The Battle of

"Admiral Kanaris, the results of the search you requested are now at the specified level of confidence for a preliminary report," said the computer, a disembodied voice in the center of his office that woke a blond haired, but mostly bald, figure who had fallen asleep on the desk. His head rose slowly, and blinked his eyes as though clearing them would also remove the annoying vale that was preventing him from seeing the pattern so crucial to the Empire.
"Report," he said thoughtfully.

"Analysis with a 51% level of confidence that, in addition to the re-deployment from the Moddell Sector, we no longer have tracking data on capital and escort ships equivalent in firepower to 1.2 standard Rebel Alliance Fleets," responded the computer.

"Why didn't COMPNOR central pick it up?" the Admiral asked. He manually brought a galactic holograph indicating the missing assets in red and immediately noticed the lack of pattern to their groupings.

"COMPNOR's central computer was purchased under Imperial Guidelines. No such restrictions were applied in my procurement. I am a full generation ahead of the central computer on the hardware side, my programming is far superior, and COMPNOR does not pilfer all susceptible Imperial and Corporate databases as a matter of daily operating procedure or expropriate computational resources from other systems," it added sheepishly.

'And I thought it looked bad when the Moddell Sector assets disappeared,' he thought. 'Just what would I do if I were the Alliance Commander and I had two spare fleets free and clear?' the Admiral wondered to himself. He reached for his ulcer medication, and started tapping the keyboard. There was still insufficient data for the computer, or him, to understand the Rebellion's plan.

Agents Smith and Jones managed to survive the trip in the packet to Yaga Minor, and arrived with twenty minutes to spare before the rendezvous with their contact, a representative of the dread Sith Lord, and close ally of the Emperor Palpatine, Domino de Devastator. The system had long been Imperial, and was a major shipbuilding hub. Although neither agent had told their pilot, there had been no real risk of boarding and inspection by any non-Imperial patrols to this point. Prior to the on-planet meeting, they accessed their equipment, applied genetically matched topical flesh to their otherwise non-descript faces to make them more memorable, and donned generic executive level Corporate Sector business attire.

"I could hide a blast rifle in this cape," joked Smith as he checked the magazine on his modified concealed fletchette pistol with one hand and gulped fizzyglug with the other. "I have to drink it all now -- if I take it along, someone might recognize me," he explained.

Captain Sergus Lanox wanted to let out a cheer of joy. His days of hunting pirates were over. He walked to the bridge of the Star Destroyer Cyclone. "Are repairs completed Lt. Briggs?" Sergus said.

"Hawkbat reports that they need to install a transparisteel plate window and they will be finished. Ten minutes at the most."

"Good. Open up a channel to all ships. I have something very important to tell everyone." He waited till he received conformation of the channel opening.
"This is Captain Sergus Lanox. First of all, I want to congratulate all of you for a job well done in the recent activities against piracy. But it will be the last for a long time. We have been ordered to join the 2nd Imperial fleet's Alpha Battle Group. We will be traveling to Yaga Minor to join up with them. Once repairs are completed prepare for jump. I will see about rotations for leave passes when we arrive at the Yaga Minor shipyards." Sergus could hear the cheers and murmurs that indicated high morale when he concluded his short speech.

"Can you cross-correlate Jedi sightings for a migration pattern over the same period during which those Rebel ships disappeared?" asked Admiral Kanaris.

"No. Agents and informants tasked with following Jedi and Jedi trainees exhibit a pattern of systematic memory lapses. Our sighting data on Force users is exceptionally unreliable. The only quasi-reliable sighting data is incidental observations by agents on other missions," responded the computer.

'Why am I not surprised,' he thought. After a few moments of contemplation, Admiral Kanaris had generated a plan. "Here is what I want done. First, I want a classified marker on an entry in the Imperial Archives titled 'Yavin Fever,' with the notation to notify Imperial Xenobiology immediately and institute Level 1 quarantine procedures. Backdate the entry to the Battle of Yavin, and hack the archives as well. Second, I want a dead body with no ascertainable cause of death to be found on Ennth by their planetary authority. Then, I want it incinerated prior to commencement of the autoposy. Third, and only after completion of item two, I want a leak from one of their regular sources to ISNN that there is an outbreak of 'Yavin Fever.' That should do nicely," ordered the Admiral.

