The Final Entry

[Coren Starchaser]

Last Entry in the Starchaser Datacron.
Begin Holographic Immersion.

This was the last place he wanted to be. Coren looked around and shook the stars from his head. How long had he been down? He looked around and the Tachyon Rising was in shambles. Everything aboard the ship was thrown around and he reached, looking for his lightsaber. He could feel it. A weapon that he created, one that he recently replaced the crystal in, from the orange submerged crystal to the synthcrystal, the viridian crystal that he forged himself. It was part of who he was, it was part of his family legacy. He was a Corellian, he was once of the Empire, recently of the Chiss House Phalanx, and now the Wing Executive Officer of the 174th Imperial: Warbird Wing.

That was what he did know. What he wasn’t recognizing was where he was. Standing in the ship, he shook his head and removed the helmet of his armor. He was far from a traditional Force user. He was a Warbird. That meant he lived in his ship. He lived in any ship. The Dawn Treader was home, and the Tachyon Rising was an extension of himself. He built the ship from the ground up, purposed it for himself. For himself and Kelly.

Where was she? He looked around and wind was blowing through the broken viewport of his ship. This was a terrible dream. That was all it was. But he knew better. The Dark Jedi was nearing his acesesion to Master under his instructors, one of the Sith, one of the Krath and one who walked the path in between. This third was the path that Coren chose for himself. He was here to balance the equation in the dark side. To keep any one side from rising too far. This was a lesson the Chiss had taught, that no one could control everything, and as much as outsiders were unwelcome in the Chiss, sometimes you needed to learn from them all.

That was what Coren was used to. The man was the quartermaster of the team and he was here, in the Unknown Regions, running vanguard for the Dawn Treader as she made her way deeper away from Csillia. He was feeling out the hyperspace lanes. This was something he was good at. Between this, finding solutions and finding gear? Coren’s skill set was really a support role.

Standing up, he checked his weapons. Adjustable sniper laser rifle on his back, Power Five on his hip, lightsaber in hand. Armor assembled and on. He was doing fine. As for who was with him? Kelly was aboard the ship. Walking over, he called for her. His voice strained. The wind whipping through the ship. It was dark. There was rain. This was not the good kind of rain. There was something… false about it.

Where the feth was he?

“Kelly, c’mon, wake up!” He ordered, reaching out into the Force and throwing a jolt at her, an energizing jolt to fill her with the Force, to wake her cells and her mind up. Lily could pull the Force away from things, Coren could push it into things. Not midichlorian manipulation, but revitalizing. It was one of the tricks he had learned. He kept people from fighting and kept his own people fighting. A mixture of draining the Force, stunning enemies and charging others, he controlled how everyone continued on. But right now? He had no clue what he was even supposed to do. He shook his wife awake. And things started to come back to him. Jared and Kaia were aboard the Treader, they hardly came when Coren was doing his hyperspace thing. He was finding maps, making sure to keep away from the Lords of Fringe space and especially the Sith Empire. He didn’t want to get involved in those groups, and neither did Lily, nor Scall.

“Wh-what happened?” Kelly asked as she slowly got to her feet. She grabbed the back of the navigator’s seat and steadied herself.

“Don’t know. Somethin’s out there though. Can feel it.” Coren nodded and turned towards the viewports. The beacon was on, he knew that much. When any of the Home Ships crashed, even fighters, they set off a beacon, so that the ship could be salvaged, and hopefully people rescued. They were living on the edge, and while some groups shared water, the ship parts were the resource of choice from the Dawn Treader. And it’d only been a few years since they picked up the machine shop.

What he didn’t know, was what he was going to do. Looking at Kelly, he saw she was bleeding. Feth.

Bits and pieces were coming back to him. Coren was here, he was making sure the space was secure for the Treader, this world was a rally point and the ImpStar and her support vessels, mainly fighters and a few shuttles would make their way to the next point, a Chiss moon that needed assistance. But now? Was this even the rally point? Coren stepped to the NavComp and tried to access it. The system was blinking in and out.

And he could feel the Force.

