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To the onlookers, it seemed as if everything had happened in an instant. to Cale, the wolrd seemed to have slowed to a crawl.
He had drawn his pistol and fired from the hip. The blaster bolt flew across the street on a direct course for the Jedi''s head.
But before it got there, the Jedi Cut it out of the air with his saber. The blade vanished as the jedi finished his slice, the bolt crashing into the dusty street.
For a moment everything was quiet. The Jedi gave Cale a confident smile.
Cale returned the smile and drew his other pistol in an instant.
The Jedi''s face wore a suprised look as Cale opened fire with both blasters. A hail of blaster bolts poured down on the Jedi as Cale lit him up.
The jedi twirled his saber and started to deflect bolts as fast as he could. Spectators fled as energy beams went flying everywhere. The Outlaw couldn''t believe the guy was holding his own. then his DL-18 ran out of ammo.
Seeing an oppening, the jedi opened his palm and Cale was knocked off his feet. The swordsman closed in, his blue blade held high for an over head strike. Cale''s eyes went wide as the jedi bore down on him with remarkable speed. The outlaw snatched up a grenade from his belt and flicked it at the jedi. Instinctively the warrior cut the grenade down, unable to stop himself from doing so. the grenade erupted in a flash of blinding light and deafening noise. The Jedi staggered back as his senses were overloaded.
Seeing his chance, Cale reloaded his gun and scurried away. He slid on a pair of odd looking gloves and drew a pair of frag grenades. he pulled the pins and chucked them at his foe. The outlaw dove for cover behind a speeder as the grenades exploded in twin clouds of dust and shrapnel. Cale Popped back up and fired off a storm of blaster bolts over the hood of the speeder into the dust cloud. Cale let off on his pistols and smoke rose from their barrels. Cautiously the outlaw watched as the cloud disapated. No sign of the jedi.
"aw sithspit." Cale said. Instinctively he looked up. The Jedi was in the air above him, his lightsaber held up to slash down. Cale rolled to the side as the Jedi Compleated his leap attack, slicing the front of the Speeder off. Cale scrambled back against a crate as the jedi lifted his blade again to slice the Outlaw. as the jedi brought his blade down the Outlaw brought his wrists up to block. It seemed like the end of Cale, Until the saber crashed against an energy field. Cale smiled as the Jedi gave a suprised look. "Like it?" He said. "Its a light shield, and aparently you''ve never seen one before. good news for me." Cale kicked the jedi off of him and lept to his feet. The Outlaw drew the stolen Lightsaber and ignighted its green blade.
The Jedi gave Cale a dull look. "You Can''t be serious."
Cale gave a crazed grin. "Well lets find out!" He twirled the saber around in a poor attempt at a showy display and held it in an on guard position. "Come on Ya force using pansy! Bring it on! I''ll Cut you in Two!"
The Jedi master knocked the blade from Cale''s hand in a single fluid move.
"Oooookay.....well then. lets try this!" Cale reached into the crate and pulled out a collapsable missle tube. in one swift motion Cale armed the thing and leveled it at the Jedi."Dodge this saber boy!" Cale fired the missle at the jedi, who simply stepped to the side and let it pass by him. the jedi watched it trail off and looked back to where the outlaw was standing, only now the outlaw was running away very fast. The Jedi looked back over his shoulder at the fast departing missle only to see it arc around and speed towards the force user.
"Of Course. a Smart Missle. it just had to be a smart missle." The Jedi Lamented.
A few blocks away, Cale heard a monumental explosion as the missle hit the ordinance stand with apocalyptic results. The Outlaw stopped his running and started laughing. "Hahaha! eat that Jedi! The Force can''t save you now! Heh, I''ll bet they''ll need tweesers to find whats left of him!" He crowed. he leaned tiredly against a wall and laughed again at his victory"I only wish I could have seen that barve''s face before he exploded!"
"Be Careful what you wish for." Said an all too familiar Voice behind him.
Cale Froze. slowly he turned around. There stood the jedi, his cloak singed badly and still trailing smoke. The Jedi held his chin and gave a slight grin. "Hmm. I imagine it looked alot like the one on your face right now."
Cale Cursed and drew his blasters as the Jedi raised his saber.
They stood staring each other down once more.

