it’s their day off, they will come in, or they’ll be looking for new jobs.” Kohler shouted into his communicator.  He was a few steps away from his office and he heard a soft thud.  He looked down the hallway, but saw no one, then he noticed the janitor’s cart outside his door.  

Luke groaned as he rolled to one side and got up.  He had the wind knocked out of him, and his limbs were half numb.  He held his head to try and get his bearings.  He was about to stand up when the door flew open and Kohler leveled a gun at his head.

Bringing his communicator up to his mouth he said “Security we have an unauthorized guest.  Report to my office immediately.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

Koto continued to tap his hand his knee as he laid leaned against the wall opposite of the energy shield the holding cell.  There was no one else in the area except two guards adorned in security garbs, outside of the cell.  Earlier he attempted to contact the Nabooian guard right outside the cell, but didn’t get a response either because it was sound proof or the guard wasn’t listening.  

“How much longer till I get to speak to a blasted lawyer droid?” he yelled from the floor noticing the guards head turn slightly before turning back.  I know you can hear me he thought to himself, “Talk about nice people!”  The guard turned toward Koto for a moment staring at him as if sizing him up through the energy shield.  “Careful off-worlder, you are already in here for a murder charge.  Don’t give me the right to use excessive force.”  He gave a fake smile as he motioned his hand to his holster.  Koto slowly got up from his position as he walked up to the energy shield and stood within millimeters of the field.  

“Stand down.  You don’t want this kind of trouble.”  The guard said as he stood leaned closer to the energy shield.  Koto’s anger began to fill him as he felt more and more hopeless in back of the energy field.  The guard continued began to laugh as Koto who began to back away from the energy field.  He could feel his heart’s pace increase as his anger rose.  He now wished that the cell was sound proof, as he headed back to where he previously was.  

I wish I could just shut you up, he thought to himself he extended his hand forward and mimicking choking the guard.  The guard seemed to mock Koto as placed his arms around his throat as if gasping for air.  Anger now consumed Koto as he squeezed tighter.  The guard’s eyes widened as he dropped to one knee.  Koto still didn’t understand why the guard was playing along.  Soon he realized that it wasn’t a game, as the other guard rushed to the side of the struggling guard.  A feeling of familiar enjoyment now played in his mind as he kept the force grip on the guard.  

How and I doing this? Why am I doing this? The how and why soon disappeared as he was absorbed in the sensation he was feeling.  Something felt so similar, so right in what he was doing, he almost could recall doing this before in a similar circumstance.  The guard now curled over on the ground made a desperate attempt to the other guard and pointed to Koto.  Koto could now feel the throat of the guard through the energy shield and was determined to not stop until he had squeezed the life out of the man.  “Whose laughing now?” Suddenly the energy shield disappeared as five guards tackled Koto on the ground. “No!”  Koto shouted as he couldn’t concentrate nor feel the guard’s throat.  He struggled to rise however he was overpowered.  A slight pinch was felt in his neck as he quickly became tired.  He struggled to keep his eyes open however the darkness overpowered him and he passed out…

The next thing he knew Koto was in a strange black armor, his sight was impaired for he realized he was wearing a mask.  He quickly tried to pull the mask off, but wasn’t able.  He then realized that he was floating in air just off the ground on a forest planet with large stone buildings.  Where am I? The thought consumed him as he looked on and saw what seemed like a double of him observing a battle further away with two others, a brown skinned human female, and a young peach skinned human male, each with lightsabers drawn but not activated.

“Jaden get the ship, were not going to be stuck on this ill-fated planet. Jaskrr I hope you know how to use that.”  Koto struggled to make out the faces of the individuals, however his mask made him unable.  He saw the woman nod and head in a different direction as the double of him placed an arm on the young male’s shoulder.  He was whispering something to the young male that Koto couldn’t make out before the young man leapt forward igniting a blue and green light staff as his double ran forward igniting his dark red blade.  

“We’ve had him sedated since he attacked the guard.  We didn’t know what to do.”  Echoes of an unfamiliar voice were heard all around him as he watched others join forces against the Jedi.  “We didn’t know who else to ask for given the circumstances.”  He then saw his double being thrown into a thick tree.  Koto acted as if he could feel the hit himself.  “Wake him up I wish to have a chat with this man.”  The echoes sounded louder.  He watched him the double remove his mask in front of the young man from before who now had a broken arm.  Koto moved forward trying to see the face of the male dressed like him.  As he was just about to make out the face a large bright light blinded him and he found himself strapped to a table starring at a large lamp over his head.  Was that another dream?  He struggled to rationalize what had just happened as he squinted his eyes from the blinding light.

His vision became clear as he looked left and right to observe the room.  The room wasn’t that much bigger than the holding cell, he was strapped to the table in the middle, but there were now different people in the room.  “Where am I?”

“Leave us.”  A women’s voice said smoothly as Koto saw three guards move out of his view and soon heard a door shut.  Loud footsteps could be heard as a woman placed her hand on the edge of the table and began to walk around it.  The hands of a woman could be seen under a hooded outfit.  Suddenly Koto began to gasp for air.

“Tell me, do you enjoy being choked?”  The female voice said with aggression as Koto spasm in his restraints, struggling although powerless.  The pain Koto felt was unexplainable his chest felt like a thousand shards of steel were driving into his heart as his lungs struggled to not to stop.  He then saw her, a face that he recently saw what seemed like moments before.  His eyes expanded as he opened his mouth but words were coming out.  The female leaned forward her eyeless face seemed to get enjoyment out of this torture before standing back up and walking around the table.  Air, his first thought as the grip around his throat was released he coughed himself back to normal breathing.  “I guess not.”  The woman continued walking around the table with walking cane in hand.

“I, know you.”  His words seemed to stop the woman from her pace for a moment.  “But, you didn’t need that cane your, one of the Jedi from the forest planet.”  His words seemed to go faster than his thoughts. Maybe not, something about her seemed very different.  She was tainted with evil and Koto knew the familiar feeling far to well by now.

“I know you as well; you are the murderer of two people, one of my security guards.  You seem to enjoy causing trouble here on Naboo, I wonder on how many other planets are you such trouble.”

Koto let you a quick smirk that the guard hadn’t survived.  “If you can’t see through all the cameras you all have at the spaceport that what I did was in self defense you don’t deserve what ever power or authority you were deemed.  Now as I told your poor guard, how much longer till I get to see a lawyer droid!”  The woman seemingly laughed at Koto as she stopped facing away from Koto.  “You seem to think as if you have options.  You don’t know the way what is happening now.  I now own you.  I can order you to the space mines of Kessel for the rest of your life, or I can kill you right now.”  

“Then what’s stopping you?”

The woman ignited a familiar tool of his, a lightsaber.  A bright yellowish brown blade came from the hilt along with the familiar hum.  “Tell me do you know how to use this?”  Koto turned the other way as if ignoring her.  “Tisk, tisk, tisk.  Here I thought you were looking to walk out of here.”  Koto turned his head back to face her eyeless face.  “That’s better.  Now am I your master or your executioner?”  Koto wished that she was kidding however he knew that she wasn’t.  Although she didn’t posses eyes he knew that the evil smile in front of him wasn’t one to cross.  She leveled the lightsaber to his throat, “I didn’t hear an answer.”  Koto nodded reluctantly “I am yours my master.”  The hum of the lightsaber swung all around him as he stood still in shock.  Did she kill me, was that all for nothing?  He felt a pull against all his limbs as he was tossed off the table fell on the ground near the door at the foot of the eyeless woman.  “I hope your not as pitiful as the other one.”  She then turned and opened the door.  Koto got up smelling the burnt leather from the restraint the woman had cut moments before.  “What the hell….”  He sighed as he opened the door and followed the woman…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

In the back of the quiet, enclosed speeder, Saevita watched Koto with an eyeless stare. She was looking out the window, but her Sight was focused on him. She still held his lightsaber in her hand, but Koto made no move to take it. He kept looking out his own window, then back at her. They sat face to face; his knees were only a foot away from hers.

When Koto glanced at her for what might've well been the eighth time since they had gotten into the speeder, she spoke without turning her head.

"How many times can one man stare, Koto, before it can be called flirting?" She felt his emotions shift, and she smiled, looking back at him. "Do you think because I have no eyes that I am blind?"

He swallowed once. "No."

"I see this Universe better than you. I can see thoughts and intentions before you realize you've thought it. Guard your heart."

The man studied her, his gaze intense, before he nodded.

Saevita sat back, crossing her legs. "You understand that you are mine now?"

Tension squared his shoulders, but she sensed his mind working at lightspeed to choose his words carefully. She had the feeling Koto know he was dealing with a dangerous woman, liable to snap at one wrong word. "I don't even know who you are," he said after a moment.

Her full lips curved into a smile. "My name is Darth Saevita. Here, on Naboo, you will address me as Master Adena Tadrro. I am the apprentice of Darth Sythis… and another master who is of no concern to you now. If you want to stay out of a cell, you do as I say to help advance my Lord and Master's goals."

"What are Sith doing on Naboo?"

"Running things."

His handsome, dark eyes were inquisitive. "They control the palace?"

"I control the palace."

"But the King –"

"I am the King. Until Sythis arrives, anyway." She fingered the amulet at her throat.

Koto stared, then looked out the windows at the city gliding by. "The people don't know?"

"Of course they don't."

He fell silent. He looked back at her, then to his lightsaber and then back up to her face. "Aside from being out of a cell, what's in this for me? Say I do whatever it is you want me to do? What then? What do I get?"

Saevita smiled beautifully. "Ahhh, ambition." Setting the lightsaber on the seat, she pushed herself up and slid onto the seat beside him, her arm around his firm shoulders, her face close to his. "You obey my orders, you help me help my Master, and I will see to it that you get anything you desire. Money. Dark power. Glory. Fame." She leaned close, inhaling the skin of his neck. "And women."

His face was unreadable as he blinked slowly, staring at her. "And if I say no?"

Saevita took her arm from around his shoulders and slid it up the back of his skull, then gripped tight and forced his head back, exposing his neck. She eyed where his pulse beat beneath the skin, a waiting, fluttering thing just longing to be crushed. "Then all you will know is pain. You will end a broken man without a soul."

She expected him to resist, but he let her control the situation for now. The cords in his throat tightened as he swallowed. "Do you realize how limiting your options are?"

She chuckled and released him, sliding back into her seat with fluid grace. "I serve Lord Sythis, not myself. Just as he has given me only one true path, so I give to you."

He studied her with flashing eyes. "Door number one, then."

"I thought so." She extended his lightsaber to him. "Smart man. I like smart men."

He took it from her, held it.

She waved her hand at him. "You have a lightsaber, so I have faith you know how to use it. If I see you are too weak to hold your own amongst us, then you will suffer."

"I can take care of myself."

"I sure hope so."

He glanced out the window. "Did you pull me from my cell just because I can use a lightsaber?"

"I need a tool," she answered. "Prove yourself to me, and your value will increase."

"And how, Master, can I do that?"

Saevita chuckled and thought. An idea festered in her mind. It had been there for a few days and it might be good for Koto. After a couple minutes, Saevita smiled. "I know exactly what you can do." She folded her arms. "The last Sith occupation of Naboo went badly. The Sith were repelled in the end. The people in Theed express themselves openly – they always have – and there are some who brazenly preach against the Sith Order."

"You… want me to kill them?" He raised one eyebrow.

"Of course not. No one needs to die quite yet." She sat back. "Your first job will be simple. I want you to spend the rest of the day in Theed. Listen to the people talk. Don't mention the Sith unless opportunity rises, and I don't think it necessary to remind you to be discreet. I want you to find me a list of names of those who are opposed to the Sith. You will say nothing, but report back to me tonight. Do it… and I will reward you." Her voluptuous lips curved up in a smile. "So what do you say?"

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

When you’re staring into the barrel of a gun, priorities get rearranged pretty quickly.  Luke felt his fight or flight responses try and take over.  His pupils dilate, letting in more light, his surroundings became clearer, sharper, but all he could see was the blaster.  His tired muscles were suddenly flooded with energy, and the fact that he had the wind knocked out of him moments before was a faded memory.  Luke’s entire world revolved around the end of that blaster muzzel, and the finger attached to the trigger.  All the power that was in Luke for that second was useless, if Kohler had wanted him dead, Luke doubted that he could have done anything about it.  The next second however…was another story.

Luke took a deep breath and let the force flow into him, allowing him to calm down and think about the situation.  He had called for security, so he wasn’t going to kill him outright.  Some Jedi may try to mind trick their adversaries into turning over the gun.  Luke didn’t think this would work with Kohler.  He could easily force push Kohler’s arm up, and then knock him out, but then Kohler would know he was a force user, and it would only feed or create the very thing he was here to silence.  As long as the situation remained somewhat in control, Luke had to play his part.

“Who are you?” Kohler asked, his gun still trained on Luke.

“Uh uh, Darvas, Darvas Lemu sir.  I’m here to fix the fans.” Luke lied, the stuttering however was genuine, as he’d almost had forgotten the fake id he had.

