Star Wars: Echoes of the Past PART II By JEK VEROON 21 YEARS AFTER THE TRUCE AT BAKURA... CHAPTER 5: "Captain, set a course for the Yif'Don system." "Sir, Yif'DOn is fairly deep into Alliance territory." "I'm aware of that, captain." said Colonel Roman Furlong, folding his arms behind his back. "But the future of the Empire lies there." The information in the packet that Admiral Piett had given him was simple and to the point. On the planet of Yif'Don, near the location of the abandoned Imperial base, was a large Emergency Ops Center, built in case the Empire lost Coruscant and Palpatine needed somewhere to go. But Palpatine had died three years before Coruscant was taken, and if Iceheart Isard had known of the Ops Center, she made no attempt to go there after Coruscant was taken. But this Ops Center contained something more valuable than simply a secure hiding place. It held the Emperor's Chosen. And that carefully kept secret could eventually bring the Empire back. "Captain, have our technicians made the changes to the cloaking shield that I ordered?" asked Furlong. "Yes, Colonel." said Captain Mollon. "I must confess, they are... interesting changes." "Indeed." said Furlong. "And the probe?" "It has been slaved to us at a distance of 2 klicks away." said Mollon. "We are using a Radionics frequency, so it may be used when we are in cloak." "Very good." said Furlong. "Then engage cloak, and go to hyperspace." "Aye." The Victory Star Destroyer Dragon stretched into hyperspace, and the Umix system was once again quiet... * * * * Contru Beta was a small moon on the outskirts of the Contruum system, and thought to be deserted, devoid of life... But it wasn't. 17 years before, a coup had taken place on Contruum, overthrowing the monarchy-republic that had ruled there for centuries, and establishing a Democratic Republic. The last few loyalists to the Contruum Imperial Republic had secretly settled on Contru Beta. The Incom Y-4 Transport 'Plutor' that held Colonel Jek Veroon and Commander Corran Horn landed quietly, without alarms. The ugly boxy transport, once a favorite of Warlord Zsinj's 'Raptors' had been captured almost twenty years before, until several years ago Veroon had begun refurbishing the antiquitated piece of technology. Veroon walked down the hatch, into the empty hangar. Behind him, the magcon field drew a halo around the hangar's entrance. Corran Horn walked down behind him. "No one to meet us." noticed Corran. "They'll come. You might as well leave your blaster on the ship. It won't work here." said Jek. "Why not?" "There's a jamming field covering this entire moon." said Jek. "The only weapon that works here is the lightsaber." "How do you know?" "I helped build this place." said Jek. "Almost 20 years ago..." The door to the hangar opened, revealing several Contruumian guards. They wore long purple robes, and carried force pikes. The helmets were styled after the helmets worn by mandalorian warriors. Jek stepped forward, and bowed. "Horn, bow." "Why?" "There's royalty coming." said Jek. Corran bowed on one knee. A beautiful woman entered, in her mid-thirties. She wore a long, flowing gown, down to the floor. On her head rested a small coronet, with a Durindfire gem in the middle. "Anouncing the Deposed Royal Governor-Empress of Contruum, Her Royal Highness, Empress Benja Yenera the first." said an aide. Empress Yenera curtsied, and touched Corran's shoulder. "You may stand." "Thank you, Your Royal Highness." Yenera turned to Jek. "Most high Ward of Contruum, I welcome you." Jek stood, and hugged her tightly. "It's good to see you again Benja." He kissed her on the cheek. "You too, Jek." said Benja, abandoning her royal air. "How is Defender Squadron?" "Very good, Raven's in charge now." Benja smiled, and turned to Corran. "You must be the esteemed Commander Corran Horn, grandson of Naj Halcyon and Jedi Knight. Master Halcyon helped Contruum in a great time of need, once upon a time." "Yes, maam." "Come, let's talk in private." CHAPTER 6: Yenera led them down corridors brightly lit, and there was quite a bit of movement all through the base. "Colonel Veroon helped to