What about the starfighters…

[Darth Timoris]

On the planet Pergitor Melori had recently commissioned the building of fifty droid starfighters. With hyperdrive capability, the droid starfighters could be deployed for long-range sneak attacks to almost any point in the galaxy.

Except the test pilot hoped to prevent Melori from obtaining such dangerous weapons and sent a data card to alert the Jedi Council on Ossus, telling them what was going on. But before the Jedi could act, a group of assassins loaded the fighters onto a freighter and stole the entire shipment.

Her intelligence reported that the freighter and its cargo were destroyed by the Jedi, but not before the assassins had transferred twenty-five starfighters to a second freighter.

After she had learned of the deception, she decided the assassins would have to be punished. So she summoned her Dark apprentice, Ciara.

So Melori sat in her penthouse apartment overlooking the sprawling mass that was Coruscant. The Sith viewed her as a traitor. She knew that. The Sisterhood probably did too. In truth she was merely looking after herself and where better to hide than here? But soon she would be leaving…her Apprentice in tow.

So she steepled her fingers and waited. For patience was a virtue she’d grown to love. For revenge was always sweeter the longer it fermented.

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Coruscant was a planet she had frequented numerous times, some good and some ill memories of the planet resting deep in her memory. But she was here with a clean slate, sorta, despite the planet being a Sith held world. She, like all members of the Black Rose, were viewed by the One Sith as traitors; however she wondered how far down the pecking order that word actually traveled. She had never associated herself with the One Sith, so if they deemed her a traitor, well, then she would deal with them when the time came.

CJ stepped out of an airtaxi onto the street in front of a massive building, that shot so far up into the sky she felt dizzy looking any longer. Someone was compensating for something. Somewhere in that tangle of durasteel and duracrete was her Master's penthouse. She entered the building, catching a suspicious glance from the security officer sitting at the front desk. To his right where two security droids.

"Lost," he asked.

"Actually, no."

Her Master had given her a password to speak when she was stopped by any of the security personal, a word that would grant her full access to the building and remove the label vagabond from their minds. What was it? The security officer rose up from his chair, his eyes focusing more intently on her. She chuckled slightly while trying to recall the word. Or was it a phrase? The guard nodded his head and the two droids began to roll in her direction.

"The sun never sets on the backside of a Hutt because no sun has that much light to spare," she blurted out.

The guard raised his right hand and the droids halted. He looked her up and down before settling himself back into his chair. He pushed a button on his oak looking desk, and the only door in the front area clicked loudly. CJ felt relief settle over her. That could have gone badly.

"Go on in."

CJ thanked him before pushing the door open; which revealed a single turbolift behind it. The Vahla pushed the appropriate button and felt the metal cage rumble; moving up and up and up. The doors split apart, allowing her to exit it right in front of her Master's penthouse door. CJ pressed the lone blue button on panel next to the door.

"I've arrived, Master."


[member="Darth Timoris"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Darth Timoris stood on her balcony, watching a thin, pink cloud drift slowly across the sky until it vanished behind a distant tower. Concealed by her black robes, the Sith Lord's face was lost in shadow. She watched as the cloud reappeared on the other side of the obscuring tower. Its colour had changed to a deep bloodred.

She sensed her Apprentice’s arrival before the intercom told her. She lifted her right hand and the door to the apartment clicked open.

She remained on the balcony and kept her eyes on the crimson cloud. "My intelligence suggests the fifty droid starfighters and prototype hyperdrive engine I had ordered were seized by assassins. They were probably hired to kill someone, and I imagine they intended to use the starfighters so I could in some way be held responsible. As you know, those starfighters were crucial to my plans. Unfortunately, it seems the Jedi have learned about the droid starfighters. Since we cannot yet risk revealing ourselves to them, we have to be careful."

Darth Timoris turned to face Ciara.

Within the dimly lit room, Melori's yellow eyes burned with evil. She was clearly accessing the Force, which typically mean that – despite her calm demeanour, she was angry.

"The starfighters were constructed at great expense, but they are worthless if the Jedi suspect that I intend to use them," Darth Timoris intoned as he handed a data card to Ciara. "Enter this data card into our starship's computer. It will enable us to control the droid starfighters. We must go to the Minos Cluster system and track the freighter. Retrieve the starfighters if we can, and destroy them if we must. The assassins must be spoken to. If they were hired to steal the starfighters, their client must be identified and taught not to meddle with our affairs."