Kohler went to bend in close.  Luke’s eye widened slightly, if Kohler moved the blaster away for even a second, he could disarm him.  Kohler must have seen Luke’s excitement because he backed away again and said “Throw me your id badge”.  Luke’s face visibly fell, and he clipped off the badge and tossed it at Kohler.  Snatching it out of the air, Kohler glanced at it, and said “Hmm Mr. Lemu, it appears you’ve lost 50 pounds and grew 6 or more inches judging from your pant lengths.  In his head Luke cursed his height.  

“Again, who are you and what were you doing in my ceiling?” Kohler said, his voice calm yet authoritative.  Luke swallowed hard, his mind was blanking, and his eyes looked around frantically for any covert way out of his situation.  No answer presented itself immediately, and Kohler was getting impatient, both with Luke and his security’s lack of response.

“Fine, don’t talk, I don’t need to know who you are or what you thought you heard, cause you won’t be telling anyone.  Not that anyone would believe you anyway.” Kohler added smugly.

A drop of sweat trickled down “Oh, yeah, well there’s just one problem with that” Luke said his hands still raised in the air.

“Oh, and what pray tell may that be?” Kohler asked mockingly

With a thought Luke used the force to gently flip a tiny metal lever.  “I’m going to get out of this.” Luke deadpanned.

“Oh yes, I see that you have the situation firmly in control.”

“I do actually” Luke said with a smirk, his eyes locked on Kohler’s.  

Kohler’s cheek flushed and he was clearly getting more irritated by the second.  “The impertinence, doesn’t he know who I am?” Kohler thought.  Checking his chrono, he tapped his foot again, security was behind the scheduled time, probably due to that explosion on the side of the building.  Now he knew who caused that, the arrogant whelp standing in front of him, claiming that he can escape when there is a blaster pistol pointed at his forehead.  Deciding to toy with the spy, Kohler blustered “I could just kill you right here you know.  No witnesses, I could say you put up a struggle, and no one would fault me.”

“You can’t, and you won’t” Luke stated flatly

Kohler’s eyes flared with rage at the sheer nerve of the young man standing before him.  Kohler slammed the muzzle into Luke’s head “Don’t test me boy!  What is there to stop me from pulling this trigger and ending your miserable obviously misspent life right now?”

Luke’s eyes were half shut with pain, and his teeth clenched in fury “The fact that your safety is still on” Luke growled.  The older man looked down to see the safety in the horizontal position, and before he could look back up he saw a blur of movement, and felt sharp pain in his stomach, causing him to drop his gun.

“Goodnight!” Luke said as he decked Kohler, knocking him out cold.  Luke used the force and ripped apart Kohler’s blaster.  "That hurt you arrogant prick" Luke spat rubbing his forehead.  “Ok time to get out of here." Luke thought to himself.  Kohler had seen his face and that meant a quick departure.  It looks like he wouldn't be making his date with Ana after all.  He regretted it slightly, he hadn’t been shared the company of the fairer sex in quite some time.  Saevita wasn’t exactly congenial company, not unless the definition of congenial company had been redefined as “sharing company with one who wishes you dead”.    It was probably for the best, he shouldn’t have accepted the date anyway.  Focusing back on his immediate problem, he looked out the window.  Kohler’s office was directly above the entrance to the factory.  The tours were still going on, and there were too many people to jump and have no one notice the incredible floating man.  Luke looked towards the ceiling, but immediately dismissed it as an option, unless he somehow became double jointed and mastered the force all in the next 2 minutes.  He could hear the security guards armored footsteps down the hall, he didn’t have much time.  He could fight his way out, but that would draw more attention then he wanted.  Luke considered hiding in the cart, and manipulating it with the force through the halls, and then quickly dismissed the idea, one blaster bolt through the thing and he’d be finished.  Guess he had to go with the only plan he could think of.  Run!

Luke bolted out the door, the guards were coming around the corner shouted “There he is, FIRE!”  Luke turned on the force speed, at this point he was past the line of keeping his identity a secret and saving his own skin.  His force perception let him feel the laser beams through the air in which they traveled, and through force speed, dodge them.  As he turned the corner he felt his ankle get struck by something and felt heat in his ankle.  He stumbled slightly but surprisingly found he could still run, he force ran to the emergency exit, and burst through.  The alarm started to blare around the whole factory.  Luke used the force to rip the jumpsuit off him so he didn’t have to slow down.  Crouching in a corner for a moment, he checked his ankle.  He thought that a stray bolt had clipped him, but upon closer inspection he found pink skin, warm to the touch.  Luke shook his head, he was sure he’d been struck.  “What the…?” Luke started to say, but his thought was interrupted by the door above him slamming open and the guards finding the discarded janitors uniform.

“Aw, well there goes our accurate description.” said the first guard through his comlink.

“Yeah, probably is walking out the front door right now with the rest of the tourists evacuating.  Guy’s smart I’ll give him that” the another replied

“And fast too, I mean whoosh type fast, didn’t even see if it was a dude or a chick.  I thought Garak clipped him, but I guess not.” The first guard commented as they turned around.

“Come on, let’s go wake up the boss and tell him, *the guard sighed heavily*he’s going to be hopping mad.”

“Maybe we could not wake him up…”

The rest of the guard’s conversation was lost as the door slammed shut.  Luke zipped up his boot, and did just as the guard had suggested.  He found a tour group that was evacuating, and tagged along behind.  He caught the last tram back to the village.  Now all he had to do was get out of town, and how hard could that be.   


TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

The day had already been full of enough excitement and Koto had a feeling there was more in store.  As he leaned forward using his elbows as support, he tried to not look at this woman whom now he was owned by.  Although she seemed evil and dangerous and almost killed him Koto couldn’t stop his emotions from finding himself very attractive to her.  Although moments before he yanked his head back and threatened to kill him,  Koto remained calm and let it play out.  For the tenth time since they left the holding cell and his eyes began racing up and down her body and always seemed to stop at her full sexy lips.  Although this seemed crazy he seemed to have a slight crush on Saevita something about a beautiful dangerous woman who would kill you seemed to excite Koto.  Her outfit a Jedi’s garb did leave much to the imagination however in Koto’s mind the thoughts of her naked body ran around in his mind as much as a scared womprat.  Women, Koto thought, the only one I want to see is you in dancers garb.  He let a smile out as he snapped back from his dream world into reality.  

“I will do as you please Master Adena Tadrro.  But you must first give me something.  He leaned in closer.  Two can play at this game Koto thought as he was face to face with her.  Koto braced for a force choke as he moved closer yet Saevita seemed to let this play out.  Maybe there is something to her that I don’t know.  Right when his lips were about to touch her he had a firm grip on what he wanted.  “My lightsaber…”  Koto said with a smile as he leaned back to his side of the transport.  Immediately Saevita let out a evil grin.  “Try your best to tempt Koto, but you will fall short until you have completed what I ask.”  

“What is that suppose to mean?”  Koto asked in a confused tone.  The transport stopped and all Saevita said was “This is your stop.”  Koto resolved that she wasn’t saying anymore and departed the private transport.  As soon as he got off he watched the outline of Saevita through the outline for any movement or anything yet he received none as the transport sped off down the street.  He opened his brown jacket he was wearing and placed the lightsaber close in an inside pocket before setting off into the busy streets of Theed.  Although there were many distractions present Koto continued to walk past vendors and Nabooians wondering if she had somehow knew what Koto was thinking and planned that all along.  Back in the holding area she was a bad ass bitch who seemed like she would kill you without a second thought.  On the transport she seemed more in control and less cruel as she only threatened his life once.  Koto stopped in the middle of the street placing his hands on his sides, looking up.  She did, with that revelation Koto could do nothing but laugh it off as he began to understand the lure of the dark side.

He wondered the extent of her control and quickly resolved that he didn’t know and set off to find any individuals that might have more than just a simple opinion about the Sith.  For thirty minutes he walked around the main streets of the city hearing many conversations that he didn’t even want to hear.  After hearing another story about some type of trouble occurring in a city on Northern hemisphere of the planet Koto resolved that he was seemingly off the hook on what happened earlier.  Either Saevita had more pull on this planet than first thought, or someone else was causing problems on this planet.  And here I thought Naboo was non-corrupt planet.  With a positive perception on his objectives he walked past a few cantinas.  With large bouncers at the doors.  A thought passed Koto as he attempted to enter.  He was met with a palm three fourths the size of his head.  

“You cannot pass.  This is reserved for government personnel only.”

Koto wondered if he should put up a fuss, however something told him that the bouncer wouldn’t care and might make Koto’s body a little swollen.

“I apologize, I am new here.  I was just looking for a place where I can get something to eat.”

As if by cue his stomach began making moans of hunger.  The bouncer looked at Koto then pointed down the street.  “Go down two blocks, there’s a diner that’ll have something for you to eat.”  With an affirmative nod Koto turned and began walking down the street.  If Saevita wanted him to play spy for her, he needed something to eat first.  

When he reached the destination the bouncer had given him his stomach moaned again but not in satisfaction.  The diner looked more like a hole in the wall that you would find on one of those outer-rim worlds as oppose to the artistic and lively city streets of Theed.  What is that smell? Koto thought as his face turned into disgust.  He summoned up his strength and proceeded into the hole in the wall.  Inside the light were dimly lit, the persona seemed more like refugees than citizens.  In the middle was a bar filled with different species drinking and conversation with one another.  Koto pulled his brown jacket closer as he folded his arms and walked forward to the bartender.

“Excuse me…Excuse me…EXCUSE ME.” Koto finally yelled that got the attention of the bartender.  “What type of food do you all have?”  The bartender looked at him for a moment before throwing a menu in front of Koto.  As Koto began reaching for the menu, a man tapped Koto on the shoulder.   

“You don’t want to eat here off worlder, the last guy that ate here had to go to the hospital and have his two stomachs pumped.  Koto instantly dropped the menu.  “Where should I go then?”  The man who had an implanted eye just shrugged.  “Try near the palace; usually around the capital the food is better because of all the tourist.  But hey the food may be expensive, but you don’t have to die over it.”  With an affirmative nod Koto left the hole and the wall immediately smelling fresh air once more that didn’t smell like a wet bantha.

Minutes passed as Koto made his way toward the palace although the palace was a huge monument it seemed like every street he passed he wasn’t any closer; and his stomach reminded him.  Saevita, couldn’t you get me some public transportation at least. Koto remarked to himself as he looked up and still saw the castle seemingly as far away as when he started two hours ago.   Okay they have to get a better system.

He finally reached the palace feeling like he just lost a pound from walking so far.  The sweat trickling down his bald head as he saw a transport ship land thirty feet to his left.  “You gotta be kidding me.”  He slowly dragged himself to the front of the transport where the pilot was.  “Where does this go to?”

The droid driver just looked at Koto: Sir the Naboo Public Transport Destinations include Theed Capital, Vis, Keren, Moenia, Selton, Kaadara, Dee’ja Peak Parrlay, New Centrif, Spinnaker, and Harte Secur.

“Where were all of the transports within the past hour I’ve been walking.”  Koto declared obviously upset.   

Sir our transports run every 15 minutes every day.  Did you have the chance to go by our information booths located through out the city.  These booths give detailed information about Naboo, exciting dinning locations, events, and key spots on this planet.  It also list how long before the transport is going to arrive.

Koto looking dumbfounded looked at where the droid pointed and immediately realized he saw a couple of those artistic huts along his grueling walk and he walked in and out of streets.  Koto upset and frustrated stepped off the transport walking away before he strangled the pilot droid.  Angry and frustrated he felt as if fate playing a cruel joke on him in general, shattered memory, cruel Saevita crush, and now walking through this city.  Although cursing fate for its joking nature towards him he new he still had to play low profile; he would have to continue on.

He left the street and headed towards a decent looking diner.  Since he had no money, he had no intention of purchasing the food so now it was a waiting game for a poor sap.  Koto leaned against a wall opposite diner which didn’t seem to cause any attention of the Naboo authorities down the street.  Five long minutes of stomach moaning past before Koto saw a Naboo male stubble into the dinner.  A drunk, could it get any easier.  Fate seemed to always compensate him for the games it played on him and he knew that this was one of the compensations.  As soon as the man sit down Koto raced in back of the man.  “Hey buddy, mind if I join you?”  Koto said with sincerity in his voice.  The man looked at him up and down “No, I don’t like you offworlders!”  Koto in the mood for wanting to choke the man for saying no, instead put his hands in front of him showing the universal submission.  “Hey I mean no harm I just wanted to have a conversation with a person from Naboo.  So far I’ve gotten a terrible response and was about to give up but I figured someone in Naboo has hospitality.  I’ll go now.”  Koto put on his most sincere act and he could tell that this drunk was starting to feel sorry for him.  As he turned and began to walk.  “Wait, offworlder!”  The man said in a loud tone.  Gotcha Koto then turned and walked back towards the drunk.  “I can’t have you thinking everyone on Naboo is so uptight like the bureaucrats at the palace.  I’ll tell you what it is to late to have a drink with me Lord knows I’ve had enough today, but we can have a conversation over some food right?”  Koto let a faint smile come on his face as he nodded in agreement.  “Well sit your ass down and tell me what you’re doing here on Naboo.”  