design this base for me." said Benja to Corran. "It was about a year before my deposition." "All this wealth, and you couldn't oppose the people of Contruum?" asked Corran. "I chose not to oppose them." said Benja simply. "It was a ruler's choice." "And a valid one." said Veroon. He looked around at the wealthy decorative surroundings. "I like what you've done to the place." "The government of Contruum has not totally forgotten the Royal family. I recieve a fair-sized pension every year from the tri-senate." said Benja. "It has allowed me to expand this base." "So you are still a part of the government?" asked Corran. "No. I am merely a throwback, a reminder of the past years. Soon I will become too tiresome a yoke and the government will cast me off." said Benja. "Nice metaphor." said Jek. "Thanks." Benja put her thumb on a doorlock. It hissed open. "Come in, please." Jek and Corran followed her into the conference room, where a holo-mural of the Royal Contruum House covered the wall in realistic three-dimensions. "What was it you wanted, Jek? Come now, I know better than that you simply were paying a social call." Benja sat on a plush purple chair. "I'm guessing you still find royal life distasteful?" asked Jek, sitting. Benja nodded. "Only my age stopped me from rejoining Defender Squadron. Being cooped up on an asteroid 15 years will drive anyone crazy." said Benja. Jek leaned forward. "You got my message about Rocky?" "Yes. He was a good wingman." said Benja. "I also know of your so-called 'quest'." Jek sighed and fell back into the chair. "Luke." he said. "It was him, wasn't it? "Correct. Master Skywalker knew you'd ask me along on your wild goose chase, and sent me warning of two silver-tongued, Jedi pilots." Benja smiled. "Not to mention handsome." said Jek. "Your Highness, no need to be rude, but time is of the essence." said Corran. "Yes, Benja, it is. Your answer?" Jek held his breath. "Of course." Benja grinned outright. "Of course I will, Jek!" * * * * "There's the transponder grid." said Mara, pointing at a distant silver dish. "It's about 12 klicks north." "SubPro sure knows how to pick prime planets for their work." commented Ghent dryly. "I'm suprised they know Moff Tarkin's dead here. Probably wondering why there's no new laws coming from the Imperial Senate." "They're not that backward." said Mara. "Exocron, now that's a primitive chikkar-infested lump of rock if I ever saw one." "If you don't mind, I'd like to get my ship back before my son is put in the Old Spacer's House." said Mirax. "Okay, okay. I'm guessing even Admiral Ackbar's authority could get us into the SubPro plant." said Mara. "No." said Ghent. He held up a hacker deck. "But I will." * * * * "You sure we shouldn't try legal means first?" asked Mirax. "I want my ship back, but I'd like to be alive to fly it, too." "Don't worry about it." said Ghent. "I'll be in in no time." He punched in a code on his hacker terminal, then turned back to the door of the SubPro plant. It was the back door, so to speak, used for small package deliveries. With a bing, and mumbled cheer from Ghent, it opened. "Remind me to tell Karrde to give you a raise, Ghent." said Mara. Ghent grinned, then waved at the door. "Ladies first." "Ghent, you're so courteous." said Mara, moving through the darkness and raising her lightsaber. "You now I'm married, don't you?" CHAPTER 7: "We're coming up on the Diron Checkpoint." said Mollon to Furlong. "Everything ready?" asked Furlong. "Yes, Colonel." said Mollon. "Cloaking shield activated, probe slaved and transmitting, turbolasers on standby." "Good." Furlong paused. "Countdown point of interdiction please." "Yes sir." said Mollon. "Time to Interdiction minus 47 seconds. minus 40. minus 30." Mollon counted down to the time of interdiction, and nothing happened. "Time plus 12 seconds, 13, 14, 15-" The Dragon suddenly reverted to hyperspace. "It appears the Republic has revised it's patrol parameters." Noted Furlong quietly. "Yes sir." said Mollon. The cheif sensor officer looked to Furlong. "Probe link intact, reading three Calamari Star-Cruisers and one interdictor. Several starfighters