Destiny Eclipse/Chapter VI

-- 5 ABY --

Kinyen – Outer Space
Months had flowed together like water after Xander had left Naboo. His adventures had led him as far in as Corellia, where he had researched the age old myths of the Xargressia, a species that could live for untold millennia, but which had never been proven to have existed, except in folk lore.

More recently, Xander and Jysek had moved back out into the Outer Rim, hoping to learn from the once highly advanced Gran race on Kinyen. The three-eyed aliens held much respect from Xander, as he knew the burden they carried. During the Galactic Civil War they had been branded traitors to the Empire, and a large amount of the population enslaved, because they had produced several Jedi Knights, a noticeable one amongst them being Maks Leem.

The planet had also remained loyal to the Republic, and so a large Imperial task force had been placed in orbit. In recent years, that task force had been defeated by local insurgents combined with the Rebellion to restore the planet to how it was before the Clone Wars.

Now though, those insurgents had turned rebel, rebelling against even the government they had helped put in place. One such group, the main group that supposedly the rest fell in order to, was the Black Haven, a vicious group led by a human from Corellia. Xander had hoped to aide the government in putting down the rebellion, and had carefully prepared his blaster his father had given him, the one his grand mother had used to save Quinlan Vos’ life. It was as shiny as if it were recently bought, the power pack, and three back ups fully charged.

Jysek sat in his craft, near Xander’s, his own weapon, an S-5 Blaster Pistol he had managed to buy on the black market near Ord Mantell. The two knew that whilst they were only children, Xander, now eleven, and Jysek, now fifteen, were well on their way into adulthood, with the usual muscle additions of puberty giving them both an edge over the lax and lazy gang.

Xander hoped, most of all, that as he was only eleven, he would be over looked, and could easily over power some of the insurgent group.

The crackle on his comm broke him out of his vicious thought process, as he depressed the button to answer, “Yes?” He answered, with new confidence he had gained over the months of space travel.

“You may set down in minutes, sir,” came the reply from one of the control towers on Kinyen, the nasal sound of the Gran on the other end of the comm apparent in the communication.

“Thank you, I will be down presently,” Xander said, “As will my companion.”

Kinyen – Surface
The majority of the lush world was covered in forests and grasslands, though there were several main cities. Xander and Jysek had landed in the capital city, which reminded Xander somewhat of his recent visit to Corellia.

The city was full of smog and confusion, the buildings stretching high into the sky, as if yearning for the icy grip only space could hold them in. The main mode of transport was speeder, although some preferred walking, as the city was only a couple of kilometres in diameter.

Xander wondered the streets with awe, occasionally stopping to ask a passer-by for questions about Black Haven, the only response being a bead of sweat moving down a man’s forehead here before he ran off, or a darting of the eyes of an Ithorian there.

Jysek had suggested they try to act as bait for the gang, and Xander had agreed, and soon enough, looks of childish fear on their faces to compliment the act they were putting on, they headed into a dead-end alleyway, where they made sufficient noises of despair and panic.

“Alright kiddies, hand over yer valuables,” a heavily accented voice forced out in Basic. As Xander and Jysek whirled around in mock panic, they saw a shady Devaronian step out of the shadows, holding a Repeating Rifle.

Xander quickly made a whimper of fear, before nodding his head quickly, as if in compliance, as he reached slowly down to, as it would appear to the thug, pull his wallet out. As he grasped into his pocket, he felt the familiar grip of his blaster. Glancing over at Jysek, he gave his friend a microscopic nod.

“Well come on mateys, we don’t have all day, and I’m sure you don’t want a face full of blaster bolts,” the thug gestured impatiently.

“Very well, if you don’t wish to wait for your death,” Xander said, whipping the blaster out, firing a snap shot into the Devaronian’s arm and Jysek, who had been slowly edging towards the thug dived on him, pinning him down. The screech of pain the thug let out was quickly silenced by a strong arm clamped across his mouth.

“Tell me where your leader is,” Xander said, standing over him, as Jysek let go of the thug’s mouth, but keeping it hovering close, in case the thug had delusions of grandeur and wished to chance his luck at another scream for help.

“I don’t know what your talking about, I work on my own,” the thug said, his eyes darting nervously.

Xander took a deep breath and centred himself, trying to sink into the Force as best he could. Over the months, he had been practising Force Persuasion on Jysek with his permission, and had a small mastery over it.

“You will tell me where your leader is, now,” he said, knowing full well this man was a member of Black Haven, the Devaronian must have thought them more idiots than he if he expected them to not have noticed the emblazoned insignia on the right shoulder of the light armour the man wore.

“I will tell you where my leader is. He is in the lower levels of the fourth district from the space port, please don’t hurt me,” the Devaronian managed to whisper out before Jysek again clamped his hand over the thug’s face.

“Which level?” Xander demanded, glancing around to make sure no reinforcements had arrived to aid their fallen comrade.