Koto didn’t see any harm in telling the man about the truth; it seemed less likely than any story he could make up anyways.  He told the story of how he ended up in a holding cell on Naboo, while Koto ordered enough food to feed three wookiees.  “I can’t believe that happened, so all that mess this morning was your work.”  Koto immediately felt as if he had said too much and just nodded as he stuffed some more food in his mouth.  The drunk man let out a laugh as he slapped the table obviously the alcohol still fresh in his system.  “Son you have one active imagination.”  Koto did not acknowledge nor deny the story and instead switched the conversation to the man.  “So tell me what you did today?”  The man thought about it for a moment and then just shrugged “I got fired.”  Koto was half way shocked, then realized the guy must have been drinking his pain away.  

“Why?”

“I think it was a long time coming.  I worked in the palace, you know hush, hush stuff.  My boss told me if I am late one more time, then I’m fired.  I swear I got there only five minutes late, but he still fired me.  The nerve right.”

Koto said nothing and just stared at the man.  This man could actually help me out.  He might have something I may be able to use.

“I tell you offworlder, I should just blow the whole thing up and leak the dirty secrets I’ve learned over the years.  To the holonet news” The man said with vengeance in his tone.

Koto’s eyes lit up.  “Secrets…”  The man looked at Koto “Secrets, election fraud, half breeds, scandals, you name it I heard it.”  

“I’m sure if you did that though you might become one of your hush hush things.”  Theman looked cock eyed at Koto then scarred.  “My, God are you one of them. Answer me offworlder!”  Koto let out a confused look.  “No, like you said I AM AN OFFWORLDER.”  The man seemed to comprehend this, “I’m sorry its just you don’t know who your friends are and then you find you wife with a Twi’lek shutta and she lies to you saying there learning dance moves and-”  The man drifted into a frantic shouting game with himself as he began telling all the problems in his life.  Great, now I have a cry baby, Koto thought to himself as the man began to cry as he spoke and soon Koto couldn’t even understand what the guy was saying as the drunk was absorbed with tears.  Koto looked around and smiled reassuring those who were now focusing on them that the situation was ok.  

“Hey buddy it happens what is important is what you do after words right?”  Koto hoped the words would help this whining drunk from crying, but it seemed to make it worse as the man began wailing uncontrollably.  “Forget it.”  Koto said as he got up leaving the crying drunk at the table and exited the diner.  How do I get such bad luck?  Koto thought to himself as his stomach began to moan once more. I’ll get you some food stop making so much noise he told himself.  He looked up to the sky “What now?”  The grey clouds seemed to loom over Theed and within seconds Koto felt rain drops coming down on him.  With no food for his stomach, no leads for Saevita, and no shelter from the rain, Koto wondered could this day get any worse.

A quick chirp on his comlink made Koto shake his head back and forth as he reached in his pocket.

“Koto I expect that your mission is going well.  I have another task for you to complete…”

The female voice on the com was cold and Koto knew just who it was.  He just sighed and agreed.  “I’m all ears master…”

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

Luke breathed a sigh of relief as the Hover-Tram came to a stop.  Stepping off into the town square Luke saw that the festival was in full swing.  Their was the droid band that he’d seen earlier playing a slow melody that couples were slow dancing to on the dance floor.  Luke started to walk towards his hotel, but stopped at the Tram operator first to ask about the train.  “Excuse me Sir” Luke called out.

“Yes?” the elderly gentlemen

“Can you tell me when the next train leaves here?” Luke asked leaning against the Tram

“Um…oh oh ya, that I can” the man said proudly.

Luke cocked one eyebrow and added “…And that would be…”

“Oh right, sorry, 5am” the old timer stated as he hopped off the Tram and locked it up.

“5am?  What do you mean; there are no more trains tonight?”

“Well now dat depends on whether you consider 5am da night or da morning, but no trains till then no, the whole town shuts down for the festival.  Yep, no work, no train, no nothin, it’s the best day of the year he he.” the aged soul said.

Luke ran his hand through his hair in frustration and flopped against the Tram.  “Well that’s just great.”  Luke thought to himself.  

“Oh don’t you worry about dinner sonny, the shops take their goods to the festival.  Everything is free; you can eat as much as you want.”  The Tram driver said trying to comfort Luke.

“Thanks, but food is the last thing I’m concerned with right now.” Luke said trying to figure out how he was going to hide from Kohler until 5 am.  “I guess I’ll just go to my hotel and sleep until the train comes.”  Luke said to no one, figuring that Kohler would look for him at the festival.

The Tram driver turned back to Luke and added “Your hotel is probably closed to, they all shut down till midnight.”  

“Of course they do, why wouldn’t they” Luke said as he spread his arms wide in frustration.  Luke checked the time, and noted it was 7:30.  “Guess I’m going to the festival after all.” Luke thought to himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke was circulating through the crowd at the festival, he was following the old man, whose name was Maury he learned.  As Maury talked about festivals past, Luke was spreading his sphere of force awareness out to try and see an attack before it came.  But everywhere he felt happiness and warmth.  It was almost a foreign feeling to him after being around the frigid Sith for so long.  The entire town was partying in the streets, and everyone was having a great time.  There was free food for all, a droid band playing music that you could hear for blocks away, and a dance floor that cover half the town square had been set up in front of them.  As he sat down at the makeshift bar with Maury, he ordered a drink.  Luke was in a big pickle, the closest town was 100 clicks away and with his hotel locked, he couldn’t even get his lightsabers.  Sure he could break in, but not with people all around town in the streets dancing, someone was sure to notice him, and if his room was the only one vandalized, he would surely be suspect, and there was no point in trying to get away with any of that if he couldn’t procure transportation.  Maury started going on about the band, and how he missed live performers, but Luke was barely listening as he nodded his head.  He scanned the crowd, trying to see if Kohler of one of his goons was approaching.  Luke knew that he hadn’t hit Kohler that hard, and he’d be up soon.  He was trapped, and he wasn’t smart enough to think his way out.  Then, something caught his eye, nothing dangerous, but intriguing.  Only a swish of strawberry blonde hair at first, but he soon found its source, dressed in a white dress with an emerald design on the bodice, and matching trim.  Her shoulders were bare, and her hair done so that it fell only on her left side.  She was absolutely stunning, and Luke suddenly remembered why he’d agreed to the date in the first place.  Suddenly, Kohler, his mission, and all his worries and tribulations vanished.  As far as he knew, Ana was the center of his world.

“Lookin at Ana” Maury said elbowing Luke

Luke blushed a little but didn’t reply.

Maury just smiled “Don’t be embarrassed, I’m looking too” Maury said with a laugh.

Luke gave him a look, and commented “You Dog, she’s young enough to be your daughter, maybe even granddaughter.”

“Actually, funny enough she almost…” Maury started, but Luke had stopped listening by now, and walked towards Ana.  She was dancing in the street with a little girl, who ran away as Luke approached.  Luke stepped up to Ana and looked sheepish.

“Aye, well look at yoo, finally decided to show yer face did ya" Ana said putting an arm on her hip.
 
"Yeah, sorry I'm late" Luke replied giving a sheepish grin.
 
Ana crossed her arms "So where were ya then?"
 
"Oh, I was at the factory, and lost track of time, when I realized the time, I hopped the Tram as fast as I could.  You can ask Maury, he's right over there." Luke gestured towards Maury for emphasis.   
 
"You know Maury then do ya, he such a sweet old guy isn't he?" she asked softening a little.
 
"Yeah, he seemed real nice over the last ten minutes." Luke said trying humor to lighten the mood, but it didn't seem to go over as well as he'd hoped.
 
Ana twisted her body as if pondering a decision.  The motion made her dress swish back and forth, and Luke once again admired how lovely it was on her.   "Yeh know what, I have a right mind to tell you to stuff off you know."
 
"And I probably deserve it" Luke replied
 
"She leaned a little closer and asked "Caan yeh think of a reason why I shouldn't now?"
 
Luke perked up, and said "I can give you two." He started putting on his best puppy dog eyes "One, I'm really sorry…and two…you seem to be short a dancing partner."
 
"You dance then do ya" she asked
 
"Aye I do" Luke responded impersonating her accent.

As if in coercion with Luke, the droid band started playing a long opening to a chortling jig, produced mostly by inflated plaid colored bags from their chests.  Luke extended his hand and raised an eyebrow.  Ana paused for just a moment, and then slid her hand gracefully into his.  They walked onto the dance floor with many other couples.  The men were lining up on the left side of the stage and the women on the right.  As the couples arranged themselves, the droid bandleader cued the music to change to a steady rhythm perfect for dancing.  They bowed to each other, and Luke put the next part of his ill-conceived plan into action.  See he knew how to dance a little, but he didn’t know this type of dancing well at all.  Through the force he would try to feel where the dance was going, all the men were planning on making the same movements at the same time, so in theory it should help.  “Should…” Luke silently reminded himself.  He tried to remember his grandfather’s teaching, what was it he’d said, something about the force can control your actions if you let it.  

“Well, here goes nothing” Luke thought.  He immersed himself in the force, and just let it flow into and around him, encompassing his whole body and connecting it to the floor, the other dancers, and to Ana.  It wasn’t perfect, and Luke screwed up a few steps, but it was enough to get an idea of what he should do.  They danced as the song continued shuffling up and down the stage, their footsteps adding to the music’s melody creating a melding of high pitched warbling and stomping feet that somehow made beautiful music.  Suddenly, just when Luke was getting the steps down pretty good, the beat hit a high note, and then suddenly shifted into a much faster paced song.  Ana looked excited, and grabbed Luke, apparently this was the couple’s part of the dance, and Luke relied on the force to guide his feet in where to stand, and how to step.  The couples twirled once, then fell into step next to each other, Luke facing the right, and Ana facing the left.  The chortling bag instrument which had been leading the song continued with the accelerated beat, but the other members of the band now took over the lead.  As the wind instruments and drums kicked in all the couples joined palms, and danced clockwise in a circle to the beat.  They reverse and danced counterclockwise for a bit, and then the respective sexes went to the far end of their respective sides during the chorus.  Luke and Ana were front and center which only added to Luke’s nervousness, but the sense of joy he was feeling through all the dancers over shadowed his own fears.  The band leader playing the bagged instrument from its chest faced the women and the song changed to a slower version of the chorus and the girls danced to it, and then the band leader hopped to the guys side and they danced to it, each set of steps bringing them closer to the center.  The last two rounds of this as they drew closer, the music changed slightly, and the girls added a little spice to their ending by shaking their hips, and a look to the guys that said “top that”.  Not to be outdone, the guys twirled in place and added a clap to their ending.  The girls countered with a high lick and twirl of their own, and ended with their faces away and their hands outstretched towards the guys.  Luke felt the steps his had to do, it was the basic stomp and rhythm that most of the dance had been about, but at the end he felt the overwhelming urge to kneel, and as he did so he was face to face with Ana’s fingers.  Following the other guys lead, he took her hand gently in his, and kissed it.  The dance ended, and the couples embraced, and the audience of festival goers cheered and applauded.

“Aye, you were right, that was a good reason” Ana said as she walked off the stage with Luke.

“Told ya” Luke grinned at the beautiful woman on his arm.  He was about to try and kiss her when the roar of swoop bikes was heard in the distance.  Luke looked up and saw Kohler and two others riding swoops towards the center of the festival.  They tore up the main street, making people jump out of the way to avoid being flattened.  

“Shit” he cursed.

“What is it?” Ana asked him

“Trouble with a capital K” Luke comment as he started looking for exit roots.

“Shite” she echoed

The swoops skidded to a stop right in front of Ana and Luke.  Kohler hopped off and pointed at Luke.  “Officers, arrest that man!” Kohler shouted pointing at Luke.  “And could you please ask Mr. Jaden Hakkon to get his hands off of my wife while your at it!”                


  



   
TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

From the moment Luke had seen Kohler approaching he was looking for escape routes.  "Ok if I force push them down, and then jump up to the flagpole.  If I can hang on, then I can swing to the roof, and make it back to the hotel.  If I can get my lightsabers I might be able to make it out of this…what was that about wife?"  Luke thought as he looked around the square and then back at Ana.  But in the short time since the accusation, Ana had crossed the square and just as Luke looked up, slapped Kohler as hard as she could and spit at his feet.
 
"Oh right, your still playing hard to get." Kohler countered recovering from the swat and looking her in the eye.  "You may not want to marry me anymore, but you will be mine Ana" then lowering his voice so only she would hear "…or you won't be anyone's".  Ana began to protest, but Kohler just walked by her, and towards his accused.  Luke had been riveted in place while the squabble unfolded, and now that it had concluded he remembered that he was supposed to be fleeing, but found himself quickly restrained by two officers of Nabooian law, and brought down to his knees.  

 "How's your situation look now Mr. Hakkon?" Kohler taunted as he approached the struggling Luke fist raised.  Luke had his eyes closed in concentration building the force within him to release and throw his would be captors back.  He was two seconds from unleashing the blast of force energy and revealing his identity to most of the population of Sterling when he heard "Hold it Kohler".  Kohler stopped in mid stride and turned to the person who would dare command him; Luke also turned and stared at the newcomer.  "I trust you were going to notify a judge before you carry out a sentence?" the man said stepping out of the crowd.

