Dark Age of the New Republic

[Black Knight of Keno]

For two years the battles raged on. And they were bloody. Many Jedi had fallen defending their homeworlds, many Dark Jedi had fallen while conquering them. Many fleets had been destroyed on both sides but nothing had been worse than the First Battle of Korriban. It had been the most massive space and ground battle since the Army of Light. There many fell, including the Grand Admiral and several good Generals of the dominion with many pilots and officers of the Republic that had even served in the Rebellion back in the day. A meeting was then held between Leia Organa-Solo and the Dark Lord of the Sith where it was decided on a cease fire. The Dominion had lost many ships and the Republic had ships spewing out monthly, so they were almost balanced out. So formed a mexican standoff between the two as both started again to rise in strenght. However, this did not go well with the citizens of the Republic who saw the increase in military as a suspicious activity. They wanted peace and so started to show their minds. The senate was in chaos as civilians rioted in several world an this showed in a decline in cultre and commerce while the worlds of the Sith Dominion were repaired and given different luxuries for their peaceful co-operation and the commerce was still on the rise after two years. It was almost a golden age for the Sith Dominion while the Republic fell into chaos.

 

------

 

Lord Tepe sat quietly onboard his new flagship after his first had been destroyed. He now did not only rule the Dominion from his Sphere that had been hidden to guard it from sabotage but with the overly huge(20,000 meters. Bigger than the Executor-class Star Destroyer) Lictor-class Dungeon Ship. It was an armed to the teeth facility and the Academy for both his Dark Jedi and the Dominion Guards while still being enought firepower to take on a smaller fleet of the Republic on it's own even without the thousands of the now standardized Sith Starfighters launched from the many hangars. On a further notice, it had been decided that Charna would get red-dressed guards and Kaoin blue-dressed guards while Tepe would keep the green. Also, the Apprentices were more than welcome to modify the weaponry and look of their guards as long as they were their designated colours.

 

It was quiet in the small garden where the Lord sat in thought. The small sanctuary of sanity he still held. It was covered by a heavily shielded transparisteel dome that showed the space clearly. However, the view now held also of a planet. This planet was Naboo, another sanctuary of peace and quiet where he meditated and enjoyed the bodily pleasures. The Dungeon Ship, that was called the Phasma, waited for the appentices to arrive for a briefing.

 

------

 

Danera smirked and shut down his lightsaber. He bowed to Jahara and smiled before grabbing a towel and drying off his sweat. The man looked over at Riebe watching their training session and nodded to her before looking back at Jahara.

"You are progressing nicely, Jahara. You are already quite good with Makashi, so nothing more is needed but some actual dueling and your own variation of the style. Then you will be ready to fight someone one-on-one, but before that you should train on your other styles. Before you can get to the enemy with the other lightsaber, you'll need to get throught those footsoldiers and they have blasters" the man said and then walked off the training mat, stopping by Riebe and nodding again.

 

"She will be a good Sith Hunter one day. Now don't forget that training Makashi to your newcomers will cost you extra" he said and grinned at her before walking off and finding himself in the "garage" where his droids were working on his Air Cruiser. He had continued modding it heavily while with the Sith Hunters as he got the monthly income from Riebe and help from his now almost rival Strider. Both were a tad too much concerned with their machines. The mercenary had also managed to get himself a bit bigger ship for occations where the Ragnarok wasn't safe to travel on. Occations like when going to a planet seized by the Dominion. The other ship was a still pretty standard MC18 Light Cruiser built for a now dead diplomat and a good friend of his who left the ship to him in a will. So far he had only added a better shield, faster hyperspace and a slightly more intelligent onboard computer. The Battle Droid Pilot walked over to his master and looked over at the Light Cruiser.

"The cruiser is ready for a test drive" the droid said and started walking with Danera towards the ship.

"Yeah... Do the normal test run. Check out the weapons it has too. Take the R2 unit with you if you need to tweak it" the man said and looked at the droid, stopping.

"Yes, master" the droid answered and called the astromech with him to test the ship. As Danera walked outside to see how the cruiser handled, the droid had settled in and the ship left for the test run

 

((There it is, people. The start of the second part))

((Edited to include Danera))

[Joetheeskimo]

Kin and Raek had now been training for some time and had improved substantially in skill. Kin had also changed; he was quieter now, more reserved, less headstrong, and to the non-Sith Hunter would seem older than he appeared.

