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Kal Werda, Loyal Knight of the Emperor Fel, walked through the Halls of the Imperial Palace, the cool night breeze of Coruscant wafting through the decoratively large windows.
Kal felt no chill, protected as he was by his custom Knight armor. His Helmit's lenses were running on nightvision as he tirelessly patrolled the palace. Despite the calm night, Kal fel unusually uneasy. The Sith, the Emperor's allies against the Jedi, seemed to be lurking about in unusual numbers, prowling about like Vornskyrs awaiting the chance to strike. Kal did not trust the Sith and their motives for helping the Empire. But given their history, one should never fully trust the Sith.
The Knight paused and listened to the comn chatter of the Palace's Stormtrooper guards, taking note of what they saw and heard.
Not many Knights were fond of wearing helmits, but Kal enjoyed the benefits that the device had to offer.
So far, no trouble was stirring. It just seemed a routine night.
Kal rested his hand upon his lightsaber, hanging from his belt. No matter how much good news he heard, he could not shake his unease.

Link Darksun, Itinerant Jedi and swordsman, wandered through the parched wastes of the Mantellian Outback.
He paused as the sun beat down and glanced at his Chrono.
He frowned disapoinntingly.

"Late the hour grows. Time is being wasted and Paradise City is still not in view. Faster modes of transportation must be sought."

He narrowed his eyes and gazed in concentration at the length of flat ground before him.

Focus your senses. Feel the living Force around you. let it see for you...

In his mind's eye he could picture the outskirts of the mantellian city, far far away. He visualized the distance between him and there to be a short sprint away.

Feel the Force flowing through you. Clear your mind. And then, close the distance.

Link felt himself tap into the Force. He was calm, he was focused. And then he ran.

To a passerby it seemed as though the young man had become a blur, jetting forward to his destination.
Before he knew it, he was there.

Breathing heavily he sat himself down just inside the city limits, his limbs burning and aching from the prolonged speed burst.

"Tiring that is." he muttered between gulps of air. "But training should not be avoided. Faster it was this time, over a longer distance. Improvement is becoming apparent."

He rested for a bit longer before picking himself up and moving on into town.

"A good point," Rusty agreed, rolling along after the wookie, with Freya in tow. Freya merely shook her head, waving about her corkscrew-like pigtails as she pulled off the ancient flight helmet, giving it an unceremonious toss into the pilot's seat, following Rusty and Gorwooken into the lift. As they entered, Freya arched a delicate blonde eyebrow at the wookie, looking to and fro between him and the droid. "Assassins?" she incredulously queried.

"Point taken," Freya groaned, with Rusty giving one of his famous "I told you so," lines. Still, given the clientele at the casino, the odd shady character would appear. Thus, though one would never get her to admit as such, she had to admit that having about a quarter-ton worth of wookie could be handy. Of course, the Wing Guard did an admirable job of keeping out the rabble, though they couldn't be everywhere. Thus, the presence of Gorwooken. No one gets past a wookie!
For his part, Rusty had been in the droid socket of many a starfighter of various makes that had the appropriate sockets for them, and, in a pinch, he could probably fly one himself. Although Thrakan Starsinger wasn't a pilot himself, his master after him, Zendia Starsinger was a most capable pilot. During his and Zendia's time with a squadron, Emerald Squadron, they flew Y, and later, X-wings against the best the Empire of their day could throw at them. And, well over a century after the fact, that Rusty himself was there, attested to the mutual skill. And thus, he himself had designed some flight sims based on the campaigns he'd been in. And, with many years of hindsight, even came up with his own improvements.
Finally the lift had arrived on the main casino floor, where Veron was located. "Enjoy your flight, daughter?" the man queried.
"Yes, father," Freya replied of instinct. "I think one day, I should like to tackle the asteroid field of Hoth,"
"Oh, no you don't!" Veron and Rusty chorused.