 Kohler raised up to his full 5'11" of height, and replied, "Good evening Judge Slade.  I didn’t know you were in town, what brings you all the way from Theed?”

“The festival of my home town, and it was turning out to be a pretty darn good one, till you showed up.  What are you up too?” the tall Judge replied.

“I was merely apprehending a criminal, making a citizen's arrest." stated Kohler

 Luke watched the gray-haired Slade walk into the square with a strong and sure stride, he spoke with a gruff baritone which commanded authority, his accent wasn’t northern Naboo, surprisingly it seemed that he was either an off-worlder or from Theed.  He looked down at Luke as he past, but then focused his attention back to Kohler.  "I see, so you were just being a good citizen."  The judge turned back to face Luke and gave him a once over.  "Well, it seems you've apprehended a dangerous criminal.  How good of you to come and arrest an unarmed young man, who's only crime seems to be dancing with your one time fiancé.”  The crowd giggled at the Judge’s observation.

 Kohler waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss the accusation.  "Please, do you believe me to be so petty?" Kohler asked rhetorically.

 "If the boot fits." The judge replied softly.

 With a huff, Kohler marched over to Luke and thrust his finger towards him.  "He broke into my factory and assaulted me.”


“Do you have proof of this?” Slade asked arms folded.  Luke was about to respond, but the judge beat him to it.


“I saw his face, it’s him.”  Kohler said getting redder with frustration.

“Ah, well nuff said, case closed, take him away” the Judge said waving his arm grandly.  The two men holding Luke started to hoist him up, and the Judge held up a hand, and lowered it slowly, and the men complied returning Luke to the ground.  

“So, was anything stolen during this burglary?” Slade asked Kohler.

“Not that I’ve seen so far.” Kohler knew better to lie to Judge Slade, if this ended up in court, everything had to be legit.  

“Ah, so what yer saying is, that this young man snuck past that little private army you got up there.  Managed to bypass your fancy pants security system, passed up the cash and merchandise you have on hand.  Went to your office with the sole intention of giving you a shiner; then he evaded your security forces again, came down here, and danced in the middle of town square.  The gall, the absolute gall.”  Slade said shaking his finger at Luke and going “tsktsktsktsktsk”.  A roar of laughter rang from the crowd.  Even Luke chuckled; it would sound preposterous…if he hadn’t just done it.

“I find it an exceptional story Judge Slade, especially since me and my new boyfriend here spent the entire afternoon at my house.” Ana spoke up as she stood next to Luke.  Luke didn’t know why he deserved such a gesture, but he was thankful for it none the less.

“You Liar!” Kohler cried out

“Prove her wrong Kohler.  Show me hard evidence, and I’ll try him, but just cause you own half the town, doesn’t mean you can come down here, and do whatever you damn well please” the Judge said inches from Kohler’s face.

“Son, son!” Maury started crying out from the crowd.  Maury came panting out of the crowd.  

“Dad, not now, I’m busy.” Kohler said dismissing his father.

Luke’s eyes went wide, Maury was Kohler’s father.  “That’s it, I’m screwed!” Luke thought.

“No, no, I have…” Maury coughed and wheezed, as the running had worked his lungs much harder then was normal.  

“Dad, you’ve had a hard day driving the Tram, I know you want to help, but I think it’s too much for you, so why don’t you go have a pint.”  Kohler said as he gestured to the other men on the swoops.  He mouthed “Get him out of here”, and the men started to take him away.

Maury wheezed, and then got an indignant look in his eye.  “Fine, settle it yerself sonny.” He said as he was led away.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief, but straightened up again as the judge approached.  “Now son, did you do any of this?” the older man asked.

“No Sir, I was with Ana all day, like she said.” Luke said as convincingly as he could.  He didn’t even try and lace the words with the force.  This man’s will was far too strong willed to be influenced so easily. Slade looked into his eyes long and hard, and then stood to address the crowd.  “Attention citizens of Sterling, it is my decision as Judge of this town that Jaden Hakkon be released into Ana Subee Pfingterrion-Bigelopose’s custody until 10am tomorrow.  At that time, if Kohler Fignerm cannot produce adequate evidence, the case will be dismissed.  As a Jury of their peers, what say you?”  

A great resounding “AYE!” echoed through the crowd.

“All opposed?” the Judge said looking at Kohler who raised his hand, along with his men.  The Judge smiled, “The ‘AYEs’ have it!”, the crowd roared and Judge Slade concluded with “Now let get this festival back on track.”

The crowd began to disperse, and Luke was let up, he stretched his arms, and enjoyed Ana’s hug of relief, whether it was genuine or not.  The judge walked over to him and leaned close.  “Off the record son…did you slug that son of a bitch?”

Luke smiled, “I have no recollection of what my fist was doing at the time Sir.”

“I see, carry on then.” The Judge said as he calmly walked away.

Kohler retreated to his swoop, and whisper to his men “Call the asset, I want him here in 2 hours.”

Ana hugged Luke in celebration, and as they looked into each other’s eye, Luke said “So it seems we have a lot to talk about.”

“Aye, we do” Ana responded.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

Koto grudgingly accepted “It will be done my Master…”  As he slipped the comlink that his master had given him back into his worn tan jackets inside pocket before looking up to one of the beautifully designed Theed buildings whose green dome was adorned with a gold ring.  Thirty minutes, that’s all I have?!? The levels of authority that his master had over him didn’t sit well with him, yet he could do nothing more than obey.  He was a slave, stuck to heed his mastery will.  If he were to act up he knew she would send the entire Naboo security force after him and they wouldn’t stop until he was dead.  He would have to follow her into hell if she willed it.  It would be pointless to attack her, yet the thought still went through his mind for a split second.  For now the only thing he could do was find this bounty hunter and bring him before her within 30 minutes.  With that he proceeded to head to the spaceport and await the arrival of a contact by the name of Abiik Verd.

He approached a transport and climbed aboard en route to the spaceport.  Along the trip he constantly was trying to figure out who this person even was.  Were they here to help him with his memory, or was he just another drone for his master.  Could he possibly even be a new threat for Koto’s newly appointed position?  What ever it was Koto was going to be cautious.  Numerous beautifully crafted building became a blur as the transport accelerated faster.  By the time he reached Theed’s Spaceport, he gave up trying to analyze Darth Saevita’s motives.

For five minutes he sat in the Theed Spaceport Authority Control Room monitoring the starships that were arriving and leaving from the Theed Starport.  Finally he felt relieved as he noticed an unidentified ship proceeding to enter orbit.  From the description his master had given him this was the correct ship.  “Tell that ship they have permission to dock in hanger G66.”  Koto didn’t wait for the authority officer to confirm before leaving the room and heading down the hallway to elevator for hanger 66.  As elevator slowed to a halt two task force officers approached from behind.  Koto didn’t even care who they were, the only thing he knew was that Saevita must have sent them, no one else would dare have the audacity, or frankly knew where or what he was doing.  The elevator doors slipped open as he turned and activated the button labeled 66.  As the elevator slowly descended, Koto could see through the glass the ship coming into the hanger.

A large interceptor made its way into the hanger through the shield and soon shut down.  A whistle was heard from over Koto’s shoulder from one of the guards.  “Nice piece of work huh?” Koto did not reply and just looked forward at the ship as the elevator slowed to a halt.  

The doors arose from the ground into the ceiling as Koto walked forward followed by two Theed Security Task Force Officers.  As they approached they could hear the light hiss of the pressure valves of the ramps as it descended.  Within seconds an armored figure walked down the ramp stopping only for a moment to observe his surroundings.  “Welcome to Theed, I was told to bring you to my master.  Follow me to the transport.”

The armored figure didn’t respond, instead just walked up to Koto.  Koto didn’t know what to make of it.  He actually felt a bit uneasy with this stranger being so close in vicinity that he was tempted to place hand over his lightsaber but recalled that this one was to be unharmed and escorted.  He only let out a brief smile.  “Careful friend, my master wants you alive.  Let’s not risk that.”  

Koto then turned and proceeded followed by the guards and Abiik back to the elevator.  Koto tried to sense this figures intentions however he felt nothing, perhaps his mind was still in recovery, perhaps this figure was blocking him.  Certainly that wasn’t far fetched from this mysterious figure.  The elevator slowed to a halt before opening.  The four figures entered and the elevator accelerated up until it reached the hallway.  

They soon arrived at the entrance of the spaceport.  The day seemed to clear up and Naboo was back to its regular sunny beauty.  Koto took a great deep breathe.  “Ah fresh air, you know Naboo is quiet a beautiful place.”

“You got that right.” One of the guards said.  Koto looked over the shoulder, “What are you waiting for? Fetch a transport?” he yelled in an angry tone.  The soldier quickly jumped as if startled, “Yes sir.”  The guard quickly proceeded forward and summoned a transport.  Once the transport arrived the guard motioned for them forward and entered the transport.

“Take me to Tadrro’s location.  She is expecting us.”  The driver nodded as the transport sped up heading back to the palace.

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

Saevita shut the comlink off and slammed it on the table, rubbing her eyes. I swear to all the Lords before me, she vowed, if the newcomer is another useless bastard, I may just kill him and eat him outright.

A soft, dark chuckle sounded in her mind. "Complain not, Miraluka. There is never anything wrong with more pawns to play with on your game board."

She rolled her eyes knowing maybe Nihilus could see her and maybe not. Either way, she sank into her seat by the window and considered what to do.

She was dressed loosely in not a Jedi's robe but a rather nice silk dress – black, of course – provided by the ever-weakening Kind of Naboo. It was Theed style and quite luxurious, and despite herself, she actually looked the part. With her hair braided back and a black scarf draped over her hair and shoulders to cover her eyes, with the graceful lines of the low-cut dress and the beautiful Sith amulet resting on her chest just above the curves of her breasts, she looked like nobility. She looked like a King's aide.

"You see, Miraluka?" came another chuckle. "Do the Sith not promise wealth and power? This is only the first step…

"I never argued that point," she said softly, leaning back against the window sill, resting casually in the window seat.

As she gazed out the window at the splendor of Theed, her thoughts drifted to Koto. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how she felt about him. She wanted to grind him under her high heels like she did Luke, wanted to make sure that she would not be used and abused, would not be a master to be overthrown.

But a part of her kind of enjoyed the way he called her "master." A part of her liked his eyes.

Eh, she thought, shrugging outwardly. He's submissive and he does what he'd told. I probably shouldn't maim him unless he picks up Luke's attitude.

Which, for his sake, he'd better not.

And what of the new arrival to Naboo? What would Sythis say? Would he be pleased with her for adding to their cause, or angered that she hadn't asked his permission? Well, he couldn't be too mad. He would know first and foremost that it wasn't as though she had any kind of attachment to them. If he didn't like them or he wasn't satisfied, she'd kill them. Simple as that.

Thoughts of Sythis brought other thoughts to her mind. How quickly could she get Tymen to resign his post? Or perhaps the more important question was how could it be done so the fewest people questioned or objected to the change?

Of that she wasn't sure. Maybe she would have Koto prove his worth by thinking of something good. Hell, maybe the new guy was better at politics. Saevita wasn't ashamed to say that she was more into the assassinations involved in politics than the actual politics themselves.

There came a knock on the door. Saevita looked up, then pushed her Sight through the door ahead. A servant girl was knocking.

"Come in."

The door opened, and the young girl stepped in. "Madam Tadrro, your apprentice has just arrived. He has a guest with him. Shall I send them up?"

Seavita smiled. "Of course you may. Send them in."

As the servant left, Saevita smiled to herself. Time to meet the new one…and see just what he's worth.

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

"Aye we do" she responded "…but not right now.” She said coyly.  

“Not right now?” Luke replied cocking one eyebrow in confusion

“Aye, after all “that” I need a wee bit of fun before I splain it all.” she said as she ran her hands through her hair, and shook it out as if to shake loose the negative emotions contained within.  “Sides, this may be your last night of freedom.  Don’t you want to have a little fun while ya still can?” she added raising her eyebrows to emphasize her point.

Luke gave her a side long glance, and then broke into a wide smile.  He felt the stress of the last few moments beginning to wash away from him.  Though Luke wasn’t too worried about a trial that would not occur, he said “Why not, might be my last chance to have fun for a while.”

With that Ana took Luke’s hand and started leading him through the festival.  The couple partook of the food stands as Ana pointed out little facts about their surroundings as they went.  Luke obligatorily tried all the dishes Ana suggested, which all seemed to contain Nerf, as that was the chief meat source on the planet.  Now Luke liked Nerf as much as the next guy, but after his third nerf pie, he called it quits.  The drink was good, a kind of honey ale that was very palatable.  Luke was wary about going on the anti-grav ride so soon after eating, but didn’t want to appear weak in front of Ana.  Call it manly bravado, but he just couldn’t chicken out.  Of course 10 minutes later, Ana was waiting outside the fresher calling in “Are you ok?”

Luke came out slowly clutching his stomach.  “Ugh, I think so, but could you do me a favor?” Luke asked weakly.