 

((Awaiting WJ's and Strider's first post to continue.))

[Flamehart]

Strider had changed increasingly from his strange quiet nature that had plagued him two years before. He actively taught the Hunters many things. As Danera often taught them great technique in one on one combat, he taught them the one thing that would prove even more important on a battlefield, multiple on one fighting. Only those who had fought alongside him before, such as Riebe, and Katherine, knew some of the ability in both the Force and in Lightsaber combat he really had.

 

He also began spilling forth knowledge about the different Force techniques he knew, ones that would help out either singularly or against multiple opponents. His most recent lesson taught them to form a barrier with the Force around themself to deflect shots, then disperse it in a shockwave around them to toss foes off their feet.

 

Strider had also begun taking much personal attention to his ship, the Ragnarok, who's once sleek, shining chassis was now dull, often peppered but never truly damaged or penetrated by blaster fire. He often noted that Danera did not feel safe in some situations in his flagship, and although sometimes competed in good taste against the mercenary, did not squander his quite vast funds accumulated over the years on modifying his ship. Much to Danera's surprise when he began outfitting his, the Ragnarok was already well ahead of its time, and possessed many features that even Strider had not yet put into full use.

 

Strider finished advising Katherine's training routine, while in the same room eying Kin and Raek's training session. He smiled, noting that they had all advanced fast in their abilities in two years, far faster than Riebe or himself had when they started, but he left that reason to the fact that they started everything, and groundwork was much easier now that they knew what to do. He stepped forward towards Kin and Raek, then spoke to them.

 

"Very good, very good both of you. You're both excelling very well in combat, and I even see both of you using the focus technique I taught two years before to a greater level. However I see that you're limiting yourselves to using it for dodging, a mistake I often made, and sometimes still do. Here's something to try - use it to actually fight, but only when faced with many opponents, or one very strong one. Do not use it on a few single soldiers you can easily dispatch, use it when surrounded, or facing a large regiment all firing at you at once, or when fighting, say, five bladed opponents at once. It may only seem a small boost to your speed when you're fighting each other, but you forget that you've become trained now to see that fast. They are not. Use that to your advantage. I'm not criticizing, I'm merely adding on. You both seem to have added a bit of personality to your fighting, that's even better. Personalize it as far as you can go, don't use an already set style. If you're fighting a well-versed adversary who knows them, he'll know your every move. Base it off a style you're comfortable with, then make your own stuff for it, or make a whole new one altogether. It confuses duelists when they see a style they're not familiar with, they don't know what to expect," Strider lectured. His lectures were never boring for the Hunters, he always provided demonstration, and even on many occasions had them attack him to give them examples of what to do in certain situations.

 

It had proved quite interesting the previous day, in a practice fight in which Strider had to fend himself from all the new recruits while lecturing them about multiple to one fighting. He fought them while he spoke to all of them, spotting their mistakes, correcting, and adding on to their techniques. Finally, after an hour of lecture and practice simultaneously, the recruits had actually managed to beat Strider, although the Hunter did not exert himself to his fullest while training them, he did allow them to fight as hard as they could, and it did draw quite a sweat from the Hunter by the time the hour was finished.

 

Katherine turned to Strider after he had finished lecturing, and finally asked a question that had been on her mind for two years after their training started.

 

"The other Sith Hunters were "brought" to be recruited, almost forced, if I remember correctly. You, however, were the only one who actually volunteered. Why was it that made you want to become a Sith Hunter?" she asked.

 

"Do you ask this because you are curious as to why you volunteered to be a Sith Hunter, or do you ask this because you really just want to know what drove me to find enjoyment in the Hunt?" Strider inquired.

 

Katherine stood quiet for a moment, not quite knowing the answer to his question. She hated his cryptic nature, and often did this to the new Hunters to make them think. He had to make them think - otherwise this was just training for a game - Hunting Sith.

 

Strider smiled at her flustered expression, "I joined because I lost two very important people to me to the Sith. I vowed to crush the evil that had caused their death, and in fact had embraced the teachings of the Sith and converted those teachings into using them for better things than invoking pain. That's one thing I want you all to realize as well. There is nothing wrong with lashing out at your opponent in a fight and hurling a high voltage lightning blast at them, or things like that. You have power - use it for the right things. That is what I decided to do. I realized after being a Jedi, and a Sith, then witnessing my friend's deaths, that there were many things I could do with the lessons I learned to prevent such evil from befalling anyone I was with again," he paused, then looked to the new Hunters.

