The Rebel Faction

The two men walked slowly taking in the sights of Gelgelar Free Port, the planet's largest city, that being the case it was not very impressive. A variety of alien species walked the wide paths of the starport, if you wandered very far from Free Port you would undoubtedly find yourself smack dab in the middle of some forsaken swamp. This was one of the many reasons that Gelgelar wasn't necessarily the bright center of the Galaxy.

Rade Mar turned and looked at his pupil for a moment as they continued to walk. Dev paid no attention as he watched the ships takeoff and land, fascinated the whole time. Dev Baskalar was a special student, Rade Mar smiled as he observed his youthful curiousity. Dev was 19 standard years old, he knew no father or mother. For all intents and purposes Rade Mar had raised him, both in life and in the Force.

He'd become quite attached to the young man who looked up to him and revered him so much. Yes Dev Baskalar was a special student indeed. Always attentive to his Master's words, always learning from his mistakes (of which there were many), and never straying from his course. Little did either know that that course was about to be turned on its side.

"Let us return to our quarters Dev."

Dev Baskalar nodded without hesitation. "Yes Master."

They continued on the short walk to their current "home", which itself was not very impressive. It consisted of a few bedrooms, a living space and a kitchenette along with a single refresher station. It was as much as they needed. Jedi after all were not material beings.

Shortly thereafter they arrived at their quarters. Dev came out of the refresher to find Master Mar sitting in the center of the somewhat small living space. His legs crossed and his eyes closed, he took slow deep breaths and exhaled slowly. Meditating. Perhaps he was trying to gain a clearer understanding of the disturbance which had alarmed him earlier.

Rade Mar was focused completely on the Force. His eyes shut tightly, his concentration was unbreakable. Oftentimes Dev Baskalar wondered what his Master experienced during his meditation sessions, which were frequent and could go on for hours. Sure Dev meditated frequently and he was able to reach out through the Force and sense disturbances and basically feel the fabric which was the Force. It was a feeling that couldn't be explained, it was like complete serenity.

And suddenly Rade Mar's eyes opened and it was as if the very source of his uneasiness had come to light. "I sense it Dev. Do you feel it?"

Dev did not, at least not yet. His ability in the Force was advanced for one of his status but it was something he typically had to focus on. It wasn't normally a passive ability.

Dev slowly closed his eyes, he reached out through the Force. It can't be explained how he reached out. He just did. He tapped into the Force, the difficult part was that he didn't know what he was looking for. He assumed that it was some type of disturbance however. And then just as he'd thought it, it had come to him, he too opened his eyes. A smile met his lips as he looked to his Master.

"I see, men. Aboard some sort of ship, I can't make it out perhaps a capital sized ship. They're headed to.. Gelgelar?" Dev asked thinking that his vision had not deceived him.

"You are correct my student. More specifically these men you see are Pirates."

An uneasy look came over Dev Baskalar's face. "Do you know how many of them there are Master?"

"Hard to tell, dozens, hundreds? It is uncertain. It is certain however that they are on a course for Gelgelar with intentions that one would not describe as "noble". We must alert the Gelgelar authorities at once."

Dev did not know exactly what this meant, he'd hoped the security force on Gelgelar were sufficient enough to keep these Pirates at bay. In reality however Dev knew that this was not going to be the case. For once, he had a bad feeling.

"Dev." Rade Mar said snapping his Apprentice out of his current state of confusion.

"Yes Master?"

"We've got to gather the people of Gelgelar and prepare them for war. If Gelgelar is to avoid certain disaster, we'll need as much help as we can get."

"Yes Master. Master... why are these pirates attacking with such force? This seems more the act of warmongers than of Pirates." Dev asked puzzled by the whole situation.

"That is a wise deduction Dev. It appears that there is much more than meets the eye. But now we must hurry, clear your mind of these burdens and focus on gathering a militia. We need everyone Dev."

"Yes Master."

"I'll prepare some surprises for our unwelcome visitors. Go now Dev, complete your task."

"Yes Master." With that Dev paused for a brief moment. He took in a deep breath and focused on the task at hand.