Ana shrugged “Sure” she replied

“No more Nerf”

“Sure” Ana replied as they both burst into laughter.  “Come on now, we’ll go to a wee spot in town that makes the very best mint tea.  That’ll settle yer stomach.” she stated confidently.

Travelling back through the heart of the festival Luke tried not to look at any of the food for fear of a repeat incident.  Ana just tugged Luke past the offensive smells and headed down a side street.  She kept walking far past the festival towards the train station.  Luke started to get slightly uncomfortable being led around a strange town at night by a woman he met this morning while his ability to defend himself was compromised.  In situations like this Luke would always go with his gut, primal instincts that had served humanity well on its journey through the galaxy.  However, right now besides telling him to never go on an anti-grav ride again, his gut was telling him to trust this young woman.  So he followed the soft hand that led him to a little shop a few blocks from the train station.  The shop was cozy in a word.  The steps were made of aged wood that made that unique sound. The store lights were out, and the antique wooden door was locked when Luke tried it.  

“Looks like the store is closed, besides, I don’t think they serve tea here.” Luke said turning back to Ana who was fiddling with a necklace that went down into her cleavage and pulled up an actual physical key.  He gave her a quizzical look.

She answered it by rolling her eyes and saying “Well now where else would I keep it in this dress, hmm?” as if that was his only question.  He decided not to bring up that there were more modern ways to lock ones door, but the way she spoke made Luke laugh, and he had to bring up his hand fruitlessly try and hide his chuckle, clearing his throat more to clear the giggles then anything else he inquired “This is your store?”

Ana put the key in the lock, turned, and opened the old wooden door.  “Aye, you catch on quick don’t ya” she said sarcastically.  She past her hand over a panel on the wall and the lights flicked on.  There were four smallish aisles of knickknacks, hygiene essentials, a few small inexpensive toys, food stuffs, and in the far corner a little café with two small tables and a counter with stools.  

“Cozy” Luke stated as he looked around the aisles still holding his stomach.

“Thankee, now let’s be getting you that tea now” she said as she whisked behind the counter through an old-style waist height swing door.  She disappeared behind the doorway, and when she reappeared behind the counter a few moments later she had thrown on an old worn white apron.  “Aye, welcome sir, sit fer a spell, what can I get ya ” she said as if she’d said it a thousand times, which she probably had over the years Luke thought.  

Deciding to play along, he sat on one of the stools and replied “I was having a great time at the festival with this girl, but I think I might have overdone it on the food.  I heard you make some great mint tea that can help with an upset stomach.”

She smiled, and said “Aye, that we do, be just a bit while I heat the water.”

“Great” Luke replied rubbing his eyes, and relaxing into the comfortable stool.  Ana put on the pot of water, and then turned around and leaned against the counter with both of her arms positioning her chest in a somewhat provocative way.  “Anythin else while yeh wait?” she asked politely and smiled at him.

Luke tried very hard to keep looking into her eyes, and to distract himself, he continued the game that she had decided to play.  “So, do you know a lot about this town?” he asked.

She pushed on the counter straightening up and put her hands on her hips.  “Aye, anythin worth knowin, I’d be the lass could tell ya.”

“Well then I’ve come to the right place.”  Luke said and leaned in closer.  “What do you know about   Ana Subee Pfingterrion-Bigelopose?” he asked softly.

She scoffed loudly, “Whatta askin bout that one fer?”

“Well that was the girl I was with.  She seemed pretty ok to me, except for her choice in food of course.  I’d like to know more about her.  Why, is there something wrong with her?” Luke asked going along with the game.

The teapot started whistling, and Ana turned to get it.  While she was making his cup she answered, her back turned to him.  “No, nothin wrong one could see, more that she’s damaged.”

Luke looked quizzically at Ana back as she poured the hot water, and he suddenly got the game.  It was a way for her to tell him all about herself without going into a long drawn out emotional talk.  “Clever” Luke thought, but then answered “Damaged?”

“Aye, it’s a long story, I wouldn’t want to worry ya with it, best stay away from that one though.  Best advice I can give.” She said very sweetly, and placed a large steaming mug of mint tea in front of him.

Luke smiled as the liquid’s aroma wafted up to his nostrils, she was right, this smelled good even to his upset stomach.  He took the mug and sipped his first sip of this fabled tea.  As his tongue danced with the very flavorful tea, he thought about what she was doing.  She was giving him an out if he wanted it.  A very big warning sign had just been placed in the road that read “Stop now if you don’t want to know more”.  It was a nice gesture, and normally he would have jumped at the chance to extricate himself from such a situation.  However, there’s a funny thing about this emotional signs, is that it makes one very curious about what is behind them.  So he replied “Well I think that might be hard.  I mean, if you’ve seen this girl, you know that she’s beautiful…” *Ana blushed at the compliment, but tried to hide it with her hand* “Also, she just has a way about her that sucks you in; there is just something about her ya know.” Luke said taking another sip of his tea.  The warm liquid easing his stomach’s anger over the previously consumed items, “This is really good” Luke said.

“Look’s like that Ana girl steered you right eh?”  She said looking down.

“That she did.  I’ll have to see her again just to thank her” Luke said as he continued sipping his tea.  “I really would like to know more about her, I think she’s kinda special.” he added.  Luke admitted to himself that he was laying it on a bit thick, but the crimson in Ana’s cheeks told him that she didn’t mind the compliments.  

“Well, I dunna know what that girl has dun to ya, but it seems like your pretty smitten fer her.  But if yer gonna go getting involved, I think you’d better know the whole story.  But if I tell you about her, you’d better be willin to dish on yerself.” She said pulling up a chair and sitting parallel to the counter.  

Across the counter Luke sipped his tea, and replied “So that’s the way it works around here?”

“Aye” was Ana’s only reply.

He pretended to mull it over for a little bit, and then answered simply “Ok”.  Luke knew that was an unspoken part of the deal to begin with, but probably best if it was out in the open.  A strange silence filled the air, and then Ana cleared her throat, “Sorry…just tha, sometimes its easier to talk about yerself if yer not yerself.  Does that make any sense?”

Luke nodded his head and replied “More then just a little.” Luke smiled to let her know he understood.  Ana looked down at the table and began her tale.  Her voice was slow and even, very calm, as if she’d practiced it a thousand times.

“Even now I still can’t believe that it happened.  My mum always said to me that I’d become a woman on my weddin day.  I never did know what she meant by it, but as it turned out, she was right.  It was a wonderful time in my life, one which I look back on with fondness.  I had just graduated from Theed academy, and was ready to start my life with my betrothed.  Even though the marriage had been arranged by our parents long ago we were very much in love, at least I thought I was.  I thought I knew everything about Kohler, but in the years that I had been away at the academy, apparently I was receiving one version of things in his letters, while different things were actually happening.  I should have known that something had gone wrong when my three best friends started to try and talk me out of marriage.  Askin me things like ‘Are you sure’ and the like, but I was blind and actually berated them for even sayin it.  Not that I had much of a choice mind ya, if I refused my family would be dishonored and I would be shunned out of town.  Like I said, I was young minded, didn’t know or didn’t want to see what was goin on round me.  So I ignored the rumors that were going around town.  That since Morey had retired and Kohler had taken over, that the factory had tripled in production, but salaries remained the same.  The Plasma factory generated more income then he knew what to do with, but people were still struggling, and as they do they borrowed money to keep afloat.  Kohler was by this point was the richest men in town, and had set up a small lending business.  Well, you know the rest, in just a few short years he owns more then half the town due to foreclosures.  He lets the people still live in what were once their homes and businesses and charges them rent.  But I didn’t see any of it, I was too busy buyin me dress, takin care of all the things one does fer a weddin.  The week leadin up to it, there were reports of an army marchin on Theed, and no one knew what was goin on.  We almost canceled the weddin, and maybe tha would’ve been best.  The day finally came, and it was everything I ever dreamed.  Kohler was very handsome, and I don’t mind sayin that I was a fair sight in my cream dress with green embroidery down the bodice, and my mother’s lace veil that she was married in atop my head.  The day was warm and sunny, the perfect day fer a weddin.  The whole town gathered to see me get married.  My Da led me down the aisle, and then I kissed him on the cheek and took me place next to Kohler.  The ceremony had only just begun when the explosions started.  It was horrible, hovertanks roving through the streets, droid soldiers everywhere, shooting anyone who ran.  The entire weddin paarty was captured, but my Da tried to protect me when the droid leveled his rifle, and he was shot and killed.”  She sniffed loudly, and then continued “We were captured, and thrown in a holding pen.  There in my wedding dress sobbing with my mother wondering how everything had gone so wrong so fast.  Kohler started dealing with the droids shortly after our capture, and the next day he had secured the release of himself and me.  He had promised the droids all the plasma that they needed for their war machines in exchange for our freedom.  He was going to fund the war effort for these horrible things, let more Nabooans suffer, just to save his own skin, and leave the rest of our people to rot in the pens.  Well I just couldn’t be a part of it, I finally saw what everyone else had been telling me, and instead of going with him, I just handed him back the ring he’d given me years before.  Kohler left, and I never saw him until a few weeks later when the New Republic rescued our village.  During the time in the pens, my mother died, the doctors said that it was exposure, but I think it was from a broken heart.  Afterwards the King exonerated Kohler, cause Kohler gave false evidence that he’d tainted the plasma to be less effective of an energy source, but everyone in town knows that it wasn’t possible to do since he had no help.  Plus, he’s not that smart.  So there’s my story…see why I said I was damaged?” She finished her tale with shallow smile, and looked to Luke for his reaction.

To say that he was not prepared for such open honesty would have been a gross understatement.    Luke had screwed his own life up over the years, but to have your whole world rocked so hard in such a short period of time, he didn’t know how she had gone on.  “I’m so sorry” was all he could manage.  

“Thanks” she said softly, and then added “Well I guess it’s your turn now”

“Guess so” Luke said softly.  He had stayed silent during her retelling, and he knew that she’d give him the same courtesy, but honestly he didn’t know where to begin.  She explained her situation with Kohler, which just happen to contain the worst moment of her life.  What could he say; he couldn’t tell her the entire truth.  That would risk her life.  He would have to give her as much info as he could without telling her anything that would put her in danger; he felt he owned her that much.  He got up off the stool and started pacing the aisles, sometimes it helped to walk and talk.  She came around the counter slowly and stood with her hand on the wall.  Luke walked from aisle to aisle and saw many different foods, mostly Nabooan, way too much nerf.  Then there on the bottom shelf he found Corellian cookies.  Shortbread with fudge in the center, his favorite from when he was a child, he hadn’t seen them in years.  

“I guess I’ll give you the brief overview then” He began, giving the box one last look and putting it back on the shelf.  As he stood he made eye contact and said “I’m Father to a murdered child.  Husband…”  Ana inhaled a little too sharply “…to a murdered wife, and son to a murdered family.”  Ana just put her free hand over her mouth.  Luke continued to just stand in the aisle.  “And if you’re thinking that all this would put someone in a bad place well you’re right, you’re really right.” He smiled weakly and looked away.  “I work for the Nabooan government and I’m here investigating your old boyfriend.”

Ana steeled herself and asked “And what were you suppose to do if you found evidence against him?”

Luke swallowed and answered “Report back to my superiors.”  Well it was a half truth at least.  He was never going to kill Kohler, even if there was evidence.

Ana nodded and took one step towards him.  “And this bad place you were in, still there are ya?”

“I don’t think so, I hope not” he swallowed hard again, and looked away.  Just the memories of the acts he’d committed were enough to put a bad taste in his mouth.

Ana took a step forward again.  “And did you do bad things while in this place?”

“Horrible things, things I wish I could take back.  Now that I think about it Kohler and I are not that different” he said now looking anywhere but at her.

Ana didn’t take a step forward but asked “Are you sorry for the things you did?”

Luke looked into her eyes now, and breathed in deeply.  “Everyday…everyday”

Ana took another step forward and lifted his chin with her hand “Then you’re a good man” she said, “And a much better man then Kohler.  Everyone makes mistakes Jaaden, it's what we do to correct them that defines us.”

“My name is Luke” he admitted softly.

She closed the distance and said “Well it’s nice to meet you Luke…I guess I was wrong about you.”

“Oh, how so?”  Luke asked, a tad crest fallen.

“We’re both damaged” she said as she leaned her head up towards him.

Luke needed no other encouragement and he kissed her soft lips, their arms snaked around each other, and they kissed as only new lovers can, barely separating, giving in totally to their primal desires.  They were totally oblivious to anything going on inside the shop or outside on the street.  But if they had looked across to the next landing they might have seen a glint of glass as the sniper looked through his scope.  “Asset in position.”

TO BE CONTINUED!

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

With arms folded, Koto continued to pace back and forth in the waiting room while awaiting security clearance to see his master.  The two guards who accompanied him and the bounty hunter known as Arkin stood outside the waiting room in the hallway.   Although the waiting room was adorned in beautiful Naboo architecture, the feeling inside were anything but pleasant.  Koto lowered his arms; letting out a whale of dissatisfaction as he pondered if he should do what he did to the guard back when he first got there to the secretary.  She had shown that distinct Naboo attitude Koto disliked so when they first arrived.  He wondered why it was taking so long for the servant girl to return…

***      ***      ***      ***      ***      ***

When he had entered the building 10 minutes ago he was sure the security force had alerted the secretary about their arrival given the appearance of the new guest.  