“Level 2B,” the thug managed to choke out, “But you need a pass-code, its ‘Safe House’.”

“Thank you,” Xander said, rising again from his stooped position, and glancing away as Jysek released the thug, “You’ve been very helpful. Now, go home, buy some good clothes,” he said as he eyed the thug’s pore clothes, the clash a horrible greeny-brown, “And get a proper job.”

“Yes, yes, proper job,” the Devaronian said eagerly, straightening his jacket, and stretching to remove the cramps that had begun to build up.

“Very well, get out of here,” Xander said, twitching his head in the direction of the entrance to the alley. The thug scampered out without need of further encouragement. Xander glanced at Jysek, who had scooped up the man’s blaster and checked the ammo count.

“Empty, as expected,” Jysek said, tossing the spent weapon to the side, “You’d think Black Haven would have enough credits to at least supply its minions with ammo for their weapons, I mean, sometimes people must resist the mugging’s.”

“The people here live in fear, they would rather give up their credits than their lives.” Xander murmured, “Now come on, I have little doubt the thug will turn over a new leaf, and we should get out of here before he returns with a group of his friends who actually do have ammo.”

Bakura – Jedi Academy
The transport hummed, alive with static electricity as it both prepared for the coming journey, and discharged the build up of static into the ground. The engines gave a few test ignites as the pilot checked that everything was in working order.

Vikro stood a short distance away, gazing at the craft, deep in thought after another restless night of visions of the young boy, reminding him of an old friend he could not identify, but also seeming to be a fresh new face he could never have met before.

“So you’re leaving, then?” A smooth voice said from over his shoulder, the voice belonging to Jedi Master Asil Leikane, also known as Shatterpoint by her close friends.

“The shuttle is ready, and nothing else remains to be done,” Vikro said, choosing not to answer her question directly.

A faint smile hovered on Shatterpoint’s lips as she too picked up on this, “Well, I have come to give you my farewell, although I know within the week you will be back within our arms. It still saddens me to have to farewell fellow Council Members to missions, as there is always that shade of doubt deep at the back of my mind that, try as I might, I cannot remove. It feeds on me, telling me the chances that this mission could fail, that you could be killed in a gang ambush.”

“Now you’re making me nervous,” Vikro said jokingly with a grin on his face. As Shatterpoint opened her mouth to speak again, he interjected “But don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Master Jedi?” The pilot said, standing at the base of the ramp, looking entirely too awkward as he interrupted the two powerful Jedi from looked like an intimate farewell.

“Well, I must go,” Vikro said, smiling sadly, “Farewell Asil, do not fear, I will be back within the month. Give my closest regards to Koras. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you,” Shatterpoint said, nodding her head as she returned the customary farewell.

Turning, Vikro walked slowly over to the shuttle, boarding the craft. As he settled, he heard the whine, as the door slammed shut, knowing when they next opened, he would be on Kinyen.

Kinyen – Black Haven Base
The turbo lift hummed with electricity as it plunged further below the surface of the lush world. Jysek stood, brimming with energy and impatience, as Xander sat, calmly, centering himself, and calling the Force to himself. He breathed heavily in annoyance. Pulling the Force to him was like attempting to hold water in his hands. The harder he tried, the more it slipped through his fingers.

Finally, to Jysek what seemed like centuries, but to Xander, and in reality, what was only a few minutes, the turbo lift shuddered to a halt, the doors creaking open loudly. Jysek glanced out nervously, unsure if they had triggered some sort of silent alarm, or if even now a hidden turret was trained on them, counting down the time they had left to enter the pass-code before it opened fire on them.

After several minutes of waiting, and finally realising they were clear to go on, Jysek and Xander stepped out of the lift, the doors slamming shut behind them, as they raised and checked the clips left in their blasters.

Approaching a door shrouded in shadows, Jysek glanced at Xander, who strained, and nodded his head. Jysek rushed over, typing in the pass-code, before dodging over to the side, standing concealed as the door slid open, smooth and quiet, compared to the turbo-lift. Whirling around, Jysek covered the entrance with his blaster as Xander slipped through the door, as quiet as a ghost. Xander halted in front of the inner door, covering it as Jysek slipped in behind him, closing the exterior door silently behind him.

As the interior door slid open, Xander tensed as he heard the click of a blaster cell clicking into place in its barrel. He spun, covering the room, but not quickly enough, as a stun bolt flew out of an adjoining room, slamming into his chest, knocking the breath out of him, as he stumbled and fell to the ground, and into darkness.

Jysek whirled into the room, and cut down the distant figure with a spray of ruby bolts. He rolled to Xander, checking his pulse, before glancing around to check for further enemies. The far door opened, and he fired, killing the first through it, but the second and third got marginally further before he killed them, and the fourth, fifth and sixth made it all the way into the room, converging on him, and firing him full of stun bolts, knocking him, as well, out cold.