Interstellar News Network Flash: OUTBREAK OF YAVIN FEVER ON ENNTH.

ISNN has learned in an exclusive report that there is an outbreak of Yavin Fever on Ennth which has
already resulted in one death. Planetary authorities on Ennth deny the existence of Yavin
Fever or that there have been outbreaks of the virulent disease. According to a Xenobiologist
at Imperial Center who spoke off the record exclusively to ISNN and initially denied any
knowledge of existence of the disease, "If it did exist, it would be one of the few that are
cross-contagious among species."

ISNN has confirmed that a body scheduled for autopsy on Ennth was totally incinerated prior to
inception of that autopsy at the New Hope Colony morgue Tuesday evening. The corpse belonged
to a human freight shuttle pilot who had died Tuesday morning at 07:00 local time.
According to the incident report obtained from the Planetary Authority, the body was unmarked -
there were "no immediately discernable causes." ISNN has confirmed, off the record, that "if
there were such a cross-contagious disease, it is highly likely that an autopsy would be
required to confirm it."

Authorities at the Imperial Center Institute for Disease Control have also denied the existence
of any "so-called Yavin Fever." However, ISNN has confirmed that Level 1 quarantine procedures
on all traffic originating from Ennth were recommended by the Institute to the Imperial Authority
immediately after ISNN requested their comment on the Ennth situation.

ISNN would welcome a response from any bona-fide Rebel Alliance source with respect to its
outstanding inquiries to the Alliance on Yavin fever, which has been suggested to be a bio-warfare
weapon designed by the Jedi Knights that was the actual cause of the destruction of the Death Star
Combat station.

"Have the Rebels responded to ISNN's request for comment yet?" asked Admiral Kanaris.

"We have not intercepted any communications between ISNN and any identified Alliance sources," responded the computer. "If I might remind you sir, although we have placed an empty entry titled 'Yavin Fever' in the official Imperial Archives and the general archives on Imperial Center, there will be no corresponding entries in the segregated back-up copies or in any other databases. The Rebels will ultimately be able to confirm that their records have no information on 'Yavin Fever' because there is no such disease," it continued.

Neb managed to hold himself together for a few more hours. His transport left, and he kept to himself in the hold with the rest of the cargo. He tried to contact Thix or Ibran, but neither of them were available, so he left messages for them with the Alliance, letting them know that their search was in vain, as Alia was dead. He knew he should contact Luke on Dantooine but...
'Wait! Dantooine!' he thought. 'That blind woman who had been with Alia, she had been to the Acadamy. She had seen the rebuilt orbital defenses, and probably scanned the cities from orbit. And that woman was a servant of Domino de Devastator.'

Neb instantly routed a call to Dantooine. A young woman he didn't recognize answered the call.
~Yes, Commander Calluna, may I help you?~

"Yes, connect me with Master Skywalker immediately. It's urgent."
~Right away, sir.~

'Good,' Neb thought. 'I don't have to play any runaround games. I don't have the energy for that. Not even a lightsaber can cut through bureaucracy.' The famiiar visage of Luke Skywalker appeared on the tiny screen of the personal comm station Neb was using. He must have been exercising, as his face was damp with sweat. "Luke, we have a problem."

~What seems to be the trouble, Neb?~ the Jedi Master inquired.
"Well, first of all, Alia's dead." the Twi'lek Jedi replied tersely.
The camera on Dantooine followed Luke as he slumped into the chair behind him. ~Dead?~ he whispered. ~Was it the bounty hunter or...~ He let the thought trail off.

"No, it wasn't. Luke, that woman who was with Alia, she was one of de Devastator's agents. He killed Alia." Neb was dying. All the emotions he had tried to keep bottled up were threatening to come out. His friend was dead, and he hadn't been able to do a thing to stop it.

~I can't believe I couldn't tell. I invited her into my home, she...~ Luke paused in disbelief. ~She was here, on Dantooine.~

"Exactly. That's why I contacted you. It's safe to say that Domino knows a great deal about the new facilities, including the defense strength. You might want to consider moving again."