The group had went through three security check points so far before reaching the location of Saevita.  The secretary a younger human female was on the holocomm in a conversation.  Koto approached the desk to alert her that they were there.  The secretary responded by staring at Koto then rolling her eyes before continuing the conversation.  What is it with the people of Naboo?, he thought to himself.

“Excuse me…”  Koto said with some base in his voice.

“Hold on” The secretary said.  “I’m listening…”

“We are here to see Master Tadrro, she is expecting us.”

The secretary looked at him then at Abiik.  “Hold on I have to verify this.  Take a seat!”

The secretary then went back to the holo, ignoring Koto.

After hearing the secretary burst out in laughter for the fifth time Koto stood back up placing his hands on her desk leaning over the desk at the secretary.  She looked at his hand, then in his face.

“Hold on, one of these people in the office is about to make me call security.  Is there a problem sir?”

Koto wished she would so that he could speed up the process.  “What is taking so long?”

“Sir I’m going to ask you to sit down before I call security.”

“I am security!”

“Sir I don’t like your tone.”

“Well do your job!”

“Sir I am doing my job now go sit down and I’ll call you when she’s ready.”

“You haven’t hung up from the comm. To even go and tell her, GET OFF YOUR ASS and GET MASTER TADRRO!”

“You have some nerve bringing this bounty hunter in the office then threatening me to see Master Tadrro.”

Koto and the secretary continued to argue back and forth before the secretary stormed out the room.  

***      ***      ***      ***      ***      ***

The door slid into the floor as the secretary finally reemerged.  “Follow me…”  Koto tapped Arkin on the head.  “Hey you still awake in their it’s time to see her.”  The bounty hunters helmet turned and gave Koto a non verbal nod before getting up.  The traveled down a beautifully decorated hallway draped in light blue sheets before reaching the large door.  The secretary looked Koto before opening he door and stepping in.  

“Master Tadrro, your guest have finally arrived.”

Bitch, Koto thought to himself, it was you who took forever.  Koto was ready to force choke the secretary before he caught a glimpse of his master dressed in a low cut black silk outfit with her hair braided back.  For a moment Koto forgot that she was evil as she looked like a beautiful local woman.  The view almost took his breath away before he focused on the big charm draped around her net.    She’s evil remember that she won’t hesitate to kill you, and you shouldn’t hesitate to give her the same courtesy.  The secretary left the room closing the door behind her.

“You have done well my apprentice.”

Her tone was low and sinister just as he remembered.  Koto could feel the evil surrounding the room.  The taint wasn’t just his master but from someone or something else.  He kept refocusing on the amulet as if drawn to it by something.  Its evil, a voice in his head whispered to him.  If there were any other force sensitive individuals they would have felt this as well. Before he even thought, he assured himself that his master understood the amulet was like a beacon for evil.  

“Do you see something you like?”

Koto looked dazed for a moment before realizing the location of the where his eyes were focused.  Koto let off a smirk at Saevita before stepping forward.  “Master I present to you Abiik Verd.  He’s not much of a talked but intimidation you can’t get better.  You should have saw the number he did on the secretary.”

Koto’s attempt to lighten up the mood in the room failed as he neither saw nor felt any change in either of them.  He stood at attention awaiting his master’s new orders…

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

The rain was falling heavily on the skylight.  Its rhythmic pounding upon the window was the first thing Luke noticed when he woke up.  He breathed in a long breath and blinked his eyes a few times.  Checking the chrono on his wrist he found that it was about 1 in the morning.  He looked around room slowly, and didn’t recognize it.  Trying to get his bearings, he rolled over, which is when he discovered that he was naked.  It started to come back to him then.  The festival, the trial scheduled for the morning, the nerf pie, mint tea, talking about being damaged, the first kiss, the hasty discarding of clothes as they rushed upstairs to her apartment.  It was amazingly freeing, just letting himself go, and giving into the feelings.  A soft moan next to him caught his attention and he turned to stare into the bright blue eyes that he’d come to know over the past 24 hours.  

“Hmm, sleep well?” she asked

Luke thought for a moment and answered “Yeah, heh, yeah I think I actually did”

Ana rolled on her side, propping herself on her elbow, and cocking her eyebrow she asked “This a new thing for ya is it Luke?” while softly giggling at his puzzlement.

Luke was still marveling that he’d slept and not had a vicious nightmare.  That somehow the presence of Ana was soothing, and he found himself smiling.  “Yeah actually” he replied while rubbing his eyes.  Bowing his head, he said “You know, I’m not normally this type of guy”.  Despite the rogue image that he’d tried to establish for himself, Luke had never tried the love em and leave em lifestyle.   

“Heh, I was goin to say that” Ana said as she stretched her long body, joints cracking as she did so.  “I’m goin to hit the head; do ya want anythin from downstairs?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.” he replied

Ana got up and put on a shimmersilk robe that was hanging on the bedpost, more for the limited warmth it provided, as it did little to hide anything else.  Luke watched Ana start to walk down the spiral staircase towards the lower level.  She caught his eye as the stairs turned, and flashed him a smile before disappearing from sight. Luke got up out of bed and stretched.  He threw on his pants and walked over to the large window on the left hand side of the room and leaned his head on the glass.  The cold glass felt good.  “What am I going to do?” he thought to himself.  Yesterday he couldn’t sleep, and had given up on ever finding happiness, resigning himself to a life of guilt and misery.  Then this wonderful woman literally dropped into his life, and changed his entire perspective.  That’s all fine and dandy, but 3 hours from now, Luke is going to hop on the hover-train, and head back to his horrible reality.  What would he do?  He could see her when she came to Theed, and maybe even make up an excuse or two to come back out here.  But the more contact he had with her, the greater risk of the Sith finding out.  He knew that if they discovered her relationship with him, that they would use her to keep him in line.  Now that he thought about it, Saevita might kill her in front of him, just for the fun of it.  He cared for her too much to let that happen, he knew that he would have to say goodbye soon, possibly for a very long time.  Luke knew what he had to do, but he did not want today to be the last day that he would see her.  For this woman who he had not known more then 24 hours ago had given him a great gift.  She had allowed him to experience happiness again.  Luke had forgotten what it was like to have something in your life to be happy about.  He had found a brief moment of happiness with Ana, and that meant it was possible.  He saw that he could have a future, have happiness, a relationship, maybe even a family; possibly have a life not filled with the pain of the past.  He could not have that life now, and he knew that.  There were tasks he had to complete, and amends to be made, but he now knew that it was possible, some way some how he could have a happy ending.  It was something that he could work towards, a goal to pursue.  Something to help focus him in times of strife, and to give him comfort on lonely nights; the simple thought that all that has happened and will happen has a purpose, and that there is a possible light at the end of this tunnel.  For this revelation alone, Luke would be forever thankful.  He heard Ana coming up the stairs, and tried to steel himself from what he had to do.

“I know ya said that ya didn’t need anythin, but I brought you some more mint tea, if that’s alright” Ana said as she crossed the room.  Luke turned to greet her, she was already behind him.  He reached out for the mug she was offering, and was about to thank her for her generous thought, but suddenly felt that he was in danger.  In his mind’s eye, he saw the window behind him, and outside across the way the sniper in the rain, the word Tenloss on the side of the rifle, and a finger pulling the trigger.  He flashed back to Ana staring at him quizzically.

“Get down!” was all Luke had time to say.  He wrapped his arms around Ana and tried to pull her down.  He heard the window shatter behind him, but didn’t feel himself get hit.  He looked down at Ana who was beneath him now to see if she was alright, but as he looked her body was already glowing bright green, her eyes were wide with fear, and as Luke watched Ana disintegrated in his arms.  The two mugs of tea she had brought up dropped to the floor and shattered next to Luke.  The hot tea splashed on his arm, but he didn’t even feel it.  Her robe still lay softly in his arms, a dust pile inside of it, the only remnants left of his lover and friend.  Luke felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he heard someone screaming “NOOO!”, and he only realized that it was himself when he ran out of breath.  

The asset as he was known throughout the underworld had watched the scene unfold before him.  He knew he had hit the girl, and was just waiting for the disruptor to reach a maximum charge again.  The male target was still grieving over his lover.  “Very sentimental” the trained killer thought.  “Only a few more seconds, and you will be nothing but a memory” he said as he leveled the targeting receptacle on Luke’s head, and focused the view.  Through the scope, the assassin saw the male target crying.  Then, this person who had just watched his lover die turned his head to the window, and seemed to look right at the killer with eyes to kill, as if he could see him.  He had seen the looks of a thousand faces through his scopes over the years, most looked around frantically; others tried to run, but never had a target “look” at him before.  He heard his rifle beep a confirmation that it was fully charged, he would be glad to put this one down, but when he looked back through the scope, the target had vanished.  What had happened in half a second?  Through his scope he looked left, then slowly with his trained eye looked right, scanning the length of the building.  

“No way he could have made it downstairs.” The hired gun thought.  He brought his head up, and glanced at the lower level without the scope, and sure enough the girl had left the light on in the store when she’d gotten the tea.  He would have been able to spot the half naked man easily down there.  That left the stairwell.  He was probably hiding in there.  “Probably” he thought.  He didn’t like how this job was playing out, and he had already accomplished one of the alternative objectives.  “Time to go” he said to himself, and slung the disruptor rifle over his shoulder, and proceeded to hop the ledge and onto the rooftop.  As he walked, he turned and took one last look at the building, and there standing on top of the opposing roof, rain drenching his figure was the male target.  He was just staring at him.  “Well my brazen friend, I don’t know how you got up there, but thanks for making yourself a sitting duck.”  The asset commented to himself as he slung the fully charged disruptor off of his shoulder, and took his aim.  “Heh, bastard’s not even going to try and run, not that it would matter at this distance.” The asset said as he leveled the weapon and zoomed in on Luke’s head.  “Goodbye” the killer said as he pulled the trigger.  The kickback of the rifle was fierce, and when he looked through it again, he didn’t see the target.  A slow smile began to creep across his face, and he was about to say “Mission accomplished” into his com which he was already reaching for when he felt a something land in front of him.  He looked up and saw the male target crouching before him, eyes like daggers.  Somehow he had jumped the twenty feet across the street.  “You missed.” he said

Luke stood slowly and watched as the hardened assassin backed up in disbelief.  “What are you?” he asked frighteningly.

“The last thing you will ever see” Luke responded.  The assassin brought the rifle to bear, and flipped a switch that changed from a powerful disintegrating blast to a more traditional rifle.  As he went to pull the trigger, Luke waved his hand violently, and the rifle was torn away from him by some powerful force.  “You’re…you’re a sith!”

“Close enough” Luke said as he charged the hired killer.  The two men grappled, arms locked together, staring into each other’s eyes.  In an instant the assassin had thrown Luke to the ground, and taken out a vibroblade.  Luke rolled to one knee, and was able to catch the assassin’s stabbing arm with both of his.  Luke immediately felt the man’s fist connect with his face as the assassin’s free hand swung up.  Luke was on the ground again.  As he looked up lightning struck and outlined the man stabbing at him again.  Luke couldn’t do anything, so out of reflex he put up his hands, and force pushed the man back.  The assassin was tossed back five feet, Luke heard the knife clang on the ground, meaning that his would-be killer had lost it in his fall.  Luke got to his feet slowly, and as he looked up he was tackled by the Asset.  “OOph!” Luke exclaimed ungracefully.  Pushed to the edge, Luke felt his back on the railing of the room.  

“I heard Sith were tough, guess I heard wrong” the assassin said menacingly.  He applied more pressure to Luke, trying to force him over the edge.  Luke was gritting his teeth just to keep his footing.  “Yeah, well I’m not a Sith” Luke said as he headbutted the other man.  This opened up large gashes on both their foreheads.  “Ahh!” both men exclaimed; the assassin reeling back, and Luke leaning against the railing shaking his head and trying to concentrate through the headache.

“Fine, enough games you son of a Nerd Herder” the assassin said pulling out a blaster pistol.  Luke looked back quickly and then to the killer’s surprise rolled off the edge.  The killer was baffled; the man had just committed suicide.  The building was 40 feet high, he didn’t even think a Sith could survive that.  He approached the railing almost laughing to himself, and stared over the edge, Luke was staring back at him from the fire escape ten feet below.  Luke then let loose the force jump he’d been charging up since he landed, and shot back up like a rocket.  The assassin flew back ten feet as Luke’s fist connected with his chin.  Luke landed just inside the railing, blood flowing into his eyes from the headbutt wound.  Extending his hand, Luke force pulled the Disruptor rifle to him, and pointed it directly at the assassin.  