 

"However, remember this. No matter how immortal we may seem on the battlefield when we fight, do not ever think that you are immortal. That is the very reason why Riebe and myself were the only two survivors. Everyone else began to claim immortality, because they never aged and waved their power all over the place, and as such, they became careless, thinking that they were so powerful they were without error, and that error was exploited, and thus our Brothers and Sisters fell. I do not wish to see the same fate occur twice. You are strong, but you have your limits," he smiled, then used a play on words.

 

"You will never exceed your limit, it is not possible, otherwise they would not be limiting. However, it is up to you to discover your limits, and push them to their limits, as it is impossible to be limitless, but it is possible to expand the limit of your limits," he grinned, wondering if they would be confused or understand what he meant.

 

"Alright..everyone take a break. We've trained for a long time, and I finally got my shipment in for the Ragnarok to make modific-"

 

"You're actually modifying it?" Katherine asked, surprised.

 

"Shh! Not so loud! Danera might hear you," he said with a grin, then left to work on his starfighter.

[Writer]

Riebe sat overlooking a shallow man-made lake. She could remember a few times swimming there, but she wasn't in the mood now. Her eyes slowly closed as she thought back over the last two years.

 

The Hunters had spent the full time in isolation on the planet known only as the Watchtower. Riebe had initially led them here for training to last only a couple of weeks. But the weeks had stretched into months and the months had stretched into seasons. Before Riebe or the others really noticed what had happened, two full years had gone by. And news had just recently come of a cease fire between the New Republic and the Sith Dominion.

 

Riebe herself had grown increasingly distant from the other Hunters; only Jahara and Strider could get any lengthy conversation out of her. There was a third who could get her to talk, but he was not a Hunter... just an old friend.

 

"I still can't get over how young you still look," he said, coming up to sit next to her. "When you came the first time, I looked four years older than you. Now, you look the same and I look fifty years older. It's just not fair!"

 

Riebe did not smile. "No, Shaam. It's not fair... not fair to be forever nineteen while the galaxy grows and dies around you."

 

"Aww, that's not what I meant," the old man protested. "Besides, you'll be twenty in another..."

 

"973 years," Riebe supplied. She sighed and offered a weak, "Yippee... I still won't be legally able to drink for another 1973 years..."

 

"There's places that'll let you drink without checking your age," Shaam reminded her. Then, he cleared his throat and changed subjects. "Well, your new Hunters are doing well. I've been watching them in training."

 

"Yeah," Riebe agreed half-heartedly. It was clear her mind was still on her age. "Good bunch of people... but most of 'em will be dead before my body hits twenty years."

 

"Do you regret recruiting them?" Shaam demanded. Riebe shook her head thoughtfully.

 

"Noooo," she answered slowly, drawing the word out. "I just..." She sighed. "I almost wish I could go back in time... hammer it into the heads of all us Sith Hunters that we're not invincible. There could still be ten of us, you know. We wouldn't have had to do this wierd recruiting thing."

 

"Is something all that wierd about recruiting?" Jahara asked, coming to sit on Riebe's other side. "Jedi do it. Sith do it. Republic does it."

 

"I know," Riebe said quickly. "It's just that... well the Hunters never have. It just feels... wierd."

 

"But you like it, don't you?" Shaam wondered. Riebe considered this for a moment.

 

"Ye-es," Riebe answered. "But that doesn't change it being wierd."

 

She stood. "Hope you don't mind if I want a little more time alone."

 

Hopping off the large rock emplacement, she ran off toward the surrounding hills. On the other side of the hills, there was a desert. And in that desert, there was a cave. Within the cave, there was a holographic generator. And this is where Riebe went. She didn't switch the generator on... it was a potential danger to the people of the planet, a danger Riebe had once dealt with. She was in no mood to deal with it again.

 

So she dropped into sitting position facing the generator and closed her eyes. Oh, to be at peace... she sighed. Peace was not something she'd ever experienced, not even here, where it was quiet and in so many other ways, peaceful.

 

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

 

Charna watched in silence as a little girl played around her. The girl giggled and ran back and forth between her mother, Naboo's queen and Charna. Each time she ran from one to the other, she carried a tiny, colorful ball. As she reached her mother, she thrust the ball into her hands.

 

"You take it," she giggled. Her mother laughed and imitated the gesture, giving the ball back to her daughter.

 

"No, you take it," she shot back. The young princess giggled and ran over to Charna.