Drako had spent more then an hour going through the HKs data banks.

" Ah.......Found you. It may be alittle damaged....but its all there.....Hrmmm.....What is this?"

"I have a feeling that this was meant to be seen from an aerial view..."

Imperius and Valycia boarded the gunboat and they flew attop the Hidden Valley. Sure enough, the crevices in the Valley spelled out something in a strange pattern. When asked what the patterns were, Imperius replied to Valycia that they were writtten in Ancient Sith, a lost language.


"What do you propose we do?"

Cale's thirst led him to the Dead Space Bar, his favorite haunt. he pushed open the old style saloon doors and tipped a salute to the barkeep. "Hey Adar. hows it going?"
The pale haired Arkanian nodded as Cale walked by. "Well aside for the trouble you caused me yesterday, not much has happened, aside from a lull in buisness. You better stop bringing trouble into my bar or I'm cutting you off!"
"Damn. well I better be on my best behaivior then." Cale said in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Sorry Adar, trouble finds me. I don't go looking for it."
"Bantha s**t. you humans are adrenaline junkies, the whole lot of you are always looking for trouble. and you Outlaws are the worst of the lot."
"Yeah, yeah." Cale said, waving off the Arkanian's words. As the fringer walked past the Jukebox he put in a coin and punched in a selection, the same sappy tune playing the day before. He slid into the booth he usually frequented his back against the wall as a human serving girl sauntered up to him. "Hey Cale, what can I get you?" she said.
Cale glanced up at the girl and grinned. "I'll just have a lum, Nora."
"One lum coming up!" she said cheerily. she glanced over at the Jukebox and blanched. "The same song again? Cale don't you ever get tired of that tune?"
Cale looked up at her with mock indignation."Babe, those are the Real Folk Blues. in a thousand years folks will be listening to this very tune, long after our names are forgotten. You have to apreciate the timeless classics."
She rolled her eyes."Cale, there are stars younger than that song."
"and your point is?"
She sighed. "Fine. whatever Space Cowboy. I'll get your lum."
Nora moved off to get Cale's drink as the outlaw pulled out his sabacc deck, shuffled it and delt himself a game of solitare.
Nora came back with his drink and sat it on the table. she looked over the table at the cards curiously, coincidentaly giving Cale a good look down her dress."Solitare too?!" she stood back up and leaned on the table. she looked at the outlaw with an irritated gaze."Cale Darksun, For every day of this past month you've come in here at about the same time every day, order the same drink, play the same tune on the music box, and play the same dumb game! Its not healthy for someone to be so predictable that he can be used to set a Chronometer!"
Cale took a drink and seemed to consider this. "Good point. time to do something different." He flashed the girl his Lady Killer smile. "So when do you get off tonight?" he capped off his smile and line with a wink.
She smiled back at him."um, in like five hours."
"Good. then I'll take you out to dinner tonight. My treat."
Her face lit up excitedly. "Really, Cale?!"
"You' know it."
"Nora! Get back to work!" Adar barked at her.
she sighed and turned to walk away from the table. she paused and winked at Cale."so pick me up tonight?"
"Sure thing babe."
as Nora went back to serving the other patrons, Cale was left alone with his Cards, his Drink, and his thoughts once more.

"Sir, Ships in sector nine point four! Fleet coming in behind us as well! They're trying to sandwich us in!" Hudson said, this time somewhat panic-stricken, a rare case for him. Neb watched as a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers appeared up in front, releasing Howlrunners and Intercepters to help defend the battleship, while several Dreadnaughts with a complementary lancer frigate and another ISD, launching a wave of Vulture droids.