The man stared back at him with frightened eyes; he who had been the predator was now at the mercy of his prey.  Eyes he had seen before.  Eyes like those on the Jedi students he’d hurt.  Rax’s eyes when he was hit with the final blow from Luke.  No, this was different, this person deserved to die; Luke tried to reason with himself.  As the rain continued to fall, the two men stared at one another, knowing that the next few moments could change their lives.  Luke wished for this man’s death, he could taste it; killing this immoral man would make things even, make the pain go away.  All he had to do was pull the trigger and he would have his revenge.  Luke’s hand began to squeeze the trigger, it seemed to get harder the more he tried to squeeze, then in the midst of his struggle he remembered his conversation with Ana only a few hours ago.

“And this bad place you were in, still there are ya?”

“I don’t think so, I hope not”

“And did you do bad things while in this place?”

“Horrible things, things I wish I could take back…”

“Are you sorry for the things you did?”

“Everyday…everyday”

“Then you’re a good man…Everyone makes mistakes… it’s what we do to correct them that defines us”

Luke loosened his grip on the rifle’s trigger.  He couldn’t do this; Ana wouldn’t want him to do this.  Luke dropped the rifle and started to back away, suddenly very cold, and scared of what he had almost done.  

The asset saw his assailant drop the rifle and back away, something had made him slip up, “He probably has a conscience, a failing of the weak” the assassin thought.  He slowly got up.  He reached slowly around, and pulled out his other sidearm, and drew it on the target.

Luke came to realize that the trained killer in front of him had recovered, and drawn a gun on him.  Luke was channeling the force throughout his body, but the force could only partially control his actions.  Luke froze; all he could do was watch as the gun shot its deadly scarlet energy at him.  Then he felt it land in his chest.  He waited to feel the impact, and smell the burnt flesh and ozone, but nothing happened.  Looking down there was a slightly glowing red mark on his chest that was fading rapidly.  Somehow, he had absorbed it into his skin.  He could feel the increase in his force energy.  He suddenly felt like he had just had a really good caf.  

“What the Frak was that?” he said outloud.  The assassin who had shot him was currently standing dumbfounded, his gun still pointed at Luke.  Luke saw his face contort, and his hand stiffen.  Luke waved his hand upwards, and the three shots fired into the air harmlessly.  Luke then force pushed the attacker back, making him drop the gun, and slide into the end of the roof.

“Some people, you just can’t get through to.” Luke said walking over to the man, recovering his vibroknife on the way.  

“What are you gonna do, if you were going to kill me, you would have done it already.” The man said struggling to get up.

Luke ran his hand through his wet hair, wiping it out of his face.  “Your right, I’m not going to kill you…” Luke let the statement hang in the air, “…but I am going to make sure that you can never hurt anyone else again.” Luke said as he kicked the man into unconsciousness.


TO BE CONCLUDED!!!!

Re: Naboo: The Hidden Threat

Kohler paced back and forth the length of his office.  It was 3am, the asset should have reported back hours ago.  What was taking so long?  It had always been relatively painless.  He would call; the voice on the other end of the phone would ask for the address, and a vague description of the targets, he had a rule of no names.  Then after taking down that information, he’d state the time needed for completion, an amount of credits, and hang up.  Kohler would transfer the credits, and when the appropriate time came, the asset would call, and only state that all his affairs are in order.  It was now two hours past the check in time, and Kohler did not know what to do, it had never happened before.  Had something gone wrong, if so he wouldn’t know about it until morning.  A red light blinked on Kohler’s desk, indicating someone was approaching the gate.  He decided to worry more on the assassin later, and tend to the business at hand.

Walking over to his desk he pressed a button and said “Yes?”

After a few moments the truck stopped and it’s driver spoke towards the camera “It’s me boss” Ogden’s holographic image replied.  

“Very good, the shipment dock is prepped for your arrival, I want the merchandise unloaded, cleaned, and reloaded onto the transport for Nal Hutta by 0800.” Kohler replied.

“Right boss, no problem” Odgen stammered back.

Kohler pressed another button underneath his desk, and watched from the window as the gate opened and let the transport in.  He had a skeleton crew here tonight.  Just one squad of night guards, and the three workers who he had enough dirt on that they were forced to keep quiet.  He had already found a buyer for the spice he had acquired earlier in the day.  Some Hutt was throwing a party at the last minute, and he was willing to pay top dollar.  Considering the initial cost to buy the shipment was nullified, Kohler stood to make more money in one day then he ever had before.  All things considered he should’ve been on cloud 9…but he wasn’t.  He sat in his executive office chair watching the comlink on the desk.  It just sat there, still and silent.  Torturing him with what its silence meant.  It meant a possible unclosed loop, an uncalculated variable.

“This is ridiculous” he tried to reassure himself.  “It could mean any number of things” he added.  “Com lines could be down, or or or perhaps his communicator was short circuited by the storm.  Yes, I’ve heard that storms can interfere with comlinks.”  He said as he began to pace again trying to force a smile.  Then, as quick as the smile had appeared, it was gone; he turned back to the comlink swiftly, and yelled “Ring DAMMIT!”

The comlink sat defiantly quiet for several moments, and then obeyed its master. *RingRing*  
Kohler’s eye’s jumped in surprise, but his hands were already reaching for the com.  He activated it and said “Yes?”

“Is this…Kohler?” the whispery voice on the other end asked.

The plasma energy baron rolled his eyes and mimicked the man saying “Is this Kohler, no it’s frakking Judge Slade, of course it’s me you frakking idiot!  And might I add that how dare you keep me waiting this long.  Do you know what an important man I am?  Do you?  I have a very demanding schedule, and you have kept me waiting almost 2 hours.  That is highly unprofessional, and all I have to say that I hope the job is done.”

“Job?  What Job?” the voice answered.

Kohler became further enraged and screamed “What frakking job?!  The one I sent you on earlier this evening, taking care of the girl and guy at the place.”

“Oh you mean Jaden Hakkon and Ana Bigelopose?” the voice answered

Kohler said “Of course that’s who I’m…” Kohler suddenly got a very bad feeling about this phone call.  His eyes grew wide as he realized that his asset never used names.  “Who are you?” he asked suddenly very frightened about the answer.

“You know, I really thought I might have a problem with that.” Luke said as he encoded the recording he’d just made, and sent it to the Nabooian National News Network.  “By morning that should be all over the planet’s Holonet, congratulations Kohler, you’re going to be famous.  

Kohler’s breath was suddenly very rapid.  What had he done?  He had just admitted to the order to kill two people.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  This was going to be fine.  “I don’t know who you are, but I know what you think you have, and you’re wrong.  That evidence is circumstantial, and you know it.  I have the best lawyers in this hemisphere, you’ll never pin it on me.” Kohler stated victoriously.

“You’re probably right.  Trouble is, I don’t really care whether or not they pin it on you at all.” Luke replied  

“Wwwwaht?”  Kohler asked

“I think you’ll want to turn to Holonet channel 135 now.  They’ll be having a special report coming up that I think will interest you greatly.”  Luke answered

Kohler took the com away from his ear, and stared at it quizzically.  He pondered hanging up, but decided that he should get as much information as possible if he was to come out of this unscathed.  He stepped over to his desk, and turned the in desk Holonet to the appropriate channel.  

Kohler heard the last few notes of the Special News Bulletin theme, and the message “Please wait for a special news bulletin” was slowly fading from the screen.

“Hello, and welcome to NNNN’s graveyard edition.  Tragedy struck in Sterling this evening as a young couple was viciously murdered.  Ana Subee Phingterrion-Bigelopose and a man identified only as Jaden Haakon were killed this evening in Miss Bigelopose’s apartment above this local shop which she and her parents operated for the better part of 20 years.”  The camera panned to show Ana’s storefront, and the reporter continued in the background.  “Few details about how or why this horrendous crime has happened in this peaceful little town, which just hours ago was filled with joy and laughter at its yearly festival, and will awake tomorrow and mourn one of its own.  We know that an anonymous call was placed to the police about 1:30 in the morning describing the scene, and where they could find the bodies’ remains.  In an even stranger twist, the assassin who perpetrated the crime was found on the next rooftop severely injured.”  The camera cut to the nearby hospital as the reporter continued.  “Up on the 4th floor of this hospital the man who is believed to have killed the young couple is currently in surgery to repair massive fractures to every bone in both of his hands, and to be fitted with ocular implants as a result of both of his eyeballs being stabbed.  Authorities say…”  The reporter was silenced as Kohler shut off the Holonet.

“You did that?” Kohler asked

“Yes”

The cold way in which this man said it froze Kohler to the bone.  It was so matter-of-fact, so sure.  He was going to have to move up his plans.  Maybe he could get the shipment done in an hour and deliver it personally.  “Yes I think that now might be the perfect time to get off planet for a bit.” he thought to himself.

 “Well, I like to say that it’s been a pleasure to talk to you whoever you are, but then I’d be lying, goodbye.”

“Before you hang up Kohler, just do one thing for me.” Luke asked politely.

“Why would you want to do anything for you?”  Kohler asked indignantly.

“Just look out the front gate of your factory, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Kohler glanced out of his large office window, and saw a cloaked figure with his hand to his ear about 100 feet from the front gate of the compound.

“Now I know where you are.  I’m coming up.” Luke said and threw the comlink onto the ground.  He took off the macro binoculars that had let him see Kohler in the window through the rainy night and the mini holonet receiver he’d been using. Taking out one of the sith sabers that he had retrieved from his hotel, he started marching towards the front gate.  He saw the guard receive a phone call, and Luke was about 20 feet from the gate now; the guard in the gatehouse stepped out, and pointed his gun at Luke.

“Halt, this is private property, you are not authorized to be here.  Turn back now or I WILL open fire.” The young Nabooan shouted over the rain.

Luke half looked over his shoulder, the lonely muddy lane which he had just walked to get here, and then turned back to the guard.  “I don’t think so” he said softly.  Luke didn’t know whether the guard heard him or not, but he didn’t care.  He had been focusing the force within himself throughout his hour long walk up to the factory.  The dark side within himself was aching with hatred, bursting at the seams to be released on something or someone.  Luke had been balancing it with difficulty since the rooftop, and he would have to be doubly careful now that he was going into combat.  Luke took off like a shot directly at the fence.

Kohler watched as his guard stepped out of the gatehouse and drew his weapon.  “Oh what is he going on about, just shoot him already.”  Kohler said to the guard who could not hear him.  Continuing to observe the silent duel, Kohler saw the cloaked man accelerate at an unearthly speed.  The guard, startled by Luke’s sudden acceleration pulled the trigger.  Kohler watched as the crimson energy flew towards the invader, and then saw it fly out into the night.  When he looked again, he saw that his would be assailant had cleared the 10 foot wall in the blink of an eye.  His guard was on the ground, presumably dead, and the invader proceeded unhindered into the main complex.  

“How in the world…” Kohler said to himself, but shook his head to clear his thoughts.  It didn’t matter how.  What mattered was that he take care of this problem as soon as possible.  He was across the room in moments.  Behind his desk he moved a picture of his father aside, and pressed a plate behind it.  It blinked green, and the wall it hung on split open.  Kohler went down three stairs, and jogged 40 feet down a dimly lit corridor.  There another door opened to his approach and he found himself in the security control center of his factory.  Generally he would have staff here, but nothing was recording right now.  Also, do to the sensitive nature of this shipment; he had given the graveyard shift the night off.  The plasma mining baron sat in the seat and looked at all the cameras covering most of the facility.  He would normally call the police for an intruder, but what with the sensitive nature of the shipment, he’d have to rely on his private security force.  He activated the factory wide PA system, and said “Attention, attention.  We have an intruder alert, this is not a drill, I repeat we have an unidentified male intruder within the grounds.  He is to be stopped by any means necessary.  Lethal force is authorized, I repeat, Lethal Force is authorized.  The radio in the security center crackled to life with confirmation of their new orders.

Luke heard the announcement, and for a brief moment had second thoughts about announcing his arrival.  Shrugging it off into the “too late now” category, Luke continued towards the front door.  As he started up the front stairs to the large durasteel double doors that led to the interior of the plasma refinery, two guards with concussion rifles.  They pointed the huge deadly barrels directly at him.  “Halt, surrender or we will open fire!” the one to the left said in a very authoritative tone.  Luke didn’t even look up at them.  He continued to hide his face in shadow and said “I have no business with you, only with Kohler, merely step aside, and you will not be harmed.”

The guard replied by cocking the large barrel of the rifle, making the gun hum louder then it already was and shouting “Kohler’s business is our business; now put your hands up!”