She stared into Ciara’s eyes now. "But they must not be eliminated. They must live in terror. Their fear will spread, and we will use it to our advantage."

In case her Apprentice was wondering, she finished with, "But we should deal with the assassins in a more permanent fashion."

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The plan was simple in nature; but most plans were until the first shot was fired. However, CJ understood what her Master was saying concerning the starfighters and the Jedi. They had worked hard to keep themselves under a veil of secrecy; and now that veil was on the verge of being unraveled by a group of assassins. Thieves! Worse, if somehow what her Master was saying about being implicated in a proposed murder, then not only would she, and by that extension CJ herself, would have to deal with a repercussion from the Jedi. Throw in the nameless target and a whole can of sand worms could be released; meaning potential problems with the One Sith or bounty hunters. Life just got interesting.

Aboard their starship, CJ entered the data card into the ship's computer system the moment they entered the Minos Cluster system. The computer ran a series of programs, that included the authenticity of the card, before revealing the starfighter's computers had now been linked to one solo controller; who would have the power to either destroy the fighters or send them elsewhere. CJ had ensured, when prompted, that the only one able to control the fighters was a droid on their ship; whose system had been built to prevent hacking. It was safer, CJ believed, to give complete control to an organic; because organics can be tortured and manipulated. Hope that works the way I intended.

"Fighters are secure," CJ said into the ship's communication system.

The transponder code on the freighter hadn't changed since CJ had to convince the docking officer back on Coruscant to give it to her. Tracking the freighter now, it occurred to her, was going to be easy. Thank you Vahl for letting us deal with stupid assassins. A small blue dot on the screen, the symbol for the freighter, had shown that they too, were in the system.

"The freighter is here!"


[member="Darth Timoris"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori was aware that the freighter was changing course and way too easy to follow.

“The assassins are preparing a trap, do you know the best way to ensure their guard is down?” Her tone suggested it was a rhetoric question.

Melori looked to Ciara."We let them catch us."

They followed the freighter to a remote asteroid, as large as a small moon. Darkness had already fallen over the area, but the blanket of night hid little from the Sith ship's sensors. Melori used the tracking sensors to follow the freighter over a high, jagged rock formation. She surmised that the elusive freighter's crew probably expected any attack to come from above.

Although she planned on surrendering to the crew, she had no intention of making it look easy. She activated the cloaking device, and the ship vanished from sight as it flew over the jagged rocks. While the cloaking device prevented the Sith from being viewed by outsiders, the cruiser's interior was visible to Melori and Ciara. The sensors showed the freighter’s trail ended at the rim of a wide canyon. High on the canyon's east wall, a great fortress was built into the side of the cliff. Scanning the terrain, Melori found an opportunity for an indirect approach to the canyon. She piloted the cloaked ship low over a broad mesa, and then plunged into a deep ravine. Maintaining a high speed, she steered through the narrow gap between the stark mountain walls, then levelled off ten meters above the gorge. The treacherous ravine led into the wide canyon. Melori flew behind a towering butte that rose from the base of the canyon, well out of visual range from the high cave. She prepared for landing and de-activated the cloaking device. The ship rematerialized, and its now-visible wings folded in as Melori brought the ship down beside the butte.

Armed with only her lightsabers and with a breather on her face, Melori indicated Ciara should follow her and stepped out of the ship and drew her electrobinoculars from her belt. She held them up to her pale blue eyes and adjusted the night vision control, then scanned the rim of the canyon until she located the fortress. It was at least seven stories high, as indicated by the positions of small inset windows. Three domed turrets loomed like guardian silos over a granite roof. Despite the architectural details, the structure blended so well with the surrounding natural stones that Melori imagined it had been carved out of the mountain itself. She magnified his view of the inset windows. With the exception of one small, unlit window at the lowest level, all the others were barred. The unbarred window appeared to be the best access into the fortress. After she returned the macrobinoculars to her belt, she deployed two saddle-shaped speeders from the underside cargo hatch. Unlike the ship, the speeders were not equipped with any sensors, weapons, or shields, but they were capable of astonishing velocity and manoeuvrability. On any planetary environment, it was Melori’s preferred means of transportation.