 

"You take it," she repeated, repeating the giving of the ball. Charna laughed and echoed the queen. Then, as the little girl turned to run back to her mother, the ball seemed to slip from her fingers and lift into the air. For a moment, the little princess seemed puzzled. Then she turned and ran back to Charna.

 

"Bad Sithy," she scolded, using her little hand to smack Charna's leg. Immediately, the ball dropped out of the sky and bounced toward the princess. Happily, she ran to get it. But it continued to bounce, suddenly veering in course and moving away from the princess. Determined to get it, she continued to chase it.

 

"Such an adorable little girl," Charna remarked. "So hard to believe she's two years old already."

 

"Charna, I don't want her leaving the garden," the queen said, concern flooding her face. Charna smiled slightly.

 

"Don't worry, Sacha," she said. "I know exactly where she is... and she's still chasing the ball."

 

Queen Sacha relaxed and took a moment to think back over the last two years. It had been exactly two years to the day that Charna's fleet had begun its takeover of Naboo. Sacha remembered clearly how fearful she was when Charna had come marching in, entirely unannounced and looking ready to claim the planet for the Sith.

 

Now, she could scarcely imagine life without Charna... or the Sith, for that matter. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted as her little daughter ran back into view, the tiny ball clasped firmly in her hands.

 

"Bad Sithy!" she scolded again. "No more play with ball!"

 

Charna was about to respond when her comlink crackled to life.

 

"Lady Charna, we need you at headquarters at once," the voice said. Charna nodded and stood.

 

"A day in the life of 'Bad Sithy'," she said to Sacha. Then, she crouched to look the little princess in the eyes.

 

"Bad Sithy's gotta do some work now," she said. The princess pouted. "Aww, don't do that, little Mira! I'll be back soon as I can, ok?"

 

"Bad Sithy," Mira grumbled. Then, she ran over to her mother. Charna stood and looked over at Sacha.

 

"Be back in a flash," she promised.

 

- - -

 

Ten minutes later, she swept into the main control center of the Dominion Base on Naboo.

 

"What is it, Max?" she asked General Silas Maxmillan.

 

"Lord Tepe is in orbit," he told her. "Thought you might like to know."

 

Charna nodded. "Thanks, Max. Has he called for me yet?"

 

Maxmillan shook his head. "So far, he's just sitting up there."

 

"If he calls down, route him through to my comlink," Charna instructed. "I'm going to take a quick run through our factories and up to the shipyards. See you in a couple of hours."

 

Maxmillan nodded and went back to work. Charna left the headquarters building and headed for the arms factory. As she walked, she considered all that had happened to her in the past two years. After successfully negotiating Dominion goals on Naboo, she'd gone on to do the same with three more systems. She'd chosen Naboo as her base of operations, simply because she loved the little planet... and Queen Sacha as well.

 

Sighing in satisfaction, Charna decided there was no place she'd rather be. But she also realized that it may be time to visit another star system the Dominion wanted, but did not yet have. Briefly, she wondered if that may have been Tepe's reason for coming to Naboo.

 

"If so, I await his instructions," Charna muttered to herself. And then, she entered the factory.

[Black Knight of Keno]

Danera stood outside, watching the Light Cruiser throught a pair of Macrobinoculars. The ship speeded around, firing at small renewing targets on the ground that he had placed a week after they had arrived to test out his ship. He raised his comlink up to his mouth and sighed.

"Bring it back. We'll need to tweak the stabilizers and remove the turret. It's a pesky little bugger but doesn't really do any damage" he said and lowered the comlink as the ship turned around and left back for the garage. Danera walked inside the garage after lowering the macrobinoculars and checking that the targets were shut down. As he waited for the ship, he noticed a part of a new shipment next to the Ragnarok. A grin appeared on his mouth before Strider walked in.

 

"I see you got some new parts there" he said and laughted as his light cruiser landed and the ramp lowered for the battle droid to come out with the gear for detaching the turret. Danera walked over and looked at the droid before nodding.

"You take the stabiliers. I'll get the turret" he said before taking the powertools and heading off for the turret. It was a pathetic little thing really and would be free to go in return to some heavier firepower.