“Ok then” Luke said as he raised his hands slowly, only to drop them swiftly while force pulling both heavy guns from the guards hands.  Luke wasn’t strong enough to rip them away like he wanted, but the guns were very heavy already, and a strong tug caused both guards to stumble forward and one to lose his grip, his large energy rifle falling down the steps end over end.  By the time the second guard had recovered, Luke was already up the stairs and with a snap-hiss sliced the concussion rifle in half.  The guard dropped it in fear and muttered “You’re a Sith”.  Luke deactivated the lightsaber and took the guard’s hesitation to knock him unconscious.  The other guard attacked Luke punching him in the gut.  Luke gritted his teeth as the armored gauntlet impacted his stomach.  The man went to hit Luke in the face completing the one-two combination, but was blocked by Luke’s forearm.  Grabbing the man’s arm with his left hand, he slid the right down the man’s arm and hit him with the lightsaber pommel in the armpit.  Luke knew that it hurts like hell when you got hit there.  The man was stunned for long enough for Luke to spin behind and whack him in the temple with the pommel.  The man lapsed into unconsciousness instantly, and fell forward rolling slowly down the steps.  “Just be glad I didn’t use the blade.” Luke said as he walked into the building holding his stomach.  He knew more guards would be coming soon, and he didn’t know if he could handle them.  “Think fast Luke”

Kohler watched as a sixth of his guards were dispatched in seconds.  Grabbing a comlink, Kohler ordered the remaining guards to converge on the Sith in the main lobby.  Kohler was terrified, how had the Sith found out about him.  What did Ana have to do with them?  Kohler shook his head, he couldn’t think about this now.  He’d figured it out later.  He watched his guards swarm the lobby; they were on the elevated walkways around the sides.  A perfect position to flank the intruder, but as the guards took up their positions, they saw that he was no where to be found.  Kohler zoomed in to see over the shoulder of the closest guard, to see if the camera could see anything.  Then the image went dark, Kohler’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.  “NO!” he shouted in the empty room.  A single red beam of light appeared in the center of the video monitor.  Kohler heard the captain yell “FIRE”, suddenly the monitor was filled with flashes of gunfire.  The concussion blasts illuminated the video for just a brief moment.  The red sliver was blown away with the first barrage, but the troops were nothing less then thorough and continued to fire at the spot that the lightsaber had appeared.  In one of the flashes, Kohler saw something blue fly across the screen.  Suddenly a scream was heard, and the captain said “Cease fire, Cease….AHH!”.  Kohler heard the screams and howls of his men, then, as quickly as it had begun, everything was silent.  The lights came back on, and Kohler saw his entire squad was either dead or unconscious on the ground floor.  The entire upper landing had collapsed.  On the monitor a single figure all in black march by unaffected by the scene around him.  

Luke walked over to retrieve his Sith lightsaber, but saw that it had been nearly destroyed.  It was a risk when he put it out there, but then again he had two Sith sabers, and not being killed he guessed was worth one of them.  He could hardly believe that his half-baked plan worked.  He had hid behind a curtain, and when he heard the guards come in, he force pulled the switchbox lever, which he had seen earlier on his tour, up on the side of the wall.  When everything went dark, Luke floated his Sith saber out to the center and activated it with the force.  Once the guards fired he released the saber, and proceeded to run under the elevated level and cut the supports diagonally with his lightsaber.  With the guards weight the walkway collapsed.  Luke was panting, and his head was pounding.  He was using the force too much, and needed a rest.  “NO” he thought to himself, “rest after” he urged himself on.    

Terror gripped Kohler as he realized that there was nothing standing between him and this maniac.  He raced out of the security room and started towards the emergency exit.  Slamming into the door, he ran down the three flights of stairs two at a time.  He emerged in the garage, and ran to the luxury speeder parked in the first spot.  He fumbled in his pocket, and suddenly came to the realization that he had left his keys on his office desk.  He couldn’t go back up, the Sith was waiting for him there.  He’d have to make a run for it.  He ran as hard and as fast as he could, up the parking garage ramp.  He was behind the building now.  He ran around the front of the building and started down the front steps.  He jumped over the unconscious guard and was halfway down the steps when he heard a crash from above.  Looking up he saw a large black figure descending slowly upon him.  “NO!, NO!, leave me alone! NO!”  Kohler said still trying to get away, but Luke fell directly on him.  Glass showered them, and the two enemies rolled down the stairs painfully.

“Ahh!” Kohler screamed in pain, as blood dripped from his mouth, his arm was bent at a right angle.  Luke tried to ignore the pain in his knees, he had hit them pretty hard when he landed on Kohler .  Both men had cuts on there faces and hands from the glass.  Kohler tried to crawl away, but Luke lunged at him.  He climbed on top of the plasma baron and began punching him.  Once, twice, three times, Kohler’s unbroken arm tried to protest, but Luke just batted it away and continued his assault.  “WHY!”  Luke screamed, his face being revealed for the first time to Kohler.  One fist raised, he leaned his other hand on Kohler’s neck, steadying himself for the blow.

Kohler gagged and choked out “You’re…dead”

“He missed!” Luke growled, punching Kohler again to make his point clear.  Luke’s knuckles were bleeding now, and Kohler’s nose was broken. Groaning in pain with tears streaming down his face, he still said nothing else.  Luke began his questioning, “Why did you kill her, and not me.?” *punch* “I broke in to your factory” *punch*; “I assaulted you” *punch*, “why was she the target?” *punch* “Why were you smuggling guns in the first place?” *punch*

Kohler was breathing rapidly, his face a bloody mess.  All he could do was spit blood at Luke.   

“ANSWER ME!” Luke said, his anger exploding out of him.  Kohler’s eyes went wide, and Luke didn’t even notice his hand on Kohler’s chest start to glow slightly.  Suddenly he was seeing a vision in his mind.  He was Kohler ordering the kill.

“How many Targets?” the man over the com asked

“Two” Luke heard himself as Kohler reply

“Sex and description?”

“One male, 6 foot, blonde hair, and one female, 5’8” strawberry blonde hair”

“Standard payment”

“Yes, sending now” Luke saw the transaction on the computer screen as a large sum of credits was transferred to another account then Kohler’s.  

A few minutes passed, and the voice said “Payment confirmed, anything else?”

“Yes, first her, then him.  Make him watch the whore die.”

“Affirmative” the voice said on the other end.

Then another came, again Luke was viewing it as through Kohler’s eyes:

“The Tenloss Disruptor rifles are the perfect weapon to use for fighting the Sith should they ever return, or this new Jedi assisted government.” Kohler said to a group of other Nabooans “They are deadly with a single hit, and can be fired from a far enough away to catch them off-guard.”  

So, Saevita’s information was right all along, Kohler was planning to oppose the government if he felt that the Jedi were in control.  This new information paled to the fact that Kohler had ordered Ana’s death out of pure jealousy and malice.  Ana was chosen so that Luke could watch her die seconds before he did, and that would be the last moment of his life, watching the woman he cared for perish.  Luke had his answers now.  It was time to leave.

“stoooop….ssssiiitthh…stoopp” was said softly, and as Luke looked down, he saw that Kohler was withering away.  His skin wrinkled, his eyeballs sunken, he had stopped struggling, and then Luke noticed his hand, it was glowing, and he could feel the energy flowing into him.  This is why he had the visions; he was stealing life energy from Kohler somehow.  He had to make it stop.  More of Kohler’s memories were invading Luke’s mind.  Kohler’s first kiss with Ana, the rage of jealousy he felt at seeing Luke and Ana together.  Making the deal with the Trade Federation to save Ana and himself.  Luke tried to block them out, to concentrate on severing the connection.  His hand wouldn’t obey him, it was if it was affixed to Kohler’s neck, some energy force bonding them.  Luke kept feeling the force energy in himself growing stronger.  Luke’s knees which had hurt moments before felt better, his headbutt injury no longer ached, and his force reserves, which were empty, were returning slowly.  Kohler’s condition worsened, his strength slowly fading away, and into Luke.  Realizing what was happening, Luke finally used the force energy he’d absorbed to force push himself away from the ground.  Both he and Kohler were lifted off the ground, but Luke’s connection was broken shortly thereafter.  Kohler fell face down on the ground, and Luke flew back to land at the bottom of the stairs with a soft thud.  Both men lay still for a silent moment, and then Luke began to stir.  He got up slowly, trying to push the memories that weren’t his to the back of his mind.  “Gotta concentrate, come on Luke get it together” he prodded himself.  Slowly he made his way over to Kohler.  He dared not touch him again, so he nudged the body slightly with his foot, rolling him over to look at his face.  Kohler had been a healthy man in his late 20’s to early thirties, but the gaunt figure that was at Luke’s feet resembled Kohler in face only, well broken face only.  He was literally almost skin and bones, so weak that he could barely lift his arms when he said “nooo…siiith….stooopp….sooorry…I’m…sooorrry…pleeease”.  

Luke stared at the shell of a man that stood before him begging for his life.  He had only planned to take Kohler’s tongue to teach him a lesson, but Luke’s anger had gotten the best of him.  Still this seemed fitting somehow, making the once strong and proud man, weaker then the ones he once preyed on.  Luke didn’t know how long the effect would last, but he knew that he didn’t feel bad about it.  This was an evil man, and what had happened to him was unintentional.  In a weird and twisted way, Luke figured that justice had been served.  Luke left Kohler there on the front lawn of the factory.  He knew the police would be there soon to investigate the confession he’d sent to the press earlier, and Luke had one more thing to do before leaving Sterling.

Darvas Lemu sat on the rooftop of the plasma refining plant.  He had been called up to fix the heat, but someone had already been up here, and locked the door on him.  He had told his supervisor that the door was a safety hazard, but nobody listens.  He was soaked to the bone, and shivering.  He checked his chrono, and wondered how long after opening he’d have to wait until someone came up and checked what had happened to him.  Only five more hours and maybe he could catch someone coming in to work.  He hoped that Kohler would let him have the day off.  He sneezed violently, and was pretty sure that he had caught a good cold at this point.  A light from the door caught his attention, and he saw the lock glowing white hot, and then a red light stab through it.  Darmus saw the red light disappear, and the lock cooled.  Darmus approached cautiously, and nudged the door open with his foot, being careful not to touch the molten metal.  The lock had been melted straight through.  Darmus looked down the stairwell, but found his benefactor gone.  As he started down the stairs, he heard police sirens in the distance, and they sounded like they were coming closer.

Luke managed to make it back to Sterling in time for the 5am train.  The sun was just coming up over the horizon, and a good number of people were waiting to head back to Theed after having spent the night partying at the festival.  As Luke boarded, the conductor asked him “How was yer stay in Sterling sir?”

The question was innocent and obligatory, but Luke answered honestly.  “Unforgettable” Luke gave the conductor a weak smile and continued to his cabin.  Luke lay down on the long seat, legs stretched out.  His whole body ached.  He was looking forward to sleeping on the way back.  He was out like a light within seconds.  

Luke awoke to the sound of the in train announcement that Theed would be the next stop.  Stretching Luke reluctantly sat up.  He turned on the Holonet half to keep him awake, and half to see how everything had turned out.

“…If your just joining us here at NNNN news, a tragedy of increasing proportions has struck the humble town of Sterling in the Northwest of the central continent.  Earlier this evening, we reported that two assassination attempts had been made, but that seems to be in error.  We go live now to Sterling where Laura Contance has an update for us.  Laura?”

“Thank you Kara.  Earlier this morning, we reported that Ana Subee Phingterrion-Bigelopose and a man identified only as Jaden Haakon were murdered in the night.  It seems now that Jaden was not killed, and may still be at large.  He may also be a bigger threat then anyone could have imagined.  What the police have been able to put together so far was that the plasma baron Kohler Fignerm had through unknown means identified Jaden as a Sith agent, and sent an assassin to eliminate the threat.  While details remain sketchy, we do know that Miss Bigelopose was killed by the assassin after Mr. Haakon avoided the shot.  The Sith then mutilated his would be killer.  Before he was taken into surgery, the hired gun did provide the little information that we have.  It is unknown what happened afterwards except that Mr. Haakon or another possible Sith agent attacked Kohler’s refinery plant, leaving Kohler himself near death and wounding 12 others.  Thankfully no one else was killed during this incident.  Police seemed to have also received a taped confession made from a comlink recovered at the refinery, but they refuse to disclose its content.  Police have also intercepted some contraband including weapons and what is rumored to be spice en route to Nal Hutta.  Also recovered at the scene were the remains of what appears to be a lightsaber, further supporting the theory of Sith involvement.  Word has been sent to Theed castle to have the evidence inspected by the Jedi present there to authenticate the threat we may face.  Some have criticized the Jedi involvement in the Government recently, but I for one am thankful that they are here.  Reporting from Sterling, this is NNNN news.”

Luke sat there staring into nothingness, listening to the train’s monotonous hum of the engines and tried to sleep, but hearing the news’s warped version of events only reminded him of what had actually happened.  Ana’s terrified face, his battle with the assassin, the guards, and the horrible accident that had happened to Kohler.  None of it would have happened if he hadn’t come to this town.  The guilt threatened to consume him, but was competing with fear of this new power that he did not know how to control, or what it even was.  Fear and guilt were not good emotions for a balancer to feel, and he tried to calm his mind, tried to hang on to that moment just after he’d woken up, the hope that Ana had given him, and this comforted him some.  He doubted that someday he’d look back on all this and laugh as they say, but perhaps he would understand that it was part of a bigger plan then he could not realize now.  He hoped so, then a troubling thought struck him, and he realized how it had all worked out for the Sith’s benefit.  The planet would now be gripped in fear, and turn to the “Jedi” in the government for guidance.  This could work out better then Sythis could have imagined.  Was that his plan all along, had he foreseen it all when he’d sent Saevita and Luke here?  He did not doubt that the dark lord possessed that type of power, and if that was the case….he might be more over his head then he thought.