coming this way." "Are they vectoring for the probe?" asked Furlong. "Yes sir." said the sensor officer. "No weapons engaged, however." "Give me a holographic representation of the area." said Mollon. "It will take several minutes- the probe can't transmit hard data, just information sets. We have to convert them." said the officer. "It's all right." said Furlong. "Lock in the Predictor and prepare to fire." "Are you actually going to fire on that guard patrol?" said Mollon. "One must be prepared for anything." said Furlong. "Helm, take us out of the Interdiction sphere, 3/4 flank." "Aye." * * * * Captain Shoorie Meon stood on the bridge of his ship, the Mon Calamari cruiser Helicon, head of the 16th Guard Squadron. Normally, nobody came by this route, so Omen was bored. In a few months, there would be no perimeter guard here, due to the expasnion of the Imperial Territories. But now, he watched as a small, Imperial-made probe dropped from hyperspace. "What's the reading on it?" "Imperial made, but it's pretty distorted out there. I'm getting sensor ghosts all over. It's vector looks like the Barut system." "That makes no sense." said Meon. "Who would spend money on something like that just for the Barut system. Nothing of worth there since before Thrawn's offensive." "It's moving out of the Interdiction sphere, sir." said an officer. "Shall I order Emitter to follow?" "No." said Meon. "But we'd better report this to Intel." * * * * "We've cleared the interdiction sphere, they are not following." said Mollon. "Good." said Furlong. "Go to hyperspace as soon as possible." "Hyper-Computations are complete. Hyperdrive engaged." "I'd say the cloaking shield works quite well." noted Furlong. "Apparently so." They spun away, leaving behind nothingness, just as they brought. Then a small ship moved from it's hiding spot, and zoomed away on it's own vector. * * * * The Retiluan ambassador was making more threats again, this time for a larger Embassy on Rett'Lou. The Retiluans were harmless, but some of it's allies weren't. Like the Yucat Pirates, or the Bimmar. Or the Plapin Terrorists, who had made a bomb threat today. The Admiral watched this from his private observation box. Of course, Star Admiral Hiram Drayson, Chief of Alpha Blue Intellignece, wasn't concerned about that. He just liked knowing what happened in the Senate. Drayson turned as the aide brought him a report. "Thank you." He looked at the report, taking a drink of jav-caf. He read a few moments, then glanced back at the proceedings in the Senate. Then the truth hit him. The caf-glass shattered on the floor, breaking into a million pieces. He stood, in an urgency he had not known for a long time, and straightened his uniform. Then he turned to the aide. "Captain, I want a meeting for the Provisional Council called. Code Gamma-Blue." CHAPTER 8: "Look at what I got off a NR Intel feed." said Jhank, handing a readout to General Kolnn, head of The Red Syndicate. The Red Syndicate was run with an iron hand, brought from the ashes of Black Sun, Visra's Militia, and several Warlord's broken down empires. It had survived several years, becoming fairly strong. Certainly stronger than those Imperial Stragglers out in the Outer Unknowns, who refused to accept Palpatine was dead. Perhaps even stronger than the Shadow Systems, but that was unlikely. "The Emperor's Chosen? What does that mean?" asked Kolnn, with some element of disgust. He didn't like Imperials. "I looked it up in the Imperial Archives on Bastion. Back a few years ago, some self-proclaimed Prophet of the Dark Side said the Emperor's Chosen would come when it seemed the Empire was dead." said Jhank. "He said it was on Yif'Don." "And what would this do for us?" "What if it's another automated ship, like Eye of Palpatine? Except what if it's a Super Star Destroyer?" Jhank smiled sourly. "It could greatly enhance the unit's wealth." "Hmm. Set course for Yif'Don, and have all squadrons ready for attack." * * * * "Watch out for Crincla Spiders. They like spots like this." said Mara, taking out her lightsaber. "Yeah, but I don't. You sure you cleared a way to the main transmitting