~No, Neb, we're not going to run if we don't have to,~ Luke responded adamantly. ~Even since she's left we've upgraded the defenses, and I'll talk to Ackbar and Wedge, they'll probably be willing to beef up our defense fleet. He won't catch us unawares again.~

Luke nodded twice before replying. ~Yeah. I'll let you go, Neb. I have to inform the rest of the students, and get word to Tyne wherever he is. I'll keep you informed if I hear something new.~
"Thanks, Luke, I'll do the same." Neb cut off the connection and held himself still for a few moments. Then the grief engulfed him and he succumbed, and holding his head in his hands he wept.

The earphone in her auditory canal registered two short clicks, a pause and then three more. Two trainees were coming at her from the south. Her gray hair blended in with the shadows as night set in, making her akin to a ghost in the forest. She heard leaves rustle to her right. They must have split up, which meant that they knew her position, approximately.
No matter. She responded with three more clicks from her own comlink, and Sting and Swoop knew what to do.
Bjiatocah lept from the foliage, surprising both of her stalkers. She rapidly lauched a pair of sting-bolts at them. One of the Jedi got his lightsaber up in time and was able to deflect the blast, the other's training suit registered a hit. He was out of the war game. The one who had blocked the sting-bolt registered as dead too, as Sting materialized behind him and shot him in the back while he was distracted. Swoop materialized as well, but didn't need to fire.

With hand motions, she gestured that they needed to move in case there were others in the vicinity. It was doubtful, but not worth risking. Suddenly, the comlinks blared, ~Attention all participants. Suspend training exercises at once. Jedi should report to the Conference Hall at once.~
"Guess that's it for now." Sting observed with a shrug. The three commando's made their way to Dantooine City, the central site for Alliance forces on the planet and the home of the Jedi Academy.

Major Bjiatocah and her commando team of Zuu Shi were all gathered in the office of the Base Commander, waiting for whatever it was that had summoned them there. "I'm afraid," the commander began, "That we can't continue the exercise. I have just received word from Alliance Intelligence. Something is up, but they wont tell me what it is. You are to rendezvous with a battle group that will be passing through the system in a few hours. They will take you to your next destination, where you will be issued a high speed shuttle and wait for further orders. Any questions?" He paused briefly to allow for questions, then continued. "Good, because I don't have any answers. You will be shipped to the orbital station in two hours. Dismissed."
As the group filed out, the commander spoke one last time. "Oh, and Major?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm impressed with how your men performed. Not surprised after what you did here against the Imps with your old squad, but you'll get an exemplary report."

"Thank you, General. I'll make sure they know you said that." 'Not that we care about your report anyway. We know we're good, but if it makes you feel good to brown nose a Major, enjoy.'

"Admiral Kanaris," said the computer. "You asked to be informed of the updated search results at the 99 percent level of probability."

"Go ahead," responded the modestly overweight, balding figure, who had been reviewing Imperial Fleet dispositions simultaneously displayed on a six by nine matrix of sector grid screens.

"The search has confirmed with 99.04521 percent confidence that Rebel Alliance fleet assets with firepower equivalent to 2.09 Alliance standard fleets are presently unaccounted for," said the computer.

'That tears it,' he thought. "Tessana," said the Admiral through the intercom to his secretary, "Get me a chip-copy of the Case Epsilon plan in my system, and ready a security escort for me for a trip to the palace." 'I don't know what they are up to. I don't know where they are planning on doing it. But I do know how it is going to finish,' he thought silently. His eyes narrowed and his lips compressed as the Admiral, a behind the scenes master at navel strategy, thought about the massive destruction the Empire's imminent action would ultimately entail.
"One more thing, Tessana. Alert the COMPNOR central computer to expect possible Rebel infiltration of the Imperial Archive and planetary archive backups," he ordered with a smile.

"Not necessary. What happens from that point forward really doesn't matter to us," he replied as he manually keyed his screens off in preparation for his imminent departure from the underground office.

"Grand Vizier Skien is going to Lafra. He will be traveling on board the Super Star Destroyer 'Gloriole of Palpatine' and five Imperial Star Destroyers have been detailed to serve as his honor escort." Domino was reading these words out loud from his datapad to no one in particular, though Admiral Emago and Rayla were with him in the room. "Alpha Battle Group is meeting Captain Vredlt of the Blackfire and Captain Lanox of the Cyclone and her support craft."
He turned to Rayla. "Shall we bring Alia with us, get her training going again?"

