Far edge of the Vendaxa System

[Jalua Solast]

(Previous post)

Jalua walked off the transport and into the hanger bay of the medium-sized cruiser. Jaya had gone back to sleep, unaware seemingly of the risk they had been subject to. With the JRF keeping aware of any risks, weapons in hand but pointed down, the group continued from the far-end of the hanger towards the exit into the ship where they would no doubt meet whoever was commanding the ship. The Black Moon had really proven itself lately to be a dedicated force, and had assisted Jalua and Dan too many times to count. Although Admiral Price wasn't a huge fan of the "militia" has he called it, he did admit it had it's uses. Right now, they were yet again proving themselves to be very loyal and extremely useful in bad situations.

[Dan Zorko]

Don was still moving point with the Empress and her party when the turbolift doors opened and a squad of REAPERs came out, following a tall mid-aged man, Admiral Thomas of the 8th Scout Force. The REAPERs immediatly leveled their weapons at the group. Don threw himself in front of their line of fire and activated his shields. "REAPERs, stand down!" he yelled. "What is going on?!" The Thomas pointed at the Empress. "By the order of the Coalition, you are all under arrest! Drop your weapons!" Don was genuinely confused by this point. "The order of the Coalition? What are you talking about?! You're an Admiral Black Moon!" Thomas shook his head. "Zorko is dead, and Clemence ordered that we merge with Coalition forces." Thomas pointed at the Empress. "And the Admirality informed us of an imposter who kidnapped the princess, and is traveling with you!" Don leveled his OS-15 rifle at the Admiral. "Zorko is not dead, and I still lead the REAPERs. Under the order of the Black Moon, YOU are under arrest. REAPERs!" 2 REAPERs grabbed Admiral Thomas, and dragged him back into the turbolift. "No!" Thomas yelled. "Arrest them! Arrest them!" His yelling cut off as the doors to the turbolift closed.

"Status report?" he asked the remaining troops. "Sir. The Coalition reported that there was an attack by pirate forces on the MCAV. They also reported that the 6th Special Forces had jumped in to help, but were destroyed, along with the MCAV, taking Grand Admiral Zorko and Price. The Coalition Admirality suggested we merge, not only to unite under hard times, but to strengthen both our territory and Navies. Admiral Clemence accepted, and Black Moon and it's forces were absorbed into the Coalition. The Admirality also claimed the Princess was kidnapped with your help, and took some Coalition ships with them. Personally, the REAPERs never believed it, so we were waiting for you to reappear. Is the Grand Admiral dead?" Don shook his head. "No, we've been in contact with Admiral Price. He said that the 6th jumped, but there must be a reason they haven't been in contact. Follow me to the bridge."

The group went up the turbolift and entered the bridge, where the bridge crew gaped at them. The REAPERs leveled their weapons at them. "Now hear this!" said Don. "This ship is now under my control, by Black Moon authority. The Grand Admiral is NOT dead, along with the Empress." When the crew saw her, their faces hardened, realizing that they had been tricked by the Coalition Admirality. "Sir, should I patch you in toAdmiral Clemence so you can relay the news?" Don shook his head. "No, maintain silence for now. We don't want Coalition ships homing in on us. My tracer is still on, and it's only able to be picked up by the Talons Revenge, so we stay here for now. The Talons Revenge was traveling with the 6th Special Forces, so they should have a fix on us and be on their way with the Grand Admiral. Plus, seeing how this group is only equipped with scout craft, and this is a Venator-Class Star Destroyer, it would be foolish to try to do anything yet. We wait for the Grand Admiral."

As the crew went back to their work, Don turned to the Empress. "Seeing as this ship is now evidently Coalition territory for now, I believe you are in charge, ma'am." He saluted. "I personally recommend we wait for the Grand Admiral. He most definetly would have picked up on my locator by now, and be coming with reinforcements."

[Jalua Solast]

Jalua shook her head, "Your the highest ranking officer here, your in command, not me" she said firmly, making sure that no misinterpretation could be held. Jalua might have been married to Dan but she still held firm in her beliefs that command was earned, not gained through title or connections. With a sudden moment of silence, she turned to Don and said in clear terms, inadvertently allowing all the crew to hear; "We choose our own path from here. Our enemy is now bound in chains, unable to have the freedom of movement we enjoy. Like a disease, we shall spread throughout space and infect our truth amongst our own. If we lose this battle, their truth will become the truth. We shall drive our name deep into the heart of our opposer's, fear will bind them together, clusters of injustice. They will become sealed by the four walls which surround them, living at our mercy". She was silent for a few moments and a few of the crew was trying to come to sense with her ramblings. Although to some, she appeared to be barking mad, she was however no doubt the bumbling idiot which had ruled the Coalition. "Tell Dan to sit back and wait" she said, speaking directly to Don. "I will go and gather our allies, we shall see their true faces when they see me alive. Jaya will be safe enough here until a place if found where she can be hidden. Until then, she would be at risk if we fought the Coalition head on. We should sit in silence and give our enemies a false sense of security and achievement. When we finally strike, we will be unstoppable".

[Dan Zorko]

"Sir! Ships coming out of hyperspace! It appears to be the 6th Speci- by the force..." The crewman on the comms cut short in awe. The 6th appeared to be a mess. About only 3/4 of the ships appeared to be remaining, with almost none of them escaping without some form of damage. The Talons Revenge appeared to have taken a whole slew of damage, with holes visible all along the hull, and blaster scars everywhere. One of the hangar bays seemed to have been completely fused shut by a well placed blaster bolt, and only 2 of the engines were working. Only about 1/4 of the turbolasers appeared to be tracking also, and even those were sluggish. "Sir... Incoming hail..." said the crewman on the comm. "This is the T...enge to...lack Moon ships in the are...and Admiral Zorko. Comms shot, face to face m...vised, sending transports." Don turned to the Empress. "Well, I guess you can tell him yourself."