She climbed onto her speeder and gunned the repulsorlift engine. The engine had been designed for maximum performance and minimum noise. Melori’s victims rarely heard the speeder's approach until it was too late. The speeder shot forward and raced across the dark canyon floor. Melori used the Force to sense each obstacle. She flew close to the base of the east wall, then pulled back into a vertical climb to the fortress above. Gripping the controls, the Sith Lord sank hard against her seat as the speeder rose, resisting the asteroid’s gravitational pull. She landed the speeder on a rocky ledge just below the fortress's first level. In a fluid motion, she switched off the engine and dismounted the speeder. She ignored the cold as she quickly scaled the wall to the dark open window. With predatory stealth, Melori led the way in slipping through the window and perched on the sill.

The window was set nearly four meters above the floor of what appeared to be a cellar storage room. Except for a few empty food crates, the room was empty. It was all too accessible. Melori knew the room was probably a trap, but she was looking forward to confronting the assassins. With that in mind, she jumped down from the window. As soon as her feet hit the floor, the storage room was filled with an intensely bright light. She threw an arm up over her eyes to protect her vision, and heard the sound of a metal shield slamming into place from above. The high window had been automatically sealed. Melori lowered her arm and squinted at two bright spotlights that were set within the inner walls.

She heard a door slide open, followed by a digitized voice that cautioned, "One wrong move and you'll be fried. Raise your hands over your head."

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Let them catch us? CJ had heard some outrageous plans, and this teetered on madness, but she had faith in her Master. If the best course of action was to be captured to spring their trap; which it was obviously a trap on their part, then she would be an awesome prisoner. While they landed and began heading toward the fortress, CJ prepared herself mentally for the forthcoming event. A part of her was excited about the prospect of being captured; it was something new and quite refreshing actually. CJ looked over at her Master and felt that she had made the right choice; as Sith went she was cut from a different style all together. CJ hoped one day she would be viewed in that same manner.

They arrived at their location, and taking notice how her Master scaled the wall, she did the same. I'll be fine as long as I don't look down. CJ was slower than her Master going up the side and when her Master jumped through a window, all hell broke loose. CJ was cut-off from her Master which was not entirely a bad thing. The assassins had one but the other was still free. CJ looked up further and saw a ledge. Holding in her breath, she placed her booted feet on the ledge of the window that had been sealed off, then with the aid of the Force jumped up and landed on it.

Upon landing on the ledge, a lone guard turned around; but he would not live long enough to sound the alarm and bring hell raining down on her. CJ reached into the Force, grabbing the man, and pulled him past her; hurling his body over the top of the fortress. She jumped down from the ledge as the screams from the guard grew quieter and quieter. Other than the falling guard, the roof was deserted except for a single door. Another trap? It didn't matter if it was or not, she needed to get access into the fortress and help her Master.

With her right foot, she nudged the door and it opened wide for her. Yep, a trap. CJ stepped inside and began to slowly walk down the steps when she heard a loud buzzing sound coming up the stairs toward her. Droids! In one swift motion she unclasped her hilt and activated the blade; yellow light splashed on the wall. The first droid turned in the right angled stairwell and she removed it's head, then kicked the chassis down the stairs. CJ followed the clattering droid body down the stairs until it bowled over two more; sending all three crashing into another door. She opened that door and stepped inside, and was greeted by four armed assassins; their weapons trained on her.

"Thought you were going to get away, huh?"

"Still am."

CJ snapped her eyes shut and dropped the two flash bang grenades a foot away from her.



[member="Darth Timoris"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori was aware her Apprentice was separated from her. Not that she was worried - she was resilient and resourceful and wasn't this mission a test after all?

Melori wanted to see where her ‘captor’ wanted to take her, so she passed through a doorway and entered a low-ceilinged corridor. Her eyes were still recovering from the spotlights when she felt a sharp jab at her back. "Keep moving," threatened the voice from behind. At the end of the corridor, a door slid back into the wall, and Melori was urged to step through the open passage.

Melori blinked as she entered an immense inner courtyard. Illuminated only by the star-filled sky above, the rectangular courtyard had been redesigned as a docking bay. At its centre, surrounded by the three silo-like towers, rested a huge, spike-covered freighter. Examining the vessel, she noticed a six-winged starfighter secured to the freighter’s outer hull.