That was what it was.

Darkness.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Darth Venator.

The Sith that had lead the Warbird Wing away from the self proclaimed Emperor around their little corner of space, tucked between Bastion and the Unknown Regions. Time was fluid here, they didn’t belong to any one group, but they did. They were Imperial, but they weren’t Sith. They were more inline with Fel and his ilk. Fel, one of the heroes of the modern Empire. The one who proved it wasn’t galactic domination and the Sith that could control the galaxy in a peaceful and prosperous empire.

No, the Birds were something different. Looking to Kelly, he shrugged. “Navs down. Going to have to get out there, see whats up.” He spoke as he grabbed a tyvek poncho and placed it over his armor. It was dark, adaptive to a degree and was part of the standard issue. It wouldn’t flap in the wind, it was weighted enough, too much for that. He knew that he had to get out there. He was after Venator. This was a trap. And he was going to spring it. He could feel Kelly’s tension.

The pair hardly went anywhere without the other, and that was a concern. Young couples, right? More was coming to Coren, more thoughts he didn’t even know he was thinking about. Twenty five years old. One son, Jared Starchaser, four, one daughter, Kaia Starchaser, 9 months. They were on the ship. Lily would sit them, besides, Jared and Ellia, Lily’s daughter got along famously. Kaia. There was something about her that Coren couldn’t even recognize yet. She was different than her brother, but not all that different from him. At least some version of himself.

Back when he and his father were gun-running for Antarian Rangers. Running supplies through blockades. It wasn’t anything against the Empire, well, maybe it was. Coren’s father, Davek, was formerly of the Jedi. He was part of the Exploration Corps, and not a full Knight, but he knew a lot. He learned from the traveling Masters and Knights, the ones he helped place somewhere, and told Coren many tales of the Wardens of the Sky. Breaking blockades wasn’t against any one state, it was against the issue that was inherent there, that the skies weren’t free. They had to make sure that people would get what they needed and it would become more of an issue.

He could feel Kelly stepping to follow him. “You can’t. Not your fight.” He spoke. This was his own. Darth Venator wasn’t his responsibility, but the Sith had stepped too far. He was pressing too much of the Sith Doctrine into the younglings. They were not approved, nor ready to use the Force yet, not until they were a year out of their Odyssey, but still, he continued. Chasing him away from the Treader was a task, Scall, Lily and Coren, as well as others of the Wing were fighting and working to stop the Sith, who stole one of the Star Couriers and fled. They were hunting them. That was why Coren was head. And something happened. He still had no fething clue. But he was dirt side.

“You’re going to stop me, then?” She replied, checking the power pack on her blaster rifle. She was part of a Dathomiri clan, but one of the ones that was not very good with the Force. He couldn’t remember, was it Blue Divers? That would make sense because of something that would happen years from this moment, with a related character. But he didn’t want to speak out of turn. Coren didn’t know what to do.

“Fine. Stay out of sight.” He said, lightning crashed as he stepped from the vessel. He could feel the rain, muggy and unnatural. This world was not where he wanted to be. Hell, Coren only enjoyed tropical worlds when he had to make it off the ships. Csilla was a special case, after all. But that was loyalty. He was working on deciphering the Force signature of one of his former teachers.

So he could kill him.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He collected himself, pulling the Force around him. He was ready. Coren was trained more than his father was, and while he still mastered the techniques of Exploration Corps, he also mastered that of a dark side adept, one who made their life in keeping the Force at bay. He could hear the thunder, feel the lightning. The Force was strong here, and it was in turmoil, a sea during a storm. Not the most poetic pattern of thinking, but it was how Coren saw it. No helmet, he stepped out into rain and pulled the Tyvek hood over his head.

He made to reach out to Kelly, a Force bond the pair solidified during the marriage ceremony. The Warbird pilots had mastered this during the brief encounters with Yuuzhan Vong skipping around the Unknown Regions, keep one another alive and share the load, share the energy. Common practice, but it also allowed Coren to keep an eye on Kelly while expanding his sphere of influence.