Rayla nodded. "I think she would benefit from it. Then we can return to Deominia should it become necessary."

Domino agreed. "Bring along Marquis as well then. Her training has been somewhat lacking lately. Lady Tionne will remain on Deominia to see to diplomatic matters; a favor for which I'm sure she will one day repay me. She detests being left in charge."
"There is one other item that I find interesting. It seems as though Ubiqtorate has made a decision without my cousin being able to consult me beforehand."

Domino smiled at her. "As you know, my cousin Grand Admiral Darin de Devastator is the Intelligence Liason between the Empire and Deominia. She is usually able to consult with me before the big decisions are made."
Domino's lips were raised in a smirk. "Rayla, we'll be meeting with some.... Consultants when we arrive at Yaga Minor."

Marquis was not certain how to respond to Alia's words. She only looked at the girl and kept her thoughts to herself. When the door opened, it was Lady Tionne. "Congratulations Marquis. The Dark Lord has chosen you to go with him. You and Alia are to report to the hangar where you will meet your shuttle to the Deathwail."
She looked at Alia. "You are concerned about what my Lord has in mind for you."

"I can tell you what to expect." Tionne was smiling at Alia as the Jedi looked into her eyes. "Domino's own Force training involved the teachings of Jedi Masters from two different holocrons, as well as the research and tutelage of three different Sith Magicians."
She turned to the door and stepped through it. "Lord de Devastator will not teach you the disciplines of the Sith... at least not before giving you a solid foundation in Jedi lore. If he feels that the Sith teachings will not benefit you, or you protest even unto death, then I cannot imagine that you will be taught them."

Alia stood, shaking her head. "It's not easy to know what to believe when I'm being given a perspective such as this regarding evil. You make it seem so relative."

Tyne was doing his best to ignore the message flasher that sat directly to his left. <i>Impending doom if anything ever was,</i> he thought grimly as the red light blinked on and off continually. Whoever was trying to reach him sure was persistent. Just as he decided to answer the hailer, another klaxon went off, this one much, much more critical than the message light.
'A Corvette? Way out here?' Tyne was beside himself with panic, unsure how to deal with the urgency of the situation. "Staven!! Get your...oh, Sithspawn!" The approaching ship had jumped out of hyperspace right on top of them and in an instant, there was a tractor beam around Tyne's pride and joy. Despite the legal (and illegal) modifications Tyne and Staven had made on the little freighter, there was nothing they could do to escape the vise-like grip that surrounded them.
Staven appeared in the cockpit behind Tyne and his blood shot eyes shot wide open. "That's.....not good."

Tyne glared at his cousin and accepted the hail the ship was sending out. "This is Starskrit answering Journey. Is there a problem?" Tyne's voice sounded hollow and unconvincing, even to his own ears. Staven was still glued to the floor in shock.

An image popped onto his small screen. A man, light blond, terribly disheveled hair, and piercing blue eyes. ~I'm requesting to speak with Tynidian Chartise, registered owner of this vessel. You, in fact, sir.~

Tyne grimaced and at that moment realized that he had left the camera on since talking with his aunts. 'Al was right, it's past time I stopped being careless.' He nodded once, slowly. "Yes, I guess you caught me. May I ask to whom I am speaking?"

~If I told you, it wouldn't matter, I'm sure. I'll ask you to please dock with my ship. You may consider this to be the nice request.~ The blond man nodded once and the screen went blank.

"Well, I guess this is the impending doom," Tyne said to himself, glancing at the red light that threw its light across the rest of the console.

In his increasing efforts to seem nonviolent, Tyne did his best to seem eager and innocent of anything. "What do you mean? I don't know anyone named Siona!" There were about 15 blasters and 3 Force pikes pointed his way and still no sign of the blond man who had contacted him. "Really, I swear, we're not looking for her! I don't even know her!"

As his new contact frowned and motioned to the blaster-bearers, the original messenger stepped into their midst. "Really Landau," he said, keeping his eyes on Tyne, "I'd expected a bit more hospitality from you. Tynidian Chartise?" Tyne responded with a nod. "I'd ask you to join me. I think you may be able to help me in a problem."

