Tarakus Deadmerit: Holding the Right Cards/CH. 5

CHAPTER 5 Aboard Jade Shadow, near Borleias

Luke Skywalker rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, as he walked towards the cabin. As the door opened, Luke could hear Ben, his son, and the lovely Vestara Khai, a sith, who had been with them since the Skywalkers had detained her on Dathomir. Vestara had called attention to a Death Star-sized Star Destroyer, made of some type of exotic metal alloy that no one had ever seen before. There were several of them, orbiting Borleias. "Did you get a good look at any of the markings on those vessels, Vestara?" "Nope. Nothing that I could easily discern as something familiar to us.  It appears that maybe a few of these belong to some military group called the Black Commander Corps, but that's all Ben and I could pick out." Vestara replied, a slight look of concern. Luke's face changed from showing no expression whatsoever, to looking like he had just eaten a mynock, knowing full well that the Black Commander Corps was run by one of his old friends, an Ekatra Fazabian Fa'neir Dragon named Tarakus Vapthes-Deadmerit. Ben looked over at Luke. "What's wrong, Dad?" "Tarakus Vapthes-Deadmerit has returned." Luke said, angst in his voice. Vestara looked at Luke for a few moments. "Is there something I need to know about him?" "Tarakus is a Neutral Ekatra, and a good one at that. I met him over forty years ago, during the Battle of Yavin.  He flew on several missions with me while in service with the Rebel Alliance.  It was after the Battle of Endor that Tarakus wound up in the Black Commander Corps, commanding a very large fleet of experimental ships, and causing chaos, pretty much wherever he went.  The last I heard about him, aside from what happened nearly thirty years ago, was what he had done, in the Battle of Lorrd, when he chased Moorshavin Warbird and the Warbird Separatist Imperial Remnant invasion forces back to their native galaxy." Vestara assumed a thoughtful posture with her hands, and said, "So, this is the same Tarakus Vapthes-Deadmerit, who happens to be related to this creator of the universe? A Devior with a nasty backlash?" Luke nodded. "The same. The one who wounded the Grand Moff Richon Barcünaveris about fifty years ago, on Mustafar." "Wow. Tough guy, wasn't he?" Ben chirped in, "You could say that. He had quite a reputation for sending mind-numbing chills down someone's spine, at some of the things that he did."

--- Tepagastra Sandman, at Borleias "Well, they wanted me to go here, so here I am." Tarakus said, gripping a sword that had been in his family for years. Tu'verana just looked over at Tarakus, like he had lost it. Even Kari wasn't this crazy. She thought as she kept her eyes on the controls. A yacht showed up on her sensors. "Dad. I've got one SoroSuub Yacht showing up on our sensors.  It's the Jade Shadow.  Should I open a channel to them?" Tarakus looked at Tu'verana. "Of course, my dearest daughter." Luke's voice came on at the other end. "This is the Jade Shadow." "Hello, Luke. This is Tarakus Vapthes-Deadmerit on the Tepagastra Sandman, requesting to use universal platform dock to your ship." "Granted." "Thank you. Vapthes-Deadmerit out."