" Who's that? " Angel asked, her attention now on the new people from across a few game tables. " That's Gorwooken, a really tough wookie bodyguard type. " Came the response of a guy sitting next to her. " I wouldn't tick him off if I were you. " " I meant the girl. " Angel replied. " You're kidding. You don't know? " The man said, suprised. " Let's just say I've stayed to myself most of my life. I'm not in touch with who's who, save maybe really important figure heads. " " Well, it'd take too long to explain, but you'll undoubtedly find out. " They both turned back around to their cards. " Hi- " The guy started, being stopped when Angel held her hand up at him. " No. Trust me, you wanna stand. " The guy took her advice and stood with a 12. Angel did the same with a 14. The dealer frowned, having an 11, and busted when he hit, going over 20. The other 2 lost, having busted. Angel turned over the next card that'd be played, along with the one after, both 10s. " I have a knack for certain gambles. " Angel said. From the handful of credits she started with, she was now over 1,500 total.

In mere moments, Angel had more than doubled her winnings. With nearly 5,000 credits to her name now, she got up and went over to the nearest authority-looking figure. " Excuse me, do you have a section here for high rollers? "

Five hours later, Commander Kev'aa'nuruodo was inside the CEDF outpost on Crustai, waiting for the Aristocra to arrive in the stuffy conference room. Vaan lifted the collar to his uniform just slightly, allowing himself to breathe as the beads of sweat welled upf rom the blistering heat of the room. Part of him wondered if the Aristocra did this intentionally to break him down. After what seemed like hours, the Aristocra finally arrived.

"Greeting, Aristocra," Vaan said, this time without the pomp and circumstance.

The Aristocra did not return the greeting and instead sat down on the table with several stacks of datacards.

"Let's not bother with formalities here, Kev'aa'nuruodo," The Aristocra said dryly. "My records show your growing disregard of CEDF procedures in your interaction with the government called the Galactic Empire."

Vaan stifled slightly in his seat. He was prepared for this.

"Interaction with the Empire, yes, but there has been no disregard to CEDF procedures. If you'll notice, there have been no instances of a preemptive strike, yet the Ascendancy has been given the opportunity to deal with threats to Chiss Space much sooner than we would have had the Empire not intervened," he retaliated.

The Aristocra sighed. "Yes, and while this may have gone over well with the Ascendancy's overlords, it seems to me as something of the caliber of a certain Mitth'raw'nuruodo."

"Your opinion over this matter is hardly significant," Vaan countered, "Why the Aristocra of the Chaf family is intervening with my duties in the CEDF is beyond me. Had you been of my own ruling family the case would be different, but as of now, you hold no authority over me."

The Aristocra sat back in her seat, knowing that she was defeated. "We are straying from the point, Commander. The point is that the Ascendancy is getting worried about the Empire's intentions."

By now Vaan was fed up with the meddling Aristocra. "If the Ascendancy is worried about the Empire's intention, then they will send the Aristocra of my own family to deal with this matter. As far as I know, the Nuruodo family handles foreign policy, not the Chaf," he countered, his tone subtle but fierce.

"Duly noted," the Aristocra said. "You must be unaware that Aristocra Kres'tin'nuruodo passed away last night. In the vacuum, the House has ruled that as the Chaf Aristocra, I will handle this matter."

Vaan raised an eyebrow. Clearly the Aristocra was smarter than he had expected. "I see no reason why the Ascendancy would quesiton the motives of the Emperor," he said.

"We do not question his motives, but it makes no sense that the Emperor would simply allow you to galavant with his men so that the Ascendancy has an excuse to make preemptive strikes," the Aristocra said, aggravated.

"They are not preemptive strikes, if you have noticed, our aggressors attack us first!" Vaan countered.

"Only because they are attacked by a CEDF vessel that is temporarily traveling uner the guise of an Imperial ship. Of course, there is also the fact that the commander of this vessel happens to be a Chiss Commander of the CEDF."

"Aristocra, my position in the Empire has been sanctioned by the House Representatives. The Empire has no other motive than to secure a trust and possible alliance with the Chiss Ascendancy. That is all."

By the time Vaan had uttered his last sentence, the Aristocra had already left the room.