Rade Mar immediately parted company to begin his own mission.

Dev immediately went to meet with Captain Greggs. "Captain." Dev addressed him.

"Yes Master Jedi?" The Captain replied, Dev did not have the time to set the Captain straight and inform him that he was actually a Jedi Apprentice and not yet a full fledged Knight, let alone a Master. There were more important issues at hand.

"Do you have an armory? We need to arm your people and form a militia. GelgeSec forces alone will not be enough subdue their forces."

"Yes.. we've got a few of the new E-Web Heavy Blasters. We've got enough BlasTech E-15s and DL-44s to supply an army."

"Good Captain because that's exactly what we need to do. Have one of your men setup in the Armory and outfit the citizens with weapons. Do we have enough E-Webs to setup a perimeter around Freeport Captain say about 5 meters apart?"

"Yes... and then some Master Jedi."

"Good. Make it happen. I want you to setup a few supply convoys loaded with blaster rifles and pistols. Send them to all of the populated areas of Free Port and make sure that every able-bodied man, teenager, and volunteering woman gets a blaster rifle. Do you have any Blast-Dampening Armor Captain?"

"Yes in the armory. We'll arm the militia with Blaster Rifles and Armor then?"

"Yes Captain now we're on the same page."

"Get your men out immediately. Have them report directly to me in one hour. Give them my comlink frequency."

"Yes Master Jedi." The Captain tapped a few buttons into the computer terminal at his desk which showed the GelgeSec inventory. "I can dispatch 14 supply convoys within the half hour."

"Good. Load up those convoys ASAP. Have the militia meet right here. Captain time is a luxury we do not have."

"Yes Master Jedi."

And on that order Captain Greggs rushed to complete the tasks he'd been assigned. Dev was correct, they didn't have much time.

One Hour Later

It was here. The time was now. The battle was afoot.

A Corona-Class Frigate hung in space, a cadre of evil intentions.

The dropships spiraled out of the Frigate plotting a course for Gelgelar Free Port. As dozens of ships penetrated the stale atmosphere of Gelgelar, they were immediately met with volley after volley of anti-aircraft fire.

Beads of sweat were forming across Dev Baskalar's brow as the realization that war was upon him began to sink in. His palms became sweaty and his senses went dull. As ships crashed in the distance Dev didn't hear so much as an explosion as the battle played across in front of him in slow motion. And then in a split second it all snapped to life.

"AAAAAAAAHHH" Dev heard one of the soldiers scream as he sailed through the air undoubtedly to his death.

Without even thinking Dev unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and ignited it in one clean motion. He scanned the perimeter and immediately noticed that several of the ships were already unloading troops in the clearing just a few hundred meters away.

"Advance!!!" Dev screamed as he led a charge towards the dozens of pirates that were making their way towards Free Port.

He rushed forward as the GelgeSec Security Officers followed suit. With Jedi quickness Dev blazed forward watching the action unfold frame by frame. The pirates began to fire at will sending a barrage of crimson blaster bolts in Dev's direction. Gracefully Dev deflected blaster bolt after blaster bolt, sending more than a few of the pirates to the ground re-directing their own fire back at them.

Dev's eyes narrowed as he felt the rage of battle swell deep within him. He reached the spot where the pirates were lodging their attack, the GelgeSec Officers were at least 50 meters behind him, but it didn't matter. Dev needed no backup. He needed no aid. All he needed was to feel his blade lay waste to his enemies.

They drew fire upon Dev Balaskar as quickly as they could muster their fingers to pull the respective triggers but it was of no use. It was as if Dev saw their actions before they themselves had contemplated the next move. Dev's lightsaber danced across the field of battle in an emerald green frenzy as pirates' heads were separated from their shoulders, and limbs separated from their bodies. Dev struck with a relentless rage that struck fear into the hearts of the remaining pirates as they stood their helpless to defend themselves against Dev Baskalar's need for destruction.

The battle had begun, but it was far from over.