center?" asked Mirax to Ghent. She swept away a cobweb. "Yeah. There's no-one scheduled to enter the room for another three hours." said Ghent. "We're about sixty meters away from the first checkpoint. It's strictly EM-readings, any signs of activated weapons." said Ghent. "I opened up a twelve-minute window for the checkpoint, which opens in... six minutes." "Good." muttered Mirax. "Then on to the ConOps." "I don't know what you're worried about." said Mara to Mirax. "After all, SubPro's never exactly been rich, even after their success with the Z-95." "Yeah, but they still have assets." said Mirax. "The Z-1 made enough, you know." "Scuttlebutt has it they've opened up some sort of pirate group to bring down their losses." said Mara. "The Ret Syndicate or something." "Coming up on Checkpoint one." said Ghent eagerly. "You sure this will work?" asked Mirax. "Of course it will." said Ghent. "I'm the best slicer there is-" He was cut off by alarms, and blaster fire. Mara snapped her lightsaber, deflecting the blasts. "Get to cover!" Mara leaped forward, deflecting more fire, while Mirax fired her own blaster at the SubPro guards. "Hold them off! I'm gonna head for ConOps!" "Copy!" answered Mara, in intense concentration. She tried to remember what Luke had taught her. The laserfire continued. * * * * "We have a problem." said Admiral Drayson, looking at the members of the Provisional Council; Princess Leia Organa, former President; Current President Gavrisom; Borsk Fey'lya, the Bothan with big ideas; Admiral Ackbar, head of the Fleet and Defense Chairman; Corb, the Wookie; General Wedge Anittles, the great Alliance hero; and Mon Motha, who though not a true member of the government anymore was a trusted advisor. They all gazed in alert at Drayson, who stood before them in the secret room far below the skyline of Coruscant. This was one of several locations the Provisional Council met, and each one was kept a carefully guarded secret. "Several hours ago, I recieved a message from one of our stealth recon scouts. They picked up traces of a cloaking device near the Diron Checkpoint, close to an Imperial probe. It was headed for the Baro system." A holographic map appeared, showing the Greater Dodonn Sector. It zoomed in to the Baro system. "Baro is a small planet on the Outer Rim, the location of a former Imperial site, decimated by Warlord Zsinj 15 years ago. Apparently, there are rumors of an 'Emperor's Chosen' flying about, since about a month ago. Now, everybody seem to be headed for Baro." Wedge cursed. "Something to add, General?" asked Borsk Fey'lya "Colonel Jek Veroon and Commander Corran Horn are en route to Baro, to investigate this 'Emperor's Chosen'. I approved it, because I didn't see anything that would be a threat to the Republic." said Wedge. "It might not be." said Drayson. "But We're tracking major movements towards Baro from the Provisional Empire, the New Imperium, the Red Syndicate, Black Sun, the Empire's Shards, the Clone Remnants, Warlord Pirohn's forces, and possibly the Shadow Systems." "The Shadow Systems have been a problem from the start." said Leia. "We would have explored that region long ago if not for that strange government." Mon Motha turned to Drayson. "What do you know of the Emperor's Chosen?" "Not much. Alpha Blue can't even find much in the Bastion files. Apparently though, several years back, a Dark Prophet name Drokon, I believe, said the time of the Emperor's Chosen grew near. He said at the time the Empire looked to be dead, the Chosen would arrive, and bring back the glory of the Empire. The Provisional Empire tried to silence Drokon, but he said he was speaking of the Empire's Shards." "The Empire's Shards is hardly a threat." said Ackbar. "We've been getting reports that the Shadow Systems decimated them in several battles. The true Empire does appear to be dead." Drayson put on a grave look. "That's why we must stop the Chosen from coming. Since their point of origin seems to be regarded as Baro, we need to send a fleet to blockade the system. The Emperor possibly could have forseen the death of the Empire, and allowed for it." "Could he not