 

------

 

The enormous Dungeon Ship hovered a short time before starting it's engines and heading off towards the other side of the planet. At it's arrival, a shuttle left the hangar with four guards and the Dark Lord onboard and headed swiftly for the Headquarters. The shuttle's arrival was unpronounced and even undetected until when the shuttle started the landing. The Lord wanted to see himself what was going on around the base and if the rumours of slacking off were true. He knew evryone needed to ease off after a long war, but there had to be some order even then.

 

The shuttle's ramp lowered and the guards walked out with the Dark Lord. The commanding officer of the headquarters was rushedto greet his Lord, but it was quite close that he wasn't late, which would be found very naughty when the Lord of the Dominion was the case. BEfore the General could even start, Tepe shut him down.

"I came to inspect the planet, General Maxmillan. Call my apprentice. I have to exchange words with her also" he said before walking off with is guards towards her office

[Flamehart]

Strider could only grin back at Danera. They had been competing in good taste over their ships lately, not seeking to compromise each other's ships, but merely to outdo one another's capabilities once in awhile for sheer fun.

 

"The chassis needs reworking, one engine is damaged from blaster fire, hyperdrive needs a tune up, and I just ordered a reliable, new shield generator from an old contact of mine so you can stop complaining when we get peppered once in awhile by destroyers on our supply runs about the Ragnarok feeling like it's about to split like butter under a lightsaber, even though it clearly won't. As for the rest of this stuff..I can't tell you what I'm doing with it, some of it you may not even recognize, but you'll get a kick out of it when it's done," Strider explained with a grin, and with that, got to work.

[Writer]

Charna was waiting in her office when Tepe arrived, but he could tell she'd had to rush to make it and was slightly out of breath.

 

"I was doing an inspection of my own when General Maxmillan informed me of your arrival," she explained. "It's a pleasure to welcome you to Naboo, my Lord. Max said you wanted to speak with me?"

[Black Knight of Keno]

"I'm returning the Jedi POWs. I have a dungeon ship inside mine, waiting for the command to come down an pick the ones we have here. I've already cleaned out the other planets of them and after the ship has these jedi onboard, it's heading for Ossus. I want you to issue the command as you're the governor" Tepe said and walked to the large table, leaning on it before sitting down with a grin that seemed to hurt. He had been wounded by a lucky assassin a couple of days before the cease fire was signed and the wound was still hurting. After he had sat down, the Dark Lord sighed.

 

"I'm worried of your connections with the Queen and her family. I have recieved reports of you visiting them frequently. Are you ready to leave the planet or recieve word that they have been killed? Emotions are good, but rash decisions because of them are bad for the Dominion and the Sith cause. Will this become a problem?" the Lord asked and leaed back on the chair. His guards stood silently by the door, waiting for them to finish up, even if Tepe would not be throught with his apprentice quite yet. After their half year-period of training in Sith arts and strategies, Tepe had let her slip a bit off from his grasp while Kaoin was kept closer to the Dominion Capital. Mostly because Kaoin was arrogant and could soon think that Tepe was defeatable by the apprentice. He made use of the old saying "Keep your friends close but enemies closer"

 

------

 

Danera shook his head at Strider's comment before putting on his mask and starting to cut off the turret. The stabilizers turned slightly and a hiss sounded from inside the ship as the Battle droid pilot was tweaking the ship's systems. It wouldn't be a challenge for the droid to detach the turret, but Danera needed some hands-on work so he wouldn't go all lazy on himelf. Especially as it would seem Strider was slowly starting to catch up on the modification scene again for the first time in the two years he had been sneaking about and spying the Ragnarok's secrets. Of course his spying about was quite unsuccesfull, but at least he had something else to do than to deal with the Sith Hunters all day long

[Writer]

"I shall give the order at once," Charna said after Tepe had expressed his wishes for her order to the dungeon ship to come down and take the Jedi prisoners.

 

"As for the Queen and her family," Charna went on, "I have gotten to know them. But it is they who cannot imagine life without me. If they were to be killed, I would be saddened, but there would be no action from me to damage the stability of the Dominion. As for leaving Naboo, I had just begun to consider it. As you know, I've gained three other systems for the Dominion and I visit each of them once a month. But it's time to expand further. I intend to select a new system within the week and will leave Naboo by next week."

 

She smiled. "But I will be back. This has become my base of operations. All that I've accomplished was based here. I do not see any reason to have that change. Here, the people are comfortable with me. Some of them may not like me, but they respect my ability to do my job." She nodded. "Yes, I'll continue to use Naboo as my base, but I promise you I will not stop my efforts to expand the Dominion."

