01.03 : The Light Begins to Dim

[22 BBY]

[Executive Security Solutions Combat Freighter Stormcrow, In Transit to Eriadu]

I sat within my protective wards and meditated upon the Force. This was one of the few places in the galaxy that I could indulge such things so blatantly, this room on my private deck on the Stormcrow was my own little quasi-faraday cage of the force. Runes and sigils flared to life in intricate patterns all around illuminating the unlit darkness of the hold as I closed my eyes and merely focused on studying the energy burning around me with my Force-senses. Cold calm was settled upon me by my alchemy prior to this, a necessity when dealing with such as the holocron as it clicked faintly, opening up and pulsing in dark energies.

"Ah, it seems my young apprentice has returned once again for my sage advice" her voice and shadowy robed figure forming from the mists that came from seemingly nothingness before me. A sliver of what once lived, but not truly alive....for now at least; such things were dangerous for what was alive and what was non-sentient memories could change with effort and intent. So I ruthlessly controlled any such capacity as well as the risk of such usage being revealed to the rest of the Galaxy; that led to me being hunted mercilessly by the Jedi Order, or a certain Hidden Sith Lord sending assassins my way.

"Your knowledge of the Force to be more accurate Shade..." I replied without opening my eyes but watching every flicker of power from the energy emanating from the holocron. It was always dangerous to make use of the thing, a slow and painful at times path of forcing the device to reveal its secrets....the truth rather than the lies it so willingly divulged "...as always. Sith advice on many subjects is less than ideal help I find in the historical record, as I have mentioned before"

How self-aware the holocron programme actually was....was debatable, as it was part spirit, part AI, part Force entity. It mimicked the previous reactions of its creator as best I could tell, but could loop or glitch at matters 'beyond its programming' so to speak. No matter my corrections it seemed to consider me its apprentice, and it wasted valuable time to argue against such so I focused on making the most productive use of my time as was possible. Forcing the holocron into a materialisation, along with my protections and ensuring I could discern half-truths from outright lies were taxing after all.

"True that soon strayed and lost control, too fall. Such a quiet thing, but terrible in its way..." the spectral shadow replied, delaying as ever "...but caution holds you back, prevents growth, and leads to apathy"

"No, caution is sometimes needed, sometimes not, but with a Sith holocron we've firmly established caution and lack of trust are the starting points of learning. If I do not trust the Force, the Light Side as some call it, then I will not trust in the Dark Side nor its users without consideration on the repercussions of such either. It would not be wise, nor healthy, to simply jump for the easiest path to power when it could be a trap" I answered coldly, certainly, martially my power and control the room that was the entire universe right now "...Now, Shade, you delay yet again, Sith Magic as it is called is the path I desire you to inform me off...."

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[Several Hours Later]

[Executive Security Solutions Combat Freighter Stormcrow, In Transit to Eriadu]

B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob noted the change in environment as the secure doors opened{Primary: Alpha Exiting Area [Access Denied] Stormcrow/Protection Routines 17 through 26 reinitialized}

"Bob, Betty, training programme Theta-Iota-Nine please. Engage on my Mark"

Primary: Alpha commanded striding forward into the ring clad in full combat armour, helmet secured for further protection. B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob and its counterpart B-6/934A/3 Codename Betty moved now in response to the command. Primary: Alpha stood waiting, training lightsaber coming into the right hand and activating in a yellow corona of energy to B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob's optical sensors.

{System Activation: Shackles 3 through 5 disengaged/Memory Drive Secondary-Beta Access Granted/Generator output increasing 15.4562%/Non-Lethal Combat Measures Engaged}

Increased power and computing power, at the cost of increased energy requirements, surged through B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob as it too drew out a training lightsaber from the wall bracket and adopted a combat stance. Two Combat Training Spheres {CTS} rose under its command, as did two more under the control of B-6/934A/3 Codename Betty as two blades of energy ignited in the armoured training space. Primary: Alpha activated Energy: Force optics indicated....

"Execute"

{Activation: Combat Mode TI9}

Lowering its right hand B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob shoot a stunner bolt towards Primary: Alpha as 6/934A/3 Codename Betty braced and then jumped forward as the four CTS's fired smaller blasts. Unlike the previous two engagements Primary: Alpha activated a [Force Usage: Telekinetic Blast] against them as it moved, dodging the blasts and destabilising the footing of 6/934A/3 Codename Betty. B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob activated its servomotors in its legs and moved forward at maximum speed to engage Primary: Alpha before it could eliminate the other combat droid. Previous Engagements indicated elimination of allied units proven significantly detrimental to combat performance versus Primary: Alpha.

{Block Encountered/Counter Encountered/Activation Ataru-6}

Lightsabers moved in a flurry of blows as Primary: Alpha continued on a aggressive combat stance, driving back B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob with each blow. Then a boot made contact with B-6/934A/2 Codename Bob's chest plate and the unit was send to slam back into bulkhead of the wall behind it. Through its optical sensors it noted 6/934A/3 Codename Betty engage Primary: Alpha in combination with its two CTS units only for [Force Usage: Chain Lightning] drove them backwards. 6/934A/3 Codename Betty was undamaged [sub and primary system insulation successful] and soon both units were exchanging blows with....