So, once again, the tiny duffel bag was packed and slung over a shoulder. The same bag that had been taken from Kethren Trynyty's crumbling base, to Yavin IV, to Dantooine, and finally to Deominia was once again filled to capacity and dragged into yet another situation that it was terribly unprepared for. Much like its owner. 'Good grief. Why. Why is this kind of thing always happening to me,' Alia thought, following Marquis through de Devastator's palace. 'Why can't my life be a little more boring?'
Marquis had been almost completely silent since their 'conversation' several hours ago and Alia was regretting (a bit) what she had blurted out. 'Not that it wasn't true, but there was soooo much more room for all that diplomacy.' Marquis looked almost excited about tagging along after her master, Alia felt like the little sister she had been forced to take along.
"So where exactly are we going?" she asked, trying to form at least a semblance of an innocent conversation.

"Yaga Minor," came the reply, more than a little coldly. "Ever heard of it?"

"Actually, yeah. Never been there, though." Marquis snorted and they continued on in silence. "So, um... why, exactly, are we going there?"

Alia felt that her companion snapped her words off a little more than necessary, and she recoiled mentally for a moment before pressing on. "Well," she said slowly, "at least you didn't say 'perhaps' this time."

Marquis glanced at her questioningly and shook her head. "Do you always have to make everything harder than it really is?"

"Of course. Otherwise life isn't nearly as interesting." She glanced at her companion and grinned. "Are we there yet?"

Thix met Alex in the hall preceeding the cockpit room. His X-Wing was slaved to the internals due to lack of hangar space and he had been forced to spacewalk over. Not pretty. An old spacer in a Dantooine cantina years back had told Thix "Never look down, son. Once you do, you'll never be able to look up again." Thix hadn't realized until he'd looked down that the spacer hadn't meant to be literal; the disorientation was incredible.
"Cross? You had yourself in one peach of a state there for a while." Thix's initial statement was one of wonderment.

"Well, truth be told, I don't have a permanent squadron yet. I'm being bounced around quite a bit lately."

Thix opened his mouth to make an offer when his Sullustan copilot opened the door to the cockpit and muttered a short sentence in barely discernible dialect, due to his chittering accent. "You've got a waiting message, Commander," he said.

"Come on into the cockpit. I'll read this and get right back to you," Thix said to Alex. They followed the small Sullustan back into the large cockpit. Thix slid into a seat in front of a terminal and punched in commands to read the message awaiting him.

Thix sank back in his chair stunned. Alia was dead? He wracked his brain for a memory shot of her. He got a three second scene form Yavin IV; A girl slightly younger than him, blaster in hand, taking on a mysterious assassin who had moments before dispatched two rebel soldiers and had nearly dispatched or kidnapped Thix. Had Neb's voice cracked in that message? He wasn't sure. Where was Ibran? Where was he going?

All of Thix's thoughts whirled together in a strange cacophony of noise. He shook his head to clear it, dispatching with the Jedi relaxation technique. Cross was sitting behind Thix. "Something bad?" He mumbled soflty.

Thix shook his head, dismissing the message for the next few minutes. "As I was about..." Thix had to stop for a second to clear his throat. "As I was about to say before, I've got a couple openings in Nemesis Squadron. If you'd like it, I could get Major Hendrikson to get you assigned to us. I could also get you a squadron assignment elsewhere if you don't want to have to listen to me as your boss if you want. "Whaddya say?"

Peoples Free Network Exclusive

This is Lorra Darmon of PFN, with an exclusive interview with one of the Rebel Alliance's
strongest supporters, Senator Dishon Manatim of New Alderaan. Senator Manatim has been
kind enough to meet with us for a few minutes to discuss the rumors of the so called
'Yavin Fever.' Senator Manatim, is this a biological weapon, created by the new order
of Jedi Knights to destabilize the Empire's position, furthering the Alliances conquest?"