"Red Squadron, Blue Squadron, take down that rear guard, Green Squadron, follow me! We're taking on that pair up front single handed! Admiral, we need some heavy firepower up front! Corvettes, help the fighters take down those lancers! Frigates, Pound the sith out of that battleship! I dont' want any shuttles taking off! Gold Squadron! Split up! Hold whatever you can! Don't let any transports leave! Take down the hangars if possible!"

"Are you insane? We're taking on over a hundred fighters just our squadron alone! We can't repel that kind of fighter cover by ourselves!" Green leader shouted over the com.

"Green leader, Hold youself together! This isn't the time to be balking at this! Form tight on my wing, I'll try not to let too many get past my guns! Gunnie! Prepare for flanking maneuvers from the enemy! Fighters, I'll cover you! Hudson! Double Rear on shielding! Green Squadron, Form up in front of me, Spearhead this formation! Line up straight, and cover each other's tails like that piece of twi' lek a** you were glimpsin' last night! Let's crack this whip!" Neb rebutted, as the fighters threw up a wall of energy into the oncoming formations, each firing a torpedo to help thin it out. Neb watched as the squadron doubled up, and almost looked like a sled dog team as it followed each other.

His guns had the ability to rotate 360 degrees and cover everywhere he wanted, but theirs could not. He hoped silently that the lead would not be too predictable, and hoped even moreso that he could hold off the mass of fighters that launched.

The squadron flew quite well in this odd formation, as they blasted in pairs, but Neb thought up something else.

"Okay, better Idea, let's do a training exercise."

"What? What in god's name are you asking us to do now?"

"Simple, Every time you fire, go to the back of the line, and follow the leader!"

"Crude, but effective... Sounds fun!" Green leader shouted back, as he cut the power and dropped to the rear.

The squadron looked odd, playing like a snake, but it was beginning to be effective. Neb's guns could easily track the figthers coming from above and below, adn those in firing sequence only had to look out where they were going. Everyone else got a pop shot when the lead dropped or changed pattern.

Soon it was Neb's turn. "Charge up blasters, we're hitting these guys in formation!" He charged at the first dome, and fired, pulling up, as everyone followed suit. two blue ionized blasts followed by fifty-five red lasers took out the first dome, as Neb immelmaned and pulled the same trick, effectively knocking out both domes, suprizingly well.

"Guys, that' works! Now, break off! 360 split! Everyone a different way, and pick someone's butt to cover!" Neb shouted, as he watched everyone break off in front of him, jsut as green lasers began to bolt his six, he watched as everyone split with three ties apiece to follow. Gunnie aimed at what he could, but the fighters pulled hard, and converged in on each other, lining up behind one another, and effectively blasting each other's bogeys.

"HA! Imperials couldn't even wipe their behinds with the intelligence they're showing today!" Neb laughed out loud over the com. He hadn't time to realize it, but his presence was doing more than a fair share of work on the battlefield, as his battle meditation was giving everyone a slight edge in everything they did. If he had realized it, his spirits would have been dampened, but at the moment, everything was so clear, he only had time to revel.

The MC90 had begun to pull up, and draw the fire away from the Imperial Star destroyers as the first one, whose shields were weak, and soon extinct from the fire of the massive Mon Cal Cruiser, began to erupt in flames.

"Green Squadron, split off! Help ease Gold's burden! How many we lost?"

"Lost Grundy, lost Ulysses, Lost Hekatos. three so far." Green leader pulled out, as he spun and dived trying to get another fighter.

"Not bad for the odds we're against? eh?"

"No sir. I believe our kill count's around 45-50 as a squadron."

"You'll have to do better than 76, that's mine so far!"

"The transports only count as one!"

"I'm counting that first couple you guys wanted to pick off me!"

"Come on! you hadn't even scratched them yet!"