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[One Day Later]

[Executive Security Solutions Combat Freighter Stormcrow, Docked Republic Consular-cruiser Echoes of the Abyss]

'Well great...job's for the oxymoron known as Republic Intelligence' I thought with mild irritation and concern as I stood in full armour, helmet sealed, as I watched the unknown cargo being loaded about my Stormcrow. Each of our ships would be similarly filled one after another with what I assumed were weapons of some sort judging by the covert nature of this assignment. Oh there was an official manifest, and route plan, but this was very much one of ORSF's and the Tarken's 'black' jobs it seemed...or they were fronting for RI more accurately with yet another layer of lies.

'Major Hasten' with the thick Coruscanti accent was a Bothan, and that was an odd one to find working with the human-centric Eriaduans...but then again so were we. Though we were classified as 'near human' as we were merely green-skinned with slightly pointed ears and that got some minor tolerate compared to the more bestial to humans nature of Bothans and other aliens. Then again the ORSF and the Tarkin's were also fanatically loyal to the Republic, and this was clearly an off the books Republic helping its fanatical Republicans sort of situation like where the ORSF got it's warships from over the years till Palpatine stepped into reduce it somewhat. My suit synthesised voice broke the momentary silence.

"There are no other mission details I need to be made aware of?"

"No. Officially you will continue to Naboo and collect your package and escort to Coruscant with stop in Christophsis to take on supplies. Unofficially you will deliver these packages under cover of the assignment to the location and individuals detailed. Primary payment has been made, secondary upon Christophsis, and bonus upon arrival Coruscant"

"Understood, though I will stress your personal will not be allowed entrance to anywhere other than the cargo hold and their cabins"

'Major Hasten' merely nodded "If they attempt to do anything beyond guard the packages I will shoot them myself. Your organisation will merely ensure prompt and safe delivery. The Senator and her escort are not to know that any further activities are occurring during her trip"

'Well isn't this great, I'm guessing a diplomatic mission as cover for gunrunning to pro-Republic groups on Christophsis. All without the permission of the Chancellor apparently....good and bad that that is if true' I thought to myself return to immobile silence. Nothing was ever simple out here, and this matter indicated that things were going to kick off very soon based on my 'summoned memories' on Geonosis.

Oh, and it was back into the lion's den of the Core just in time for said kick off if things went along as I expected; good and bad again, but that was life lately of course. The greatest difficulty of course was ensuring this contract got pull off without a hitch, while also ensuring it wasn't a trap of somewhat. All the contract work had us covered unless we got captured or blown up, so legally we should be fine; didn't mean there wasn't an ambush somewhere along the way.

So that meant we'd have to vary the route off the normal path at combat speed....costly, but less costly than getting nailed along the way by some Sidious or Dooku lackey. Or perhaps even worse, because it'd be embarrassing by our trade, by a large pirate band of some sort and bad luck. More planning and scheming to do with my fellow Captain for the next few hours looked like...

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[22 BBY]

[Executive Security Solutions Combat Freighter Stormcrow, In Transit, Corellian Run Trade Route]

"...just be glad she's not on the damned ship" I finished sitting back, relaxing a moment, as Yulan sat across from me at the table "Peace and Pacifism is awesome, not like you icky mean-bad mercenaries. You kill people you monsters"

"She didn't say that now Boss, did she?"

"Not those exact words no, but basically that's the translation of her very polite and smug condescension" I replied to my aid and Executive Officer onboard the Stormcrow. It was a shame I didn't bring Shmi on this mission, but that would have required knowing I was to be stuck with Naboo's favourite daughter and Anakin's favourite lady on her way to Coruscant. Thankfully she had, and thank the heavens was on, her own shiny bullseye of a ship with six Naboo star-fighters in tight formation around it.

We were the real escort with our frigate and four armed heavy freighters, but she did not want us about and generally frowned upon our existence. Anakin had terrible taste in women apparently, at least judging from the three brief security meetings I'd been forced to endure with Princess Smug and Annoying. One of which was keeping the nosy royal and now Senator away from our delivering...whatever it was...to those scruffy looking fellows with the Republic banners all around their clubhouse. Thankfully she didn't like me much either and had practically ran off to meet Senator Organa who was on Christophsis for his own reasons and was now also with us in his shiny moving bullseye.

'Sooner we get to Coruscant the better' I thought playing my winning hand of Sabbac, causing Yulan and Tarbat to curse and whine. No cheating with the Force here, bad for morale, and I saved it for when I wanted to win pots in games with those not in ESS or Republic Express. Force usage had to be kept to an absolute minimum for security reasons, and I'd put a lot of effort into covering up the fact I was a former Jedi. It wasn't like the Temple told the Republic authorities...

...thank the Force for the Jedi Orders' superiority complex for once...

...that I had been a padawan who'd left. Embarrassing that was, and why warn law enforcement of a potential force user wandering about when the Jedi could arbitrarily enforce the law themselves after all?

"I guess we'll be contract hunting when we get there?"

I shrugged in response to my senior squad commander as I pulled my small pot of winnings towards me "Maybe, I reckon we'll be getting work, alot of work, pretty soon, things are blowing up across the Outer and Mid Rim by all reports. What happened back in Solem isn't an isolated event let's say"

Truth be told I'd been the holo-net with the other Board Members since we'd done the actual 'unofficial' job about persuading a series of arms purchases coming into the Core. Events were about to kick off, and I needed to get ahead of the sudden and sharp price jump that was going to happen in terms of weapons. Some for ourselves, but a large chunk for resale to the Republic if we could manage it...though I'd only gotten about two-thirds of what I'd wanted. It'd been enough, especially since we'd freed up funds for another ship after what we were being paid by Not Republic Intelligence..