"Please, Lorra, call me Dishon. I have to tell you that I have recently come from a
meeting with some of the heads of the Rebellion's intelligence service. They have assured
me that this rumor is just as preposterous as it sounds. The Alliance is a military and
social organization, seeking to end the tyranny that the galaxy has suffered under for the
past few decades. They are not terrorists, and would never do anything to threaten the
lives of innocent beings. This so called plague would be just that. "So far, all I have
seen is unsubstantiated rumors and lies, with no evidence to back it up. There has been
some poor journalism, and those who are involved seem to want nothing more than to incite
fear in the population.
"Now, Lorra, if I may, I would also like to address something about this situation that I
find very troubling. There are those who supposition that this biological agent was
created to destroy the Death Star. That is just not true. The Death Star was a horrible
machine of mass destruction, and it destroyed my home and my family when I was very young.
It needed to be eliminated. However, that was performed by a small group of men in small
fighters, against that monstrosity. However hard it may be for some to believe, it is much
more realistic than some bioweapon magically blowing the thing up. Those who have trouble
believing the truth must also have difficulty believing that the spirit of freedom is
stronger than any technological terror that tyranny can create."

The interview ended with a few more questions about Dishon himself, some good Human Angle stuff, and a wrap up. Once the cameras stopped taping, the set that they had spoken against was immediately struck. In the midst of the chaos, Lorra approached Dishon. "That was perfect, Senator. If you come across half as charming and charismatic on camera as you do in person, this ought to do wonders as damage control."

"That's excellent, Lorra, but I'm really concerned about misrepresentation."

She understood his meaning at once. "Don't worry, Dishon. We'll have copies of the tape playing all over the Galaxy in a few hours, enough time for you to get far away in case someone wants to come looking for you. Not that anyone will know where you were. Of course, ISNN will probably get a copy of the interview soon enough, and chop it up into some great propaganda, but enough people will see the original that the word of such deception will spread quickly, hurting the Empire's position on the matter even more. By the way, it was a great idea working Alderaan into the interview. I can tell how you had so much success as a diplomat."

"Thank you very much, Lorra. It has been a pleasure. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going."

"I think I'd much rather prefer we discussed things onboard my own ship, sir," Tyne said, slowly. "I tend to get a little nervous when there are blasters pointed in my direction. I might not say what you want to hear."

Evan thought about the possibility for a moment. "What is the closest system from here?"

Tyne glanced at Staven. "Since our last jump? Probably Yaga Minor." His cousin nodded agreement.

Evan looked sharply at Staven. "I do believe that you are right." The man he had called Landau looked relatively upset. "However, to ensure my safe return, I must ask that your cousin remain onboard this vessel."

Staven's jaw dropped. "What? Tyne, you can't... I mean..."
Tyne glanced at Staven. "If he is harmed, you will be turned over to the Rebels."
"TYNE!!! You can't be considering this!!"

"Of course. If your cousin is harmed in any way, I will return with you to your Rebel command. I assure you, though, no one will touch him."

Tyne turned to Staven. "You said you wanted to help me..."
"Not like this!"
"Well, this is helping me. I need you to stay here. They won't harm you, I can feel it."
Staven looked far from convinced. "Tyne..."
"Trust me. I remember the last time I said that I crashed our landspeeder into a wall, but this time I mean it."
Staven nodded and returned to the Starskrit to collect his belongings. Tyne turned back to Evan. "You may want to take something with you."

"I assure you I do," came the reply. "There is so much that needs to come to light."

After passing through some knotted black thunderheads, Bahumut glanced at the landscape of Ennth. The surface was black and jumbled. Hardened lava rock stood out in cracked scabs, and the broken outcroppings looked fresh and solid, laid down in the eruptions of only eight years ago. Here and there, green patches sprouted forth from the drab surface, small gems of tilled and fertilized farmland. As usual with the evacuation, workers were still frantically combing the fields to finish off the one last harvest before they had to leave their doomed world. Those food supplies would have to last the people on the refugee stations until they could reestablish their settlements in another year.
After fighting against the turbulent wind, the Dragon Lord landed at the spaceport, which was being stripped down then and there, to be reused the next year. He landed at a designated landing zone, and noted the presence of a few ISNN freelancers hanging around their ships.