see his own death, then?" asked Gavrisom, brushing his feathers. "From what I've picked up from Luke, there are many possible futures, and each one can be seen. Palpatine could have been allowing for the possibility." Wedge regarded Leia. "Right?" "That about sums it up." said Leia. She turned to Drayson. "I agree with Admiral Drayson. This needs to be put to rest before it gets out of hand." Wedge nodded. "President, Admiral Ackbar, I request permission to head a fleet to Baro." Gavrisom ruffled his feathers. "We are fairly stretched out with the troubles near the Unknowns." "The PE can handle that for now." said Ackbar. "Permission granted." CHAPTER 9: "We're coming up on Baro." said Corran, entering the ward-room of the Incom Y-4 Transport. Benja nodded. "Shall I man the turret?" Corran looked to Jek. "Uh, no. We don't expect any trouble." Jek nodded. "Baro's fairly in the heart of Republic space." "I see." Jek turned to Corran. "So what's Baro like, since you're the expert?" "Dull. Dreary. Mostly granite rocks, a couple Plof Fire-Birds for flavor." said Corran. "Plof Fire Birds?" asked Benja. "It's a predatorial flying reptile, much like a giant mynock, really. They feed on granite-based products. Interesting how they do it, too. You see, they take the granite, and curl up on top of it. Then they expel enormous heat waves from a protusion called a filk-" Corran was cut off by an explosion. "What was that?" asked Jek. Corran ran up to the cockpit, tripping as more explosions rocked the ship. "Damn! Hypermines!" He pulled back the throttle, reverting to real-space. "Damge report in... lateral stabilizer out, shield at thirteen percent." Benja shook her head. "What happened?" "Hypermines. Somebody like the Shadow Systems, or the Kiruun Conglomerate did this. Nasty piece of work. I've seen it a couple times." said Corran. "They lay mines in hyperspace. The mines stay there until their fuel runs out, then revert to realspace, hitting an unsuspecting ship one way or the other. Somebody was expecting visitors to Baru." said Jek. Benja nodded. "Now do you want me to get to the gunwell?" "Yeah, I'm reading almost a hundred ships orbiting Baru." said Corran. Benja ran down to the gunwell. "Look, those must be those Raxor Destroyers the Shadowers use." said Jek, pointing to a ship. "I'm reading a couple Marauder Corvettes from the CSA, too. Sixteen VSDs from the PE, a couple of- those are Yvethan thrustships? Where'd the Red Syndicate get ahold of those?" "Everybody and their Wookie cousin's here, by the looks of it." said Banja over the intercom. "A couple CorSec ships just buzzed us." "How in Vader's name did they find out about this?" asked Jek. "I'm gonna download the news off the HoloNet." "Are those New Imp ships?" asked Corran. "We've got a Cosmic Standoff going." said Jek. "Nothing about it, but I got a message from Wedge. They're sending a fleet here." "Good, we could use one. How'd the NI get all the way in here? Everybody's ganging up on the NR." said Corran. "I dunno. Watch out for that Bothan corvette." said Jek. "Try and start the landing cycle." "Not gonna happen- there's a shield up." said Corran. A couple of Skipray type 6 Blastboats flew by, bearing the marks of the Bothan Defense Force. "Unidentified vessel, no-one is permitted to land. Failure to comply will result in destruction." said the lead Skipray. "This is Incom Y-4 Transport Plutor. This is Colonel Jek Veroon, NR Starfighter Command. We are bearing a member of the Contruumian Royal House. You are in no position to make demands or threats." said Jek. "Then perhaps you did not notice the shield? Try and get through. We operate under orders from Counciler Fey'lya himself. Do you wish to supersede his judgment?" "Negative." said Jek. "But have I ever told you about my sweet cousin-in-laws, the Solos? Or my cousin Skywalker? Look it up on your archives. You'll find I have much more influence than Fey'lya." "Transport Plutor, do not attempt to land, or you will be destroyed. This is your final warning." Jek turned to Corran. "Take us out, Horn. We'll have to try another approach." "Which one?" "Force." TO BE CONTINUED...