And he could feel the direction he needed to go. There was a building, he didn’t know how he knew it, but there was. And it wasn’t far. But that was where they needed to go. He lead the way, no lightsaber ignited, guided by the Force and the brief intervals of brightness between streaks of lightning. That was when he saw the first one. A droid Starfighter. TIE/D. Broken, must’ve crashed when he did, escorting the Tachyon Rising.

There were three. And this was one. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he knew he wouldn’t find anything smoldering, not in this rain. He picked up the pace, he needed to get this handled. He was the one who could take him down. Why was he not waiting for back up? The ship? They wouldn’t get here fast enough, not to stop Venator.

And the bastard taught his son. He brought Sith knowledge onto his son.

Not to say it absolutely corrupted, but Coren was going to light a dark fire and burn the Sith from this galaxy. And all galaxies. Another flash of lightning and the building was coming into view. “Keep ready, Kel.” He called over his shoulder, weapons on his hips, he pulled his sniper rifle out. Crouching behind a rock and pointing the laser rifle down toward the building. He turned on the IR. Not that it was doing any good. Too much ambient heat in the area. “Feth.” Was all that was muttered as he slid the weapon over his shoulder and made his way towards the building.

This was going to be one of those situations. He could already feel it. There was too much fire burning in him. The Force was fueling him, and he knew that this was his test. This was where he proved that he was a Master. That he was what he said he was. Of course, this was all years ago. Before his reset in the Force, something he would never predict.

"No matter what happens, YOU need to get back to the ship." Was all he said as he made his way to the door.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He could feel it. This was the time. He looked back to Kelly as she followed him in. She was going to stay out of sight. And he was going to do the talking, not that he was much for speaking. The Force was flowing in his favor here tonight. As he walked in, he shed the cloak, the Tyvek slicker that was keeping the rain from his armor. He had his modified Storm Commando armor on and his lightsaber in hand. Parts of the armor were easy to shed, and he wasn’t going to need the majority of it here. He was still not removing it. Not until he knew what was going on.

He made his way up the structure, there was a landing, a man in black, his back towards the stairs. That was who he was after. Darth Venator, one of his former teachers, and a man he trusted. He had no idea what to even say. Words were never his strong suit. Standing on the landing, breath caught as the Force was flowing in and around him, Coren reached out to the Sith, feeling the way the Force was coalescing and pulsing around him. Coren knew how to negate the Force from coming at him, no where near as well as Lily, who could throw fething nullspheres around. Places that the Force just couldn’t touch. Now there was a woman who disliked the Force.

Activating the viridian lightsaber, the snap-hiss and hum filled the empty room. A red lightsaber, equally as familiar to Coren as his own answered. “This is not where you should be.” Venator claimed as he slowly turned. Lightsaber up in a high guard, Coren fell into his practiced opening of Soresu. He was trained to stall opponents, and he was recently working on learning Makashi. But for now? He’d delay and wait for Venator to mess up. Not that it would happen, but Coren could tire him out.

“You’ve done enough damage, you have no need to speak.” Coren said, not really making sense to himself. But Venator was pressing the Sith into people who weren’t able to chose it. Choosing it was one thing. Falling into it? Another. And using it to control those around him? That was the dangerous aspect of it, the part that needed to be cleansed from the galaxy. As the Sith moved, Coren pulled a swing down for the Lord’s midsection.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The fight began, and it was heated. The Force flowing between the two. Venator was smart enough to not hurl lightning or any Force attacks at Coren and the student knew better than to attempt to drain the life from the Master. Not until the opening. And the sabers kept match one another, Venator pressing, Coren accepting, blocking and negating. That was how he fought, he would keep going until he had an opening. Nudging Kelly to keep back, Coren allowed the Sith to win the platform, retreating to the stairs where he did have to propel himself up and off the stairs, no need for fancy gymnastics. He needed to keep the pressure on. Swinging his saber, he did his best to knock Venator off balance but the Sith had years of training over Coren.

He looked up at the Sith. “You’re not leaving this world.” He called as he pressed the attack, viridian blade reaching for the red blade, in a feeble attempt to knock it to the side.

