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"Your actions are most illogical, master. First you are so anxious to find this boy, and when you find him, you give him a holoprojector and leave. I sometimes wonder about you meatbags and your "honor". What are you going to tell Krayt, when he asks why you weren't around Sullust?" HM asked, expecting little response.

It was true, Ferno had acted almost disappointingly for being one of the top assassins in the galaxy. Link would play a part in his plans, for good or ill, and fighting him with a gaffi stick when Ferno had a lightsaber would have been less than a good challenge, and possibly cost him more than he bargained for in the future.

Instead, he had hoped that at least the young jedi would be more diligent with his training. He had gotten better, as Ferno sensed, but still a much weaker opponent than he would have liked. But if Link knew in the back of his mind that Ferno could find him, at any given time at any given part of the galaxy, he would be alert enough to know his presence, and train only that much more.

But no droid would understand this, nor would any sith. The way of the sith is through backstabbing and betrayal. Jedi were predictable; they would fight the evil until they died, but never attack for offense. However, Ferno was a sith, and would always start the fight. What better way than to take out the toughest obstacles than have them fight each other? If link could grow strong, he could eliminate the weaker scum of the sith, and when only the strong remained, he could be terminated.

Ferno knew that there would always be the risk Link would prove too much for him. But it was a risk well worth taking if he could achieve his goals.

On a Nal Hutta bound freighter, Link sat in the hold, working a whetstone to the edge of his sword.

He pondered his encounter with the dark being. Why had he not attacked? Was that not the reason he was on tatooine to begin with? To hunt Link down?
The creature was cruel. But that did not mean he was stupid. Far from it.
The Master had warned him of the sith monster, warned him of what he was capable of.

As he worked, he thought back to the hologram projector.
Could he be waiting to challenge this one there? he thought. Is it even there anymore? Could it be that he discovered this one's connection to that place?
In a time like this, it was not a wise idea to become attached to anyone. The Sith, Historically, enjoyed finding those c***k's in a warrior's armor and using them against him.
I Should not return. If it still stands, the Sith will be forced to find another tool to strike at this one with.

It was decided. He would continue on his ancestor's trail. And he would train. The creature would find him again all too soon. Constant readyness would be required.

Link Continued to work on his sword's edge, focusing his mind and honing it much like the blade he now held. It was only the first of many tasks he needed to accomplish before he touched down on Nal Hutta.

(Yeah. I figured I could do more with an NPC then your forces. They'd probably be more skeptical of the attack)

Junction's defenses didn't get much better as the threat of battle became more by the hour. Seto Myno barely had enough forces to keep the spaceport under check, much less maintain an adequate defense against anything more than a pirate fleet. If the Empire attacked, they'd either be forced to flee, or be crushed.

Which was why Mandalore the Conquerer advised him to evac.

"Sir?" the Overlord asked skeptically to the foot-sized hologram of the council-leader. "You want the fleet to evac?"

"Yes," the staticy voice replied. This was due to the barely reliable Mandalorian Network. They could send messages, but security came at the price of clarity. "Leave as soon as possible."

"May I ask why?" Myno requested. "I've just gotten the defenses in order. We'd be fools to leave." Even to him it sounded hollow.

"And die? Our sources are expecting a few heavy destroyers, plus some of the mandalorian seperatists we've been hearing about. You'll be overwhelmed."

"Mandalore, forgive me for expressing my disagreement, but we stand a good chance here. My Canderouses are in ballistic positions, and stand a good chance at severly damaging any ships that come from Wayland's blockade, and my other forces can handle a few Kedalbes."

"Rether we may win or not is irrelevant. I have other tasks for your fleet, and I don't need them there when we set our trap."

Seto raised his eyebrow. "Trap?"

"Yes, trap. I intend on giving Junction back to them."

"You do?!" Seto asked with disbelief. "But all the work?!-"

"Don't worry. Just leave a token defense that we can spair, maybe one of your Nebulon frigates, and a destroyer. Retreat the rest of the fleet to Dathomir with the reinforcements I'm sending: a Canderous, three Kedalbes, and twenty support craft with a hundred fighters."

"What about Junction?"

"Let them take it," the Conquerer answered simply. "It's little more than a distraction."

"A distraction for what?"

Mandalore laughed. "You'll see."

Stormhawk was en route to Hapes.

Why Hapes?, many people asked Vaan.

And many times, he answered the same way.

The Chiss and the Hapes Consortium had to assert their independence, and they had to do it fast.