"Get back to flying, you have... had one on your tail!" Neb joked, blowing the lagger off the tail.

Rohsan moved through the vilage, his eyes darting about, as if looking for something, then he spoted it. A young native was walking through the vilage, nothing seemingly diffrent about him, but Rohsan saw it. A small black ring tatoo, just behind the left ear. Quickly walking over to the boy he grabed his arm and pulled him aside. "Where is your marksman?" The boy looked at him, completely confused. In the name of the stone! Was he givin the mark, but not taught? Reaching out he tapped the tatoo, shocking the boy. "Where is the man who gave you this?" Nodding the boy quickly shuffled off, Rohsan following him. Soon they arrived at a small, half buired hut. Walking through the door Rohsans eyes settled on the lone occupant, a large man with a smillar tatoo. Walking over to him he stuck out his hand and morphed it into a claw. Smiling the man brought him into a bone crushing hug. Rohsan my friend, how have you years passed? More importantly, has it begun? "Yes, Lanun, it has. Do you still have the blade? It will be needed soon." "Then soon I may pass. Of course I do. Here." With that the man shifted a stone on the floor and revealed a black steel box. Opening it up, Rohsan saw what he had come for. A small stone dagger, seemingly worthless in a fight, but the thing that set it apart was the red stone at it was made of. That was also what made it deadly. "Thank you, I must take my leave now, be strong Lanun. May the stones glow guide you." Exiting the hut he heard Lanun's words from behind him, "And may the light of Kaiburr lead you as well." Walking towards the valley him stoped at the entrance and ented a meditation state, taking the from of a Hssiss ang guarding the entrance.

"I don't think so...I believe he is more of a scholar, of the Jedi and Sith. I had once read about an organization like that, though it was more of a fable. they werec alled the Order of the Kaiburr or something of the sort. We must find him. Come, with me."

He boarded the Sundred rose and set course for Eclipdra, where they docked and lifted off again. From the pilot's seat, he turned around to face Angel, and remembered hte fiery girl he had met on Ord Senas two months before.

"I have a proposition to make,"

Mordranna's mind raced as the order came in. "Acknowledged!" Recalling her numerous times aboard Star Destroyers, her mind worked as she scrambled for how best to accomplish the order that just came down.
"Gold One! Take Golds Three, Five, Seven, Nine and Eleven, and hit that starboard Destroyer! Everyone else with me!"
"What do you have in mind, boss?" Gold Six queried.
"Glad you asked! Fly in as close to the hangars as you can, and hug the surface. All power to forward shields - the guns shouldn't be able to traverse that low. Get as close to the hangars as possible. I want a volley of proton torpedoes to hammer into the hangars. Lock on to any fuel cells!"
And, so, the daring strafing run was on. According to plan, the fighters hugged the surface. However, that didn't last long, as several interceptors tailed them, their green bolts of death harrying them. At last, one such bolt struck Gold Four, shearing off the starboard wing assembly, with him crashing into the Destroyer in a spectacular fiery ball!
Sith-spit! Mordranna hissed as Gold Four met his doom. Another TIE, although it did not do as much damage, managed to cripple Gold Eight's engines and sheared off his starboard cannon.
"Gold Eight - status!" she cried out.
"Boss, I lost my starboard guns, and my engines are failing."
"Gold Eight, get clear of the battle."
"I'll see what I can do. I'm not out of the fi-"
"No." Mordranna admonished him. "Get clear. Take a walk - that's an order!"
With that, they finally reached the hangar. "All right, people - let's hit 'em with everything, and run home!"
The volleys of torpedoes flew into the hangars. Some merely shattered a few TIEs, but others managed to hit vital fuel and energy cells. Particularly Mordranna's, whose were guided by the Force. "Get clear!" Mordranna cried out again, as fireballs ripped through the hangars. Gold Four, that one's for you, she sadly mused as the surviving X-wings flew away as fast as they could.