[Black Knight of Keno]

"You are a great asset to the Dominion, but only ten worlds against the fifteen of Kaoin is a disappointment. You are a good strategist but your heart gets on your way. But your plans must halt for now. We have signed a cease fire with the Republic and I want the Dominion armed forces back to it's full before trying anything. The Republic is weak and when it is weak, we will have no trouble in winning it. so we wait and just accept the worlds that willingly want to join the Dominion. Our main problem is currently old Rythe and his Imperial Remnants. Even if their ships are old, they are still a pretty impressive military power with strong leaders. If they would join in with the Republic, we would have an impressive enemy... maybe even an equal one" he said and grinned at the young woman. He shook his head and looked down at the floor, thinking while listening to her response

[Writer]

((Uh... Charna's got four star systems... maybe ten worlds.))

 

Charna raised an eyebrow. "An equal enemy would be an interesting development."

[Flamehart]

Strider went straight to work, doing everything by hand, but also doing things on another level - assembling other modifications through manipulation with the Force. While he touched up and restored the Ragnarok's chassis to it's usual black sheen, tools and parts automatically lifted off the ground, installing into place. It was quite interesting to see the many different things Strider used the Force for, and it was evident he never stopped inventing useful applications for it. It didn't take long for him to finish, and moved away from his ship, admiring the shine that had been missing for two years, before turning away and walking back.

 

Suddenly something came to his mind, and began heading for one of the many training rooms they had at the Watchtower, making sure the one he entered was unoccupied. He withdrew his blade and ignited it, a strong desire for exercise for some reason resident in his mind. He lifted a hand and using the Force, activated the training program he was ever so used to - the blindfold test. He pulled the red headband about his forehead down over his eyes, taking a breath and waiting. He heard the whisking of several training drones moving in the air, and waited. The first shot came, his body leaned, bending out of the way of the blast, then the blade came up and severed the drone in two. And so the session began - drones began popping up left and right, testing just how far he could go, trying to surround and evade his retaliations, but the Sith Hunter was incredibly fast. He continued to deflect blasts and destroy drones for quite some time, the difficulty increasing as time passed, becoming fully immersed in the training, no longer worried about the room being unoccupied - if someone was watching, he didn't care by now, he was so far into his routine that their presence would not distract him.

[Writer]

Deep inside the cave in the desert, Riebe's head came up and she cocked it sideways, as if listening. Then, she smiled faintly. "Oh, Strider," she murmured. Then, she stood and left the cave. In only a few seconds, she arrived at the training room Flamehart was in and entered to watch him. Only a moment later, Jahara joined her.

 

"There you are!" she said, seeing Riebe. Then, she saw Strider and her eyes widened slightly.

 

"Does he do this often?" she wondered, lowering her voice. A smile traced Riebe's lips and she shook her head slightly.

 

"Not often," she answered, admiration evident in her voice. "Impressive, isn't he?"

 

Jahara nodded wordlessly and the two women fell silent, watching Strider test himself.

[Flamehart]

It wasn't long before Katherine found her way over too, hearing the frequent hum of a moving lightsaber. What she saw made her jaw drop.

 

They had arrived just in time too, as he was just starting to move into the harder difficulties. His speed substantially increased. Their eyes had already long been trained to easily see the high speed in which the other Hunters learned to fight, but even to their eyes, Strider was moving so fast the most they could really see was the red blur of his cape and the blue blur of his lightsaber, and a lot of sparks from drones falling to pieces on the floor. The number of training bolts that glowed as they flew around the room was innumerable, and yet all of them seemed to miss or become deflected by Strider. It wasn't long before lightsaber bladed droids advanced from the walls of the room on him, now the blur of red and blue combined with the multiple colored blades of the drones. It was quite a magnificent show, before long the different colored blades began disappearing one by one as the blue blade danced around the room, until finally the last one fell.

 

Strider heard the clunk of the last droid fall, suddenly the dimmed lights returned to normal, he stood with his lightsaber held by his side, destroied drones all around the floor. He deignited the blade and looked to the others.

 

"Enjoy the show?"

[Writer]

"Who wouldn't?" Jahara gasped. "That... was amazing!"

 

Riebe chuckled softly and approached her old friend. "A good show, Brother. It's about damn time you let loose some of your energy. Should make you a little less edgy and impatient during training the younger generation."