The jump to hyperspace was a long one.

Elladan was about ready to scream at mandalore, such was his rage. When he finally met the man, his anger was barely checked. "You moved the fleet why?"

"Our sources tell us we have a good chance to severly cripple them. Have you located their command ship?"

"The Pellaeon, right?"

"Well, we found the command ship of that fleet who raided the Taris convoy a few weeks ago," Mandalore answered. "Want the info?"

This changed everything. Elladan stood straighter. "Yes?"

A holograph of a Star Destroyer appeared on screen. "This is the Hector's Shield, a Stalwarth Destroyer commanded by a bothan by the name of Rea Admiral Borill Elsyn. It's better than your Victory IV, but about even with our Canderous. He's gone with his ship to attack Junction, and meanwhile left the Sector Fleet to watch over you."

"Get to the point," the chiss said impatiently.

The mandalorian grunted. "This is as good a chance as you have to nail that Pellaeon. They're expecting a battle at Junction, and all they'll find is a diversion. They'll take the planet, and continue on to Dathomir where they'll fall into my own trap I've set out. All I need is for you to get rid of that Pellaeon. Eliminating that should piss them off enough."

Elladan nodded. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

~

Overlord Myno watched as Dathomir's skies buzzed with movement. The Golan II he had as his based was undergoing major overhauls for defense, but his fleet had been greatly bolstered. Other than his Canderouses, two ISDs, Kedalbes, and other ships, he had reinforcements from Mandal twice that size waiting at ambush coordinates, and a third fleet ready to hit Centares.

He didn't particularly undderstand Mandalore's plot. He'd heard the rumors about dissention in the Mandalorian ranks, and how his own leaders were plotting to take the Empire from under Kenet's nose once all was said and done. All he could see immediately, was that if things went remotely as planned, the Empire would retake Junction and go on to Dathomir and run into trouble, while Elladan attacked the blockade and disrupted Imperial morale. At the worst, Junction might stay Imperial for a while, and Centares might fail, but either way, there'd be little the sector fleet could do, and the Task Force wouldn't be able to do much more.

((The Hektor's Shield is a Revenge II-class Heavy Cruiser, not a Stalwarth!))


The starfighter squadrons formed up into a classic flying wedge in front of the Hektor's Shield At the tip of the spearpoint was a squadron of TIE Predators, directly behind them were twelve squadrons of Epsilon Bombers. Arrayed all around them like a cloud were the TIE Predators, arrayed in close escort. Behind the starfighters the Capital ships plodded forward, readying themselves for open combat.

In the lead T-97 Epsilon the pilot, Tagge Kore leaned back in his seat, "This is Beta Lead, we're clear and ready."

The voice of the flight coordinator was cut off by another voice, the husky a gruff voice of the Admiral, "Pilots, you're clear to engage. Be sure to bring back the scalps for display!"

"Roger that Admiral," The RIO for Tagge's fighter answered, "Lets go get em."

The wing controllers' voices burst onto the waves, "All squadrons, you may commence your attack. Engage the enemy capital ships, and nail those Canderouses before they get into Missile Range."

"Roger control, this is one arm your eggs." Tagge called out as he pulled through a sharp turn around one of the Wombat-II Star Frigates. Around them the starfighters armed their weapons and the two plasma missiles that hung beneath Tagge's bomber were armed, along with the ten other weapons systems that were attached to the ship. Tagge glanced back over his shoulder at his RIO, "All ships switch to CCMs and make your shields double front."

Glancing at his displays Tagge could see that a mob of starfighters, mostly Predators, were charging toward them. Their formation kicked on the speed and shot toward the enemy, leaving their capital ships behind.

Tagge smiled as his fighter thrumbed to life from the engines now getting a workout, "Alright, Vic, swtich to starfighter interception mode on the sensors. Give me four locks."

"Roger that, switching to starfighter interception mode... One, Two, Three... Four."

Tagge grinned, "Fire!"

Behind him the RIO punched the trigger on his weapons controller and a barrage of cluster missiles flashed out toward the oncoming starfighters. A brilliant series of flashes lit up the night as the missiles found their marks. All around him other T-97s were using their Cluster Missile Pods. The Predators that were in their way evaporated from the barrage. Some could dodge a couple of the missiles, but only a couple. The Epsilon Bombers had their hole in the starfigther screen, at the expense of all their Cluster Missiles. As they soared through the Predators peeled off to engage the enemy starfighters.