Just as he landed his ship, a few cargo ships heavily loaded with people and supplies lifted off. Barely aerodynamic, the ships wobbled as they gained altitude. Other ships came in and circled, scouting for any available landing space. Bahumut was glad the other ships had made room so he could fit in.
After securing the ship, he grabbed his blaster rifle and made sure the lightsaber was securely attached to his belt. He then proceeded to open the hatch and walked down, ready to help. Just for show, he put on his cold, eyes-of-durasteel mercenary look, to keep away gawkers. 'Not like there are any,' he thought. 'They're all either on the refugee stations or getting ready to leave within the next few weeks, more of the latter, since the operation had just started a week ago.' Troops and rescue workers scurried about - volunteers, colonists, everyone doing their part. The air, smelling of smoke and sulfur, was heavy with humidity and ozone from the storm-clouds overhead.
As he stood outside the Dragon Lord, a young woman rushed over to meet him. She was trim and in her early twenties. She wore a comfortable utility suit, and had dark brown hair, cropped close to her head, with matching deep sepia eyes.

"Are you Bahumut?" After a nod from Bahumut, she gestured for him to accompany her to the headquarters building. She began walking immediately, without waiting, as if she had not time at all for light conversation. She called over her shoulder, "Welcome to Another Hopetown. I'm Shinnan. I think I remember you helping out when I was thirteen. I remember you without the body armor though..."

"Yes, I did help out last time, and this armor has been newly acquired. Legally. I believe I remember you, too. You were a bit of a bossy girl telling the other kids what to do."

She smiled. "Yes, and now I'm a bossy woman telling grown-ups what to do. I heard you've come here to help. We could certainly use an extra hand, what with the Yavin Fever and all."

She looked troubled. "You haven't heard? It's some fever that's already caused one death already. It's supposed to be created by the Jedi to have wiped out the Death Star. Frankly, I believe that one proton torpedo blew it up 'cause of a weakness in the plans. Although I don't believe in this 'Force' thing... Especially after that PFN interview with Rineus Manatim."

"Good call. It's the right one. Can you keep a secret? This is off the record," he asked.

Just then, the ground suddenly shook, as if a squirming krayt dragon lay just beneath the surface. Bahumut stumbled, but Shinnan did not even pause in her step. The tremors ceased in only a few seconds. "In all 15 of my years traveling around doing people's dirty work, I've never heard of Yavin Fever. I have heard of the 'Force' though. It's real. Want to see?" With that, he proceeded to pick up a rock, and concentrated on lifting it through the Force. It lifted about 5 inches, then he dropped it because by then, Shinnan had gotten the message.

"Wow! So it is true! About the Force, I mean. I don't believe the Yavin Fever one bit... Frankly, neither do most of the colonists."

"Good. I am a Jedi apprentice. I can say that they, or we, if you prefer, did not create Yavin Fever. Especially since Master Skywalker was the only known Jedi at the time. Also, this is probably another of the Empire's schemes to try to locate any Jedi..."
At that point in time, they had reached the command center.

Sergus Lanox was in his personal quarters inspecting his uniform when his comlink beeped. He stopped making sure he was presentable in order to answer the call. He knew it would be his personal assistant, Ensign Kurass. "Yes, ensign?"
~Sir, we are set to arrive at Yaga Minor in a few moments,~ Kurass reported. ~You asked to be informed so you would be present on the bridge when we emerged from hyperspace.~
Lanox nodded once to tell himself he felt ready, then responded. "Thank you Ensign Kurass."

He walked onto the bridge moments before the Cyclone dropped out of hyperspace. He looked out the viewport and scanned the system. He immediately focused on a large group of ships. 'Alpha Battle Group. I'm leaving pirate patrol to become attached to a fleet of ships larger than I've seen in a very long time.'
"Ensign Kurass, open a channel to the flagship, Hand of Desolation." He waited to receive verbal confirmation that his order had been carried out, then he stepped up to the viewscreen. "Admiral Caslin." He stopped to salute before continuing. "I am Captain Sergus Lanox. My ships, including the Cyclone, as well as all hands on board them, and myself are reporting for duty."

Admiral Caslin had a wizened countenance, a testament to his many years in service to the Empire. His hair was dark brown, streaked with gray; he kept his face completely clean-shaven. ~Captain Lanox, welcome to Yaga Minor. I look forward to greeting you in person. I am having your fleet position transmitted to your on-duty helmsman and navigator. For now, you and your top three officers should join me on board the Hand of Desolation.~

Scheming & Swindling

Interstellar News Network Flash: OUTBREAK OF YAVIN FEVER ON ENNTH.

Peoples Free Network Exclusive