Sith Civil War: Chapter IV - Infiltration

Barad-Dur lurched forward slightly as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. What is going on? We can't possibly be there yet. He glared at the comm screen as Captain Dawes came on.

"Sir!" he gasped, "We have been pulled out of hyperspace by a SSD."

Barad-Dur barked at him to calm down and stood up, and swept out of the meditation chambers and towards the command bridge. He arrived, and indeed, a great SSD was in space infront of them, firmly holding them in place.

"Open a hailing frequency with them," he ordered, and soon the screen showed the face of a man, who wore Jedi robes. Ben Skywalker, he ground his teeth.

"This is Zahrin Harmon, commanding the ISD Vader," Barad-Dur said, using his birthname, "Why have you stopped my ship?"

Skywalker nodded. "Admiral Stang knew you would be coming this way, and ordered us to wait for you, Captain Harmon," he replied, "He wanted you to have a personal escort to Bespin."

"That's all fine and dandy," Barad-Dur replied, "But we were going just fine. And besides, I didn't think you had that order of clones yet to man that ship."

Skywalker laughed, "You've been out of touch. This is the SSD you were promised. Believe me, that special command bridge that enables six men to control the whole ship was not a bad idea. You are to board this ship immediatly and we'll take you to Bespin."

Barad-Dur nodded, but grimiced inwards. "Lovely. Harmon out." And with that, the screen went dead. This made his job easier, but threw the entire opertaion out of whack. And he turned, to see if any of the other Sith had joined him and knew what had happened.

Gra'tua stood firmly behind Barad-dur."I will escort you to the SSD." He said strongly as he motioned for Barad-dur to lead the way. Gra'tua also wondered why they would be boarding, one of the officers was on that ship, perhaps he would comandere the SSD.

Gentlemen, Barad-Dur thought to all the Sith, walking towards the hanger bay, Remember how I told you about the six man command bridge? The very reason is we are commendering it, and we are taking it, and going to slip into Bespin under the quise of the Jedi. But, prepare for a large battle, because I highly suspect they have all thier Jedi on the SSD.

He turned to Captain Dawes and nodded. "Dawes, you know what to do. Wait until my signal, then board the ship, and help us take it."

All the officers on the bridge looked a little nervous, but they tried not to show it.

Dawes saluted. "Yes sir!"

"Will this Ithorian be on the SSD?" He asked as he walked behind Darth Barad-Dur, along side High Inquisitor Gra'tua. He wanted to know if he would be able to finish his mission. He was uneasy that the Shadow Protector had left on his own and wanted to join him as soon as possible. He knew that Tarna was very capable of handling himself, but this Sith lord was sure to have back up, mabey even several apprentices.

The question made Barad-Dur think. Would the Jedi be the only ones on there? Or would General Klar be with them?

He pulled out a comlink and conected with the Jedi. "Is General Klar on board?" Barad-Dur asked.

Skywalker laughed. "Of course not. He's after Darth Tarna as we speak he feels he's too much of a threat. Now, don't call back until you are on board." The comlink went dead and Barad-Dur turned to Adenn.

"There you are," Barad-Dur replied, "Do what you will."

--

Marix watched the stars fly by him as he sat on the bridge of his SD. The Destiny's Law was continuing towards the system that the false Admiral resided in. As he sat in his chair, he began to formulate a plan. Turning to the communications area, he directed them to place a call to the Vader. As the ship was being located, he gathered his thoughts once more and looked up when he heard Captain Dawes hail him.

“Dawes, what has happened in the time since I left?” the Grand Admiral asked him. Dawes proceeded to lay out what had transpired over the time period. Marix took it in and sat on it. “Do you require any assistance?” He asked, and received that Dawes was not in contact with Barad’dur at the moment, but would relay it to him when he could.

Marix immediately sent two Empire-Class SD’s to the Bespin perimeter to be ready. Turning to his captain, he asked for an update on their position.

“We are nearing the Tatoonie sector, and shall arrive in under an hour.”

“Good. Scramble the TIE’s and pilots so we are ready. Also, the laser batteries and projectiles need to be checked and double-checked for combat readiness. I want to be completely ready for any surprises. I shall be in my cabin. Raise me when we are 10 minutes out. That is all, you may return to your duties…”

Marix then turned and made his way to his cabin, only pausing long enough to enter the password to his door. Stepping into his meditation chamber, he sat down and began to focus his energies, both physical, mental, and Force related to the battle that would surely ensue his arrival.

--

"Gra'tua. Keep these men safe. I will follow the Shadow protector. If I am to find this Ithorian then I should follow his target." He said as he walked to the hanger of the smaller SD and entered his personal transport and launched from the hanger. As he took off after Tarna he opened a Com-link to the others."Keep me posted." He said as he picked up Tarna's signal. He then switched to Tarna's Com-link and spoke. "Shadow Protector. I will accompany you."

---

Barad-Dur entered the hanger bay and saw his shuttle ready for him. He nodded to the others and boarded the waiting shuttle. Whatever happened next will determine the course of action to be taken, and how.

Tarna arrived in Bespin space. As his ship exited Hyperspace, alarm sirens went off immediately as several starfighters fired red bolts at Tarna. He went into a deep bank and contacted Adenn. "Adenn, this is Tarna. Where are you?  I've got some unwanted guests."

"I'm right behind you." He said as he started to engage the enemy fighters. His advanced piloting would have made a great contibution to the navy but as of now it was making a great contribution the to the Guard. As he went threw a barrel roll, into a deep bank to the left he mannaged to fire off two missles, taking out two of the enemy fighters. "Wrong pilot to mess with." He said as he conitnued the dog fight with the other fighters.

Gra'tua nodded as he stood behind Barad-dur."I will be with you until it is over." He said calmly as he waited to board, the time to strike would be upon them soon.