The enemy Capital Ships started firing as they entered maximum range. The 144 T-97s broke and wove dodging blast after blast. Some were hit from the barrage, and those that were so unfortunate disappeared in a flash of fire and debris. As they entered weapon's range the squadron leaders selected their targets and broadcast the information to their fellows.

As the six squadrons launched torpedoes and continued to close, the Mandalorian and loyalist defenders braced themselves for a stunning hammer of weapons fire. The Canderous-class starship that was leading the charge suddenly suffered over a hundred hits from torpedoes, the point defense had been shearly overwhelmed. It's shields failed and many of its weapons were damaged or disabbled by the onslaught. Still it held together and kept charging forward.

Tagge blinked, "Those Canderous-class things are tough! Alright squadron, on the next pass switch to Plasma rockets."

Onboard the Hektor's Shield Admiral Borill Elsyn glanced at his chronometer. In a few moments his capital ships would enter weapon's range. Then he glanced at the countdown for Commodore Kull's force, three minutes more... three minutes more.

The T-97's rocketed past the battered Canderous-class ship that had been their first target. Behind it a Imperial II accelerated in an attempt to reach a position for mutual support with the Canderous. Behind it a number of corvettes shot forward to try and protect the heavier vessels.

One squadron reversed course as it passed the Canderous, and its commander smiled as the RIO achieved a target lock and transmitted the data to his fellows. Then all twelve ships fired, delivereing twenty four brilliant blue missiles. As the shots soared toward their target a streak of ions and a glowing sheath wreathed them.

The Plasma Rockets struck their target, blasting through armor plate and reinforced steel. A huge gap in the armor protection appeared and warhead after warhead gouged deeper into the ship. Finally the second to the last shot penetrated the second armor shell and detonated. With a flash the Tabanna Gas reserves exploded, tearing the ship apart from the inside, next the reactor detonated hurling the ship forward and scattering pieces of itself out around space. Still, from just before the bridge forward the ship looked nearly intact, save for the plumes of air leakes and secondary detonation of weapon supplies.

Tagge grinned, "Scratch one frigate!"

"Roger lead, thats one dead frigate. I'm surprised it took that much damage."

Suddenly the flight controller's voice boomed in their ears, "All wings you are authorized to use all your weapons on the capital ships. The Platforms have problems of their own."

As a Nemesis-class opened fire and began to pepper the Imperial-II with high powered Turbolaser fire. A pair of T-97 Squadrons soared in, firing Plasma Torpedoes at the behemoth. The Shields held for a moment then failed as the torpedoes hammered home against the hull. A brilliant flash and explosion erupted from the Destroyer's port turrets as the Tabanna gas stored their cooked off. A volley of turbolaser fire turned the bridge into a smoking crater. Now pockmarked and barely functional from the combined assault the Imperial-II spun in space, out of control.

The Canderous-class sped on as the corvettes around it fell like flies. Then another four squadrons of T-97s dropped on it like a hammer, nailing the vessel in the bridge and along the ridgeline. Flames billowed from the ship as it spun out of control.

Glancing out his cockpit Tagge frowned, "By the force, have we won already?"

Onboard the Hektor's Shield Borill Elsyn watched his tactical displays, "Excellent work from our bombers. Though it would have been much more difficult if we'd had to reserve some of our firepower for use against those Golans."

The senor operator turned in his seat, "Sir, all remaining hostile vessels are moving to withdraw."

Borill nodded, "Hopefully the speed of our victory will get the enemy's attention. I want that attention on our force as long as possible." He nodded to the helmsman, "Bring us alongside the Golans and mobilize the stormtrooper divisions. If they don't need our help with the stations then we'll begin landing our troops on the ground."

Nervously he glanced at his watch, "Almost time Kull. Almost time."

Almost as soon as the invasion of Junction began, Myno received word of the attack. He wasn't expecting much good news; he'd left a sixth of his fleet there, barely enough to last a few minutes if his reports were halfway accurate. A single Canderous, a skeleton crew ISD, and some convincable amounts of skeleton corvettes. All in all, it was a diversion, and an obvious one in his opininion.

Hopefully the Bothan wouldn't stay long in Junction, and continue onto their obvious staging ground at Dathomir. He'd hold the line there and give them a run for their money, then bring in the reinforcements and large the simutaenous attack on Centares. While all this was happening, Elladan would make his move and break the blockade.

All he had to do now was wait.