The Rebel Faction

Kenshin stood at the bridge beside Radon. The young man held a calm expression, his brow furrowed in concentration with prospect of battle.

However on the inside, he was itching with nervousness. He was the leader of the Royal Phalanx Guard Corps. A job that involved security formations and guard troops.

A job associated very little with warships.

So why the hell was he at the head of the Tholatin Fleet? He felt that he was only starting to get used to his position as Major of the Guards and here he was. In a totally new environment.

Though he would be giving the final commands, Radon was probably in a better position to lead the Fleet. The thought of transfering all authority to him brushed his mind.

However, Kamon wouldn't put him in the position if he didn't think he was capable. Kenshin decided he was here because he was himself.

Well then. I suppose I'll think like me and let Radon think like a Fleet Admiral.

Kenshin meditated as he tried to calm himself. The Fleet floated quietly through deep space.

Jan smiled, as the ships flew forward at the newly arrived enemy Victory Star Destroyers.

"Sir, incoming message from the Mon Calamari ships, we are to attack their Carrack Cruisers. They are sending over the MC-40, Fish Mans' Delight to help out."

"Excellent. All ships, concentrate all fire on the two Carrack Cruisers that just arrived. Fighters, stay in close, away from their Lancer Frigates. If the Lancer come in, I want Freedom and Fish Mans' Delight to move out and neutralize them. All fighters, I want you to stay close to Freedom, unless the Lancer Frigates move in. Freedom, all laser cannons, fire on their fighters immediatly. Fighters, try to get targeting locks on them, and fire with linked salvos of missiles. Nebulon-B2 Frigates, assault the first Carrack Cruiser. Fish Mans' Delight, assault the second Carrack Cruiser."

Jan Dondana was surprised by the tactic the Mon Calamari Commander had shown. Why would he turn to destroy the newly arrived fleet, when he had enough power to destroy both fleets at once.

"Commander of the Mon Calamari Republic Military, if I may, I have a suggestion. Leave your Imperial Star Destroyers assaulting the enemy Victory Star Destroyers, they can deal with them. Take your MC-90 Star Cruiser and your three Nebulon-B2 Frigates out to assault his Defender Star Destroyer, while your two MC-40 Star Cruisers destroy the two Carrack Cruisers with that fleet. Meanwhile I can move my Interdictor Cruiser and the MC-40 Star Cruiser you have so kindly put under my command to destroy his three Lancer Frigates, which aren't effective at all against capital ships. Meanwhile my two Nebulon-B2 Frigates will wipe these two Carrack Cruisers out. All our fighters could go against any fighter threat that presents itself, while 50 MC-10 Starfighters protect the planet from any of these Hex Missiles."

Jan waited, this was a much better strategy then what was currently being executed.

OOC:Hint, hint, wink, wink, knudge, knudge Dolash.

What was he doing? Perhaps his brother's capture and eventual death had left him leaderless. Perhaps it was the knowledge he had obtained of his true origins. Perhaps learning of who he really was somehow effected who he had become. Perhaps he just felt it right. Or, perhaps.. he just needed someone to follow.

Whatever Meschi's reasons for choosing to side with Lord Voltimas, he had. Now he had taken a small craft from the ship he had been commanding, under his true name of Palpatine, to his Lord's flagship. It was, of course, odd that he chose to follow someone so less advanced in the ways of the Force than himself. However, he had chosen this path and now he would see his work done.

Upon reaching the hangar bay he was met by his Lord, Voltimas, and instructed that they would be boarding two of the TIE Shadows and flying, under cloak, to the flagship of the Chiss. There they would make their way to the bridge and meet with their leader.

"It should, if nothing else, be interesting." Voltimas had said, without a hint of emotion in his voice.

The two roared out of the docking bay, already under cloak, and flew strait through the raging battle until they reached the open bay of the Chiss flagship. Once inside close enough, the cut all power to the ships, but left them under cloak. Meschi used his powers of telekinesis to float the two fighters into a pair of rear, and obviously unused, docking clamps.

Finally, with a little bit of Force distraction, they exited their fighters and began to make their way through the ship. Silent, undetected, they moved swiftly.

The time was coming for a meeting of great minds.

Silent, unseen, it was the crackling of the cigarra as she inhaled the smoke through the filter that finally drew attention to herself. Pale smoke wafted past her rosey lips, a cruel smile curling at the corners, and she dropped the remains of the finished cigarra to the deck of the bridge. The tip of her stilletto boots snuffed out the embers as she spoke.

" So focussed on a single task you forget to search for those hidden," chocolate brown eyes looked to Fearsons from between long, delicate eyelashes. " Tsk, tsk, such a careless oversight by the man that would be the hero today, wouldn't you say so Daddy?"

Arai's eyes never looked away from Fearsons though her hand snapped out in a guesture toward Xilen and the Pefauna that held him. " You can let him go now," her voice dripped with such venomous hate that it was no surprise that the Pefauna were flung back away from the Chiss Emperor.

" And I believe this is yours," Arai's hand moved to point toward Xilen's fallen saber and it shot toward him an instant later, " My Lord."

The transition from hyperspace to realspace was bumpy; that much Gash Jiren had become acustomed to. After a litany of battles against everything from the Yuuzhan Vong, to the Jedi, to the Sith, to the Empire, to Grand Admiral Thrawn, he had become quite used to the various effects that the gravitational fluxes of combat had on hyperspace travel.

It had, to some degree, become almost a sign of comfort for the Rogue Jedi Master. Regardless of the eccentricities of politicians and the meglomaniacy of warlords, battle was always the same: somebody won, somebody lost.

The Marauder Corvette Hermes laced its way through an initial volley of laser fire, not likely directed at it but simply the leftovers of space warfare flowing out beyond the perimeter of the fight. The ship's gravitational systems bucked and heaved in an attempt to compensate with the sudden movement, but Gash Jiren and Kasien Treseda sat rather calmly nonetheless.

"Intel says that our friend is on the Defender Star Destroyer," Kasien said, as much to the bridge crew of the Hermes as to Gash. "I suggest you head for it."

"Your orders are entirely unnecessary, sir, as is your tone." One of the Cobra-Omega Battledroids, rigidly manning a console, replied.

Kasien looked warily at Gash. "You ready?"

Gash smiled slightly, almost half-heartedly, and remarked, "Aren't I always?"

Kasien nodded, retrieving his blaster from his belt and removing the safety, seeming to examine it although he'd possessed the sidearm for nearly ten years and it was as familiar to him as the feeling of his own hand attached to his arm.

The hiss of hydraulics sounded behind the two men, and the metallic click-click of durasteel on durasteel followed, as D31 -- the advanced, sentient leader of the Cobra droids that served in the Rogue Jedi Order -- strode onto the bridge. "If you two are coming, stop playing grab-ass with one another and get moving."

Kasien looked even more warily at Gash, this time. "You didn't say he was coming."

D31 barked a reply at Kasien, detailing his father's sundry sexual deviances in saltier language than most beings had ever heard a droid use. Gash shrugged. "I said, ten droids. I didn't say which ones."

"One minute until we board that Defender," D31's metallic voice said, gruffly. "Let's move it," He fixed his cybernetic eyes, complete with a red optical scope linked to his rifle, on Kasien. "Now."

Kasien grunted and headed for the doorway, passing D31 by entirely without speaking to him. As Gash followed him, the droid turned and said, "You have asinine taste in friends, Jiren."

Looking down at the droid he'd created many years ago to lead a sentient army of robotic soliders, Gash replied, "I agree completely."

Minutes later, the Hermes had suction-sealed itself to the hull of the Spirit of Csilla, and blasted its way inside.