LOTF: Resurgence/Chapter 4

Not much later, Antimatter Squadron had returned to their ship with Yula and Qorbin in tow. Now, they were waiting for their contact to speak to them again. Hans didn't know who it was (Yula wouldn't say either), but he had a feeling that recent events were going to bring about the return of the Brotherhood. It all just seemed to make sense. Both Yula and Qorbin had both been connected to Ganner, who Dylan had tried to kill for some reason. Seeing as Qorbin was apparently bait for Yula, Hans suspected the man the team had spoken to was trying to cut loose ends from all those years ago.

The installations and the man weren't the only traces of the Brotherhood that were left. Hans' father, Berloc, was still a Senator living on Coruscant. Hans had long wanted to capture him and get information, but an operation like that was beyond even the capabilities of Antimatter Squadron at the moment-- at least if they wanted to get out of it alive. Hans was hoping, though not expecting, that these new developments could somehow further that goal.

The group was standing around the holoprojector in the middle of the ship's main hold. DX-245 was absent; the droid had been assigned the duty of nursing Qorbin back to health and doing his best to help him recuperate with what had happened. Hans, however, believed that whatever Qorbin knew was probably more important than whether or not he lived from now on, and had made sure DX-245 knew to get as much information as he could. Naturally, Praxon was in on this too, but did not object.

"Call's coming in." Asura reported.

"All right. Let's hear this."

The holoprojector activated, engulfing the room in a blue light, but did not actually display anything.

"Give me a moment. I've been hiding my identity forever." The contact spoke. In a flash of light, the holoprojector revealed a new image. The man was one familiar to Antimatter Squadron, though he had certainly aged since they had last met. His long, sandy hair had since been trimmed down, and his tan face was now clean shaven. He looked about the same age as he had the last time the team had seen him three years ago, though since he had always looked older than he was, he now genuinely looked his age. "Miss me?" Ranulph Darkhitch asked.

"It's been too long, brother," Cade warmly responded.

"Where have you been?" Asura asked.

"Yula?"

Yula leaned onto the table as she spoke. "It started with Ganner's message, the one he gave Ranulph on Dantooine. In it, he described a vision he'd had. He saw a new evil rise, and two heroes rise to challenge it. Whether or not they would succeed was uncertain, but he knew that the mission would come at great cost to the heroes and those around them."

"It's for those reasons," Ranulph continued, "That I left you how I did. I knew Yula would be most likely alone, and we sought each other out. She'd seen things too."

Even before Yula continued, Hans already knew it was going to be bad. Visions were never good. What was more, this gave him the feeling that whatever they had just gotten into went beyond just the Brotherhood. Yula hadn't had too much interaction with them, save for when they captured her on Dantooine. To this day, no one knew why they had done it. Sure, it had been because of the battle in the ruins, but why was it being watched? There were too many unanswered questions.

"I saw someone," Yula carried on, her voice bringing Hans back to his senses, "The same man you spoke to in the facility. He's a Sith. In the vision, he sat on a throne as a servant kneeled before him."

"A Sith?" Cade questioned. "I thought Ganner killed all of the Shadow Assassins."

"So did I." Yula replied. "But there's more: The servant turned, and I saw his face. It was Ganner."

A silence fell around Antimatter Squadron as they each took in the implications of this vision. Hans had heard about what Ganner had done on Umbara and seen what he had done to the Death Watch on Carlac. That kind of power could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. "And we know Ganner's dead?" Hans asked.

"I think we'd know if he wasn't." Cade answered.

"Still, none of us have been to Carlac in years. We should check and make sure nothing's happened." Yula stated.

Hans glanced around the table, everyone's eyes meeting his in anticipation of his orders. "She's right. We're going to Carlac."

...

Barak stood in the chamber where he had met the Inquisitor, working on a computer. On the screens that he had seen pictures of Umbara and the Temple, he now looked at profiles of each of the individuals that had been at the Quesh base. Each one of them was just another piece added onto the puzzle.

The one Barak had identified most easily was Hans Cerrano, a fugitive that had vanished for almost a decade. Barak knew his story, but why was he here? Next up was Asura Tyuki. She was a known terrorist conspirator, last seen on Bothawui two months ago. Then there was Praxon, the Rodian assassin of the Brotherhood. Barak had heard rumors about his existence. The final two names, however, were the most interesting. The first was a man that couldn't be identified, but had been seen with Asura Tyuki on Bothawui. The second (and Barak had to double check this) was Jedi Master Yula Ardinn.

He'd done his research on her using his newfound access to much higher levels of clearance to Imperial intelligence (which, unfortunately, still wasn't enough to learn anything about Cyana) and learned that Yula was one of four Jedi sent to Umbara on a mission to neutralize enemy forces occupying a vital airfield. Another one of those four Jedi was Ganner. None of the four Jedi's whereabouts after the mission had been known to the Order, so they had sent two of their masters to search for them: Sen Qorbin (Ganner's master) and Nyri Tacon (Yula's master).

Officially, no one knew what had happened to either of them. Unofficially, one of them was accounted for. The Inquisitor had told Barak about Qorbin and his use as bait for the survivors of Umbara. What he hadn't explained to Barak, and what Barak couldn't figure out, is how the Inquisitor had managed to capture Qorbin or how he had formed the plan that far ahead. Indeed, there was much about him Barak had yet to figure out. Barak didn't even know his name, or if he had one.

Behind Barak, the lift's door opened, its white interior lights now contrasting with the dark blue atmosphere of the rest of the room. As it opened, Barak felt a definite shift in the temperature of the room, suddenly becoming cold. "Sumad has been watching you." The Inquisitor stated from behind Barak. "He says good things about you thus far."

"It's nice to know I'm being spied on by someone who likes me," Barak retorted. The Inquisitor walked up next to Barak to observe his findings. He was silent for a moment as he scanned across the images before he turned to Barak to speak. "Who are they?"

"Criminals and fugitives, but not your average group." He pointed to Hans. "He's a Senator's kid. Committed murder but ran away and hasn't been seen in years. The Rodian used to work for the Brotherhood, and the other two have no prior records before a recent skirmish with Imperial forces on Bothawui."

The Inquisitor stood in silent contemplation for a long moment. Barak tracked his face, watching as he ventured from a concerned frown to a sudden widening of the eyes in realization, giving way to a dastardly smirk. "Of course," the Inquisitor muttered. His attention then returned to reality, and he looked back at Barak. "Let me take over."

Barak moved for the Inquisitor to use the terminal, and he quickly brought up a galactic map. In the Outer Rim, there was a bright, red, blinking dot. The Inquisitor zoomed in on this dot, tracking it to a snowy world. According to the computer, it was called Carlac.

"What are they hiding?" The Inquisitor asked himself leaning over on the terminal. After another brief silence, he stood up. "I'm going. Tell Sumad not to follow, and await for further orders from me."

"You're going alone?" Barak asked, as the Inquisitor walked away. What was even the point of having the fleet if they weren't going to use it?

"Oh, don't worry, Barak" The Inquisitor assured him. "This is merely the first step."