"Halt," her captor ordered. She obeyed. The freighter's main cargo door opened, and a retractable ramp extended from the ship to the ground; A procession of droid soldiers, with their wings configured in walking patrol mode, marched down the freighter's ramp. They filed into the courtyard, and lined up in eight square five-by-five formations. Even at rest, they were an intimidating sight.

A number of what Melori presumed were the assassins were stationed around the freighter. All were heavily armed with blasters and bowcasters. She felt all eyes on her as her captor stepped away from his prisoner. The captor was a human, yet this particular assassin wore an expensive vocabulator on a chain around his lean neck.

"Why did you break into our fortress?" the man asked. She did not answer. The assassin sighed audibly. "Our sensors picked up a scan. We believe you are the one who scanned our freighter. Instead of fighting in space, we decided to lure you here. You will tell us your name and affiliation."

Melori remained silent.

The assassin pointed at her lightsaber. "This is the weapon of the Jedi. You are a Jedi Knight?"

Melori stared directly ahead and said nothing.

The assassin ignored her lack of response and said, "Despite your ship's invisibility field, we tracked your landing. We know the vessel is at the base of the canyon, and sent a team to get it."

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

CJ looked down at the four assassins, each one grasping at their water-filled eyes. CJ was at impasse on how to handle these temporary blinded, and unarmed, assassins. She could leave them and move on but once they recovered they would hunt her down; and the trick with the flash grenade would only have served to enforce their pursuit of her. Killing them, even in this state, was the only course of action available to her. In her mind, she wasn't killing innocent civilians but eradicating a festering boil on the galaxy. They were assassins, afterall, who didn't hold to a moral code of who they killed or didn't kill. They just killed for duty, fun, and perhaps the most unnerving reason; for profit.

CJ began to walk away from the dead group when one of their com links burst into a voice, loud and commanding, telling them to search the canyon for the ship. I don't think so! How was she going to thwart their search? The answer was right in front of her face. CJ had removed their heads with her blade, leaving their identical uniforms and masks intact. She looked at them sizing them up to her tall frame. She was above average height for a female Vahla, which meant looking for clothes to fit her was something like an adventure. Luckily for her, she found one assassin that matched her size.

CJ quickly swapped out clothes, and against her stomach's protests, carefully removed the mask from a severed head. She clipped on a spare com link to her belt, along with her lightsaber hilt. If any of the others questioned it, she would boast to them how she killed one of the intruders and that the weapon was her trophy. Using the Force, she called one of the blaster rifles to her hands, completing the transformation into groupie assassin.

"We were ambushed in the stairwell. The rest are dead. Plus one of the intruders," she said into the com link.

The little lie about one of the intruders being dead would add some substance to why she was toting around the lightsaber. Also, by letting the rest know that her team was dead; it would hopefully prevent them from repeated attempts to contact them. Her plan to join up with the search team was not full proof but she needed the element of surprise on her side.

"Heading to canyon now!"


[member="Darth Timoris"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori's face did not betray any emotion, but he seethed at the assassin's words. Her ship’s cloaking device was engineered to evade any standard tracking sensor, but the assassins were fortunate to have sensors that were better than standard. The assassin then craned his head back to look up at the night sky. Melori followed his gaze to see a small repulsorlift skiff soar over the fortress's west wall, then descend into the courtyard. At the helm of the skiff stood two more assassins.

The skiff landed near Darth Melori.

"A team will be sent to strip your ship for any vital information," the assassin said. "You will be taken to a cell and interrogated."

Darth Melori was escorted by a pair of assassins and led out of the courtyard. Melori had so far sighted fourteen, but there may be more. Since droid starfighters were operated by remote control, Melori suspected at least one had stayed within the freighter to direct the starfighters.

The Sith Lord and her escorts descended a flight of stone steps and walked to a filthy dungeon, where ten cell doors lined a dim corridor. The corridor's floor was a series of metal grates. Without breaking her pace, Melori glanced down through the open slits between the grates. She tried to determine what was below the corridor floor, but she saw only darkness.

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

CJ stared through the rifle scope on the blaster, whilst keeping the majority of her body behind a rocky cluster of mixed stones and boulders. Through the scope's lens she could count at least four assassins heading toward the location of the ship. Even though they couldn't see the ship, they were pretty darn close to bumping into it. CJ didn't like using a blaster rifle, or sniper rifle, because it felt awkward to her. She preferred her lightsaber over any other weapon in the known universe, but currently the option to charge in with her lightsaber only was not open to her.