<b>Aboard a small shuttle headed slowly towards Free Port</b>

"I don't have to tell you what would happen if you were to fail, <i>do I</i>?" The deep voice penetrated the silence, the faint sound of blaster fire looming in the background.

This wasn't a yes-or-no question. The cloaked figure nodded slightly, his cowled face consumed in shadow.

He peered through the viewport, <b>chaos</b> all around. His eyes widened as he mounted the speeder bike which would deploy shortly.

"Do not fail me my apprentice." The final words were spoken, now it was time for action.

The rear doors of the shuttle opened slowly. <b>Darth Yang</b> seated in the speeder bike kick-started the vehicle with a single motion, the engine began to rumble. The vehicle began to hover and slowly back into the rear of the vehicle where it would exit into the planet Gelgelar.

Soon the Sith would face the Jedi, violence was coming, it was inevitable.

Their blades met with crackling thunder, Yang pressed forward gritting his teeth.

With a brief burst of summoned strength, Yang surged forward knocking Rade Mar back just enough to expose him for a brief moment. A brief moment was more than enough time for the Sith to backflip, sending a booted foot into Rade Mar's chin as the Sith retreated backwards.

The Jedi's head was knocked backwards as his mouth met Darth Yang's foot, his mouth closed tightly as the bottom of his jaw met the top. As quickly as he'd suffered the blow, he'd recovered, blood flowing out the left side of his mouth down his chin.

He raised his lightsaber to his side as he closed the distance on the Sith. He stepped forward slowly as the Sith stood there waiting. With a rapid series of motions he lurged forward with a high, arcing swing of his lightsaber, followed by a jabbing blow to his left before one final swing attempting to take the Sith's legs out from under him. Each attack was parried with ease by the Sith saberist, the final attack dodged by a quick jump by Darth Yang which ended with Yang's right foot once again meeting Rade Mar's left cheek.

Upon landing, Yang followed with a quick diagonal swing towards Rade Mar's left shoulder which was instead met with the emerald blade of the Jedi Master. Rade Mar batted the blade down to his right and immediately answered with a sweeping counterattack which would attempt to remove Darth Yang's head from his shoulders. The Sith leaned back at his waist, the blade screaming just above him as he narrowly missed the attack. Using his own momentum he propelled his body backwards, flipping back to his feet.

<center>***</center>

Dev Baskalar waded through the carnage in search of his Master, he knew that he wasn't far from Rade Mar, he could <i>feel</i> it.

Then in the distance he saw it, the flurry of lightsaber blades in combat. Dev ran with all the speed he could muster, he had to do all he could to help Rade Mar.

<i>Sith? Here?</i>

As Dev Baskalar got closer he saw the two engaged furiously, Rade Mar's face somewhat beaten and bloody. As Dev got closer he saw that Rade Mar was in trouble. He had to hurry or it would be too late. As Dev got closer he shouted eagerly, "MASTER!!!"

Distracted by his Padawan's call, Rade Mar averted his attention to see Dev Baskalar running towards him in the distance, his lightsaber at the ready.

In the millisecond it took him to acknowledge his apprentice's safety, Dev's call had spelled disaster for his master. Rade Mar turned his head back to face his attacker, his head slumped forward, lifeless. Darth Yang's lightsaber had pierced his heart and exited through his back.

With a flick of the switch, Yang extinguished the blade of his lightsaber, returning the cerulean torch to its hilt. With a crooked smile Darth Yang watched as Rade Mar's eyes closed for the last time. The Jedi Master, now a corpse, fell to his knees and not a moment later fell forward, face-first into the swamp.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Dev Baskalar shouted as he saw his Master's life come to an end.

Darth Yang clipped his lightsaber to his belt nonchalantly as his gaze met that of Dev Baskalar. A small shuttle emerged, hovering above the scene of the battle. Darth Yang flashed a brief smile at Dev before leaping several meters into the air, boarding the shuttle in the process which soon after disappeared into the atmosphere.

Dev could not believe what he had just seen, in a moment his life had changed. His dear Master, Rade Mar, was dead. Dev fell to his knees, <i>if only he'd gotten here sooner</i>.

<b>To be continued...</b>