[Flamehart]

Strider could only smirk at the younger Hunters. "They aggrivate me anyway. They actually beat me once - I'm holding a grudge forever to you all for that," he said with humor in his tone. He turned to Riebe, a question suddenly posed itself in her head, sent by Strider from his.

 

They seem to be quite ready now after two years...Don't you think it's time we sought out the age repression agent that was used on the old Hunters? I think it would be a shame for such great talent to go to waste because of the damage done by time, Strider suggested.

 

He couldn't help but notice something in the corner of his eye, and looked down, saying carefully into her head, not wanting to aggrivate her.

 

You've still got your wedding ring, Riebe? It's been several hundred years, Riebe, I mean I know you married Jack, but he's been gone quite some time now. I'm not saying I think he's dead, but it's been a really long time.

[Writer]

Riebe colored slightly at his mention of the ring, but seemed to ignore the mention. Instead, she addressed his idea concerning the age repression.

 

I hadn't thought of that, she told him. Do you think it's doable? We'd have to go back... back to the lab.

[Flamehart]

Strider noticed her disregard for his question, and did little to press it on her. Now was not a good time for her, he could tell, and instead focused on the topic she chose to go with.

 

I think it's more than probable. It's been two thousand years though. Likelihood has it we'll have to do alot of things manually, but yes, we would have to go back. Strider responded.

[Writer]

"Bring back a lot of memories," Riebe said aloud. "Are you prepared for that?"

 

For a moment, Jahara looked a little confused. Then, she grinned. "Once again, I hear the middle of a conversation. What's going on?"

 

"Hold a moment, Jahara," Riebe said. "Let Strider answer me."

[Flamehart]

Strider shrugged. "Riebe, I fought Sith for the past four thousand years, and you're going to ask me if I'm prepared? I think I should be insulted," he said with a grin, then finally took her question seriously and nodded.

 

"I can come to terms with my memories. Do not worry about that," Strider assured her.

[Writer]

Riebe did not laugh, but her smile proved she was satisfied with his answer. Turning to Jahara, she began playing with the ring Strider had noticed on her left ring finger.

 

"We're going back to the lab where the Hunters were genetically altered to have extended lives," she said. "Any of the new Hunters that want it will get the same repression agent."

 

Jahara's eyes widened slightly.

 

"Didn't you say you destroyed the lab?" she asked.

 

"Ye-es," Riebe admitted slowly. "But some of the data is bound to be intact still. And any data we can't get out of the computers there... we can get it out of me."

[Black Knight of Keno]

((Edited it))

 

Tepe reached inside his utility belt, taking out a holodisc and giving it to Charna who put it on the holoprojector. Her master sighed and looked at the planet that was then shown.

"It's a legend I now know is true. The Watchtower. It's hidden from me better than the full Sith Order is from the Jedi. It is time for me to concentrate on you more. Kaoin has been sent to the Sith Council to be tested and given the rank of a Sith Master" he said and stood up, placing his hand on the bottom of the holographic planet.

 

"It's time for the Sith hunters to come out and play... And I don't want the Dominion to fall in the hands of those lousy bureucrats if they manage to beat me. I will be watching you closely, my apprentice, never forget that. I can sence the anctiousness of the Hunters and they will be coming for my life soon enought. They will fail, but it will only show that they are back in the game, and that is something I am afraid of. Especially now that the Jedi are starting to become a but more friendly towards us" he said and looked at her with a slightly concerned look in his pure yellow eyes

[Flamehart]

Strider responded, "Riebe did mainly external damage...there's perhaps some computer data that can be salvaged. As for the repression agent...We'll have to recreate it using information from Riebe, and lucky for me I know exactly what to look for - they tried to use it on me and my body rejected it frequently - I was awake at the time by that point, and managed to oversee the process of where the agent targetted, among other things that I was able to draw from their minds without them noticing."

[Writer]

Charna nodded, staring at the image of the Watchtower. "Gerv," she said quietly. Looking up at Tepe, she explained. "It's in the Jedi Archives as Gerv, but they say nobody knows where it is. The coordinates have been missing from the Archives for thousands of years."

 

- - - - - - - - - - -

 

Riebe nodded, still playing absent-mindedly with the ring. "Yeah, I just wrecked the external parts. Shouldn't be difficult to reconstruct the process... without a lot of the emotional tweaking to make you fly into a rage."

[Flamehart]

Strider looked at Riebe, and questioned her again, noticing her now more frequent notice of the ring.

 

Riebe, you can talk to me, you know that. What's with the ring?