CJ sighted down the first assassin, knowing once that shot dropped him the whole scenario would drastically change; and potentially not in her favour. Using the Force, she removed the lightsaber and placed in on the nearest rock. CJ would have to be the epitome of perfection to pull this off. Couning backwards from six, she gripped the handle of the rifle tight, adjusting herself to prepare for the recoil; and fired. The green line of energy seemed to be moving in slow motion as it hurled toward the back of the assassin. CJ stood up, fired off some more rounds before discarding the rifle. Hope that slows you lot down a bit.

As she began to run around the cluster of rocks, she called her lightsabre to her hand; igniting it the split second it touched her palm. Rounding the corner, she saw that by the grace of Vahl that she managed to kill two with her poor marksmanship. The element of surprise, which she figured would be lost once the shooting began, was still there; sort of. One of the remaining assassins was examining the bodies of their fallen comrades, while the other was scanning up into the canyons; opposite of where she was running down. Idjits!

When she drew closer, both survivors noticed her simultaneously and moved to intercept her. They think I'm making a break for the ship. Calling on the Force to assist her, she nudged one of the men's legs just as he was about to plant it; throwing him off balance and crashing into the invisible ship. With the other, she was about to do something really cool when he stopped, turned, and released a hailstorm of blaster energy right at her.

[member="Darth Timoris"]

 

[Darth Timoris]

The assassins opened a cell door and gestured for Melori to step in. She couldn’t sense her apprentice, so suspected she was still at large. She was a truly resourceful one.

Remaining in the corridor, the four assassins slammed the door shut. Melori's cell was illuminated by a single glow rod embedded over the door. A rusted metal bedframe was braced to a corner, and there was a puddle of greasy slime on the floor. The small chamber reeked of rot.

Now that she was tucked away in a cell, Melori believed the assassins would let down their guard. So se decided it was time to begin her attack. She was contemplating the best way to break out of the cell when she heard a whirring sound above her head. Melori instinctively took a step backward. A black barrel-shaped interrogation droid hovered down from the ceiling. It came to a stop and hung in the air in front of Melori's face. Five retractable arms extended from the droid, and each servo-grip clasped a laser scalpel.

The droid sputtered a burst of threatening static, then droned, "Before I terminate you, do you wish to make a statement?"

"Yes" Melori said, smiling. "This entire fortress is going to burn."

Within the confines of the wretched cell, the interrogator droid hovered a few centimetres away from her, then trained its socketed photo receptor on her face. The droid stared into Melori's now yellow eyes, then snickered, "Think you're tough, huh? When I'm done with you, you won't be."

Behind her back, Melori flexed her wrists. The durasteel binders dug into her flesh, but the Sith Lord felt no pain. With a jerk, Melori pulled her arms apart. The binders shattered, scattering bits of durasteel all over the cell's filthy floor. The interrogator droid made an excited whirring sound. It had never seen a prisoner break free from a set of binders with such ease. The droid activated its laser scalpels and hurtled through the air toward Melori. Melori delivered a sharp kick to the droid's spherical underside. The droid soared toward the ceiling but regained control before impact and flew back toward the Sith. Melori leaped aside, moving faster than the droid's photoreceptor could follow. The droid raced past her and smashed hard against the cell wall.

Although Melori's fight with the droid had caused plenty of noise, no guards burst into the cell. Melori assumed the cell walls were sound-proofed or the guards were confident she had just lost. Smoke rose from the deactivated interrogator droid. Melori stepped over its smoldering parts and examined the cell door. Locked from the outside, the door was heavily reinforced. But Melori was not concerned.

She was about to break out when she noticed the remains of the interrogation droid on the floor. Its interrogation serum was intact. Melori suspected the interrogation serum would be useful against her foes. She unclamped the container from the droid's body and pocketed the device. She returned her gaze to the cell door. Using the Force, she concentrated on the door's locking mechanism. She heard a clank as a heavy bolt slid back into the wall. Melori stepped out of the cell and onto the corridor's grated floor.

Although four assassins had brought her into the dungeon, only two escorts were posted outside the cells. The other cell doors remained sealed. The two whirled to confront the escaped prisoner.

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]