“Nor will you.” Venator knew what was going on here. He was the keystone to this event. He knew what was going on, lured Coren here, it wasn’t his time to shine. Scall and Lily were covering this time, and he was going to be needed in another galaxy. When the dejarik pieces moved correctly. Like Sith years from now, Venator was off the rails. He was allied with the extra galactic Vong, but not just any Vong. Ones that understood the warfare of the times, and this galaxy. In order for this to work, he was going to have to move fast. Pressing the attack, he pulled the Force around him, exuding pure unbridled hatred and anger.

Coren was adjusting reaching to pull that energy in. The burning, screaming heat of the Force. He was draining the Force, absorbing it as it came in. He was feeling it fill his body, his cells covered with the Force. And that was when he heard the scream. Looking up, he saw what it was. Kelly, and two… three Vong warriors. Turning to the Sith, he couldn’t contain the anger and the Force, he jumped. But not physically, he was now behind the Sith, saber at the ready to come down in a strike. But Venator was expecting this.

And that was when the data streams began. Shifting his grip, he swung his elbow to the jaw of Venator and leapt for where the Vong were.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He was feeling the Droids, not through the Force, but through his implant. Warbird Wing was very reminiscent of the Jedi Aces of lore. They worked with technology and advancing it as far as it could, while pushing the bounds of Starfighter combat. It would link to his TIE Advanced, but it would also link to ships assigned to him. And that was the one issue sometimes, it would be too much, but the droids were toned down, the transmitting data was more relative and less precise, to allow the implanted to issue orders and not monitor 100 percent of the time. That was why there was the commander.

For personal reasons, Coren didn’t link to his freighter, but he did link to his fighter and droid fighters assigned. These ones were bombers, he just knew. He called them directly to the building. He’d get out in time. Swinging, he met amphistaff with his lightsaber, feeling Kelly’s terror in the Force. And the Vong snarled. Landing a kick to the first one’s chest, he swung around to catch another amphistaff, more reading from Kelly what was going on than anything. Droids on the way, Vong here, Kelly’s terror, Venators… What was that?

Purpose?

That he didn’t understand. All he knew was to keep fighting. And that was what he was going do to. But Venator was here, he followed Coren up. The Dark Jedi was starting to shift into the Makashi stance, pushing the attack on the Vong as one rose up and two moved to take Kelly. That was shifting his balance, but still, there was an overload of situations going on. Coren couldn’t close it down. He needed to keep on with Kelly, nad he wasn’t about to lose the chance to bomb this building, with everyone inside if he needed to.

He was here to equalize the galaxy. And that meant ridding it of the Sith.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Sith came up behind him. And that was throwing Coren off. He was splitting his attention and pulled his Power Five from his belt, left handed while his right hand was holding his lightsaber facing Darth Venator. He fired off one, two, three shots at one of the Vong Warriors carrying Kelly, dropping him to the floor. And that was when the pistol's life was ended. A Force push from Darth Venator unbalanced the over-stressed Coren and the red lightsaber sliced the side arm in half. Dropping the smoldering hulk, Coren worked to regain his balance as Venator grabbed him in the Force.

"Enough." The full power of the Dark Lord was grabbing Coren, and the lightsaber was ripped from his hand. He shook his head, straining as he tried to absorb the attack in the Force, there was a momentary weakening in the grip, not a choke, but being suspended, and Coren felt he was winning. "Its not your time, Starchaser." Venator continued and the distinct sound of machinery powering up began. He could hear Kelly whimpering out, calling for help. And he knew the Bombers were close... for a moment. Then he went blind to the machinery.

"Not getting out of this one. No. Take care of that pesky implant." What was it? Broken? Coren didn't think so. He knew when the thing was broken. This wasn't that. Disabled? Fething hell. Calling the Force to him, he was doing his best to throw himself. To teleport out of range. But it wasn't working. Feth.

And that was when he heard the sound, the carbonite seal. Turning his head, he knew what he'd see. Kelly, frozen.

Then it all went dark.