With that, the 6th Special Forces released several CAMELOT gunships with TIE Defender escorts. As the group made it's way to the hangar, the transports landed, and a pair of MCAV REAPERS disembarked, quickly scanning around the bay with their rifles. Upon sighting Don and the Empress, they immedietly snapped up their weapons and tossed a curt "Clear!" into the gunships before stepping aside. Dan stepped out with the assistance of a walking stick. His side was heavily bandaged, and his arm was in a sling. "Jalua." he said somberly. "I am glad you're alright."

[Jalua Solast]

"I'm always alright, but you need to rest" She said walking towards her husband and his band of bodyguards. "So, I have a present for you". Jalua slowly lowered the hood which was helping Jaya to sleep with the bright lights of the warship. "Since you will be out of action for a while, you can look after her while I get to the business of who's throats to slice". In the corner of the doorway, Talia was defiantly stood, the only sound was the doors trying to shut, detecting her, and pulling back every few seconds. "Price is going to run distraction by shouting out his got Jaya. They will be hunting all over the sector for him, but his already making his way to the border. Other than the fact that your fleet seems to have joined the renegades, it should be easy enough work until we get to Mandalore". Talia moved over slightly to let Lauren and a few other JRF get into the hanger bay but didn't say anything else. Lauren did however, "Since Dan's Reapers, are here, we're free to help you out" she said smugly, knowing exactly what her sister dreaded the most. "Don't you dare" Jalua said, building up anger has she spun around to face her interfering sister. "Stop me" Lauren said with a smile and turned her head back to Talia, "Mandalore you say?". Jalua gave a warning glare to Talia who was smiling herself, well out of harms way. "I'll talk to YOU later" she said back to Lauren before walking the last few steps to Dan. "Get yourself sorted out and that arm fixed for when I get back, I'll end this quickly".

[Dan Zorko]

Dan shook his head. "That's your problem. When YOU get back YOU'LL end this quickly. "YOU'LL be cutting throats. You forget that there's more than you, Jalua. We have what's left of these fleets. And I know they're ready to rip some heads." A few troops standing nearby nodded. He propped the walking stick against his leg and took Jaya with his free hand, who was still asleep. ""We've been so busy making jumps, I haven't been able to get to a bacta tank. But once I do, I'll be joining you in this throat cutting since it may be that Mando territory is the safest place for Jaya right now."

Don came over. "Sir, if I may, when we arrived, it appeared that the troops had little to no understanding of what was actually happening. So from what I can tell, A) Clemence was duped by the Coalition Admirality also, or B) The Admirality has joined the coup." Dan nodded. "I concour. I was knocked unconcious during the fighting to escape the MCAV, so we were unable to send any messages, and we lost long range communications due to the damage." "So should we send out an alert?" said Don. "No." said Dan. "If the BM Admirality HAS joined the coup, we want to stay hidden for now. When the time is right we will show our hand."

[Jalua Solast]

"Agreed" Jalua said, referring to Dan's observation of keeping quiet. "We will find out who was behind this by observing and poking where we aren't wanted. Those who help are going to be the ones we can trust, the ones who believe we can no longer do anything are the ones to target. I have no intention of returning to power where I'm constantly looking over my back for the next Admiral looking for revenge". Jalua then looked straight at Dan, a lot more fierce in her voice now. "It's all very well having a fleet at your disposal but they will see us coming and I won't have people die because they don't know the truth. The best thing we can do is let rumours go around that there is a heir to the throne alive. That will panic the people involved and raise expectations amongst the population. Those involved will no doubt be in contact with each other, then we will have a rough list on who is involved. Using the fleet at this stage would alert them and would be suicide for us once our fleets were found. When people are questioning the Admiral's claims, then we shall appear with our fleet at full strength and overnight the Coalition and Black Moon will be ready to follow our commands. When we distribute a list of traitors, our officers will lead the arrests against those within the forces. Those who was assisting them without a position of command can be the target of our special forces, from there we will find out who else was involved and begin tracking them down. That is the best way forward, but until then we need to make sure Jaya is safe because she is now a target. Go to Mandalore with Jaya and your fleet, it will be safer for everyone there. I will give us the opening we need. I know what I am doing, it is safer if I do this alone".

It was at this point Talia finally walked forwards and properly joined in on the debate. "The problem is that your methods aren't going to be subtle, you shouldn't be thinking of revenge. If no one else, take me with you. At least then there will be people left to arrest". Jalua gave Talia a look of pure vengeance, "No" she stated simply. "I'm going to get my things ready, nothing is going to change my mind so don't bother".

[Dan Zorko]

Dan frowned, then nodded. "Go. I'll use whats left of these fleets to make sure Jaya stays safe for the time being. If you run into trouble, we may not be able to give much assistance aside from fighter support, seeing how I won't be able to get the ships repaired unless the Mandos give us use of their repair facilities." He handed Jaya off to Don, who was still standing nearby, and seemed to have taken a special attraction to Jaya. "Take whatever you need. What I have left may not be much, but still useful."

[Jalua Solast]

Jalua shook her head at first, an instant reaction to say she didn't need anything but then stopped. "Take the fleet to Mandalore, you will find out if you can use their facilities and Jaya will get to safety quicker. I'll work with KnightFire to find whoever said we was dead. If they managed to broadcast that, they can do the same with a message of my choosing". Jalua began to walk towards the exit and indicated with her hand for Lauren to follow.

Lauren did follow Jalua, who was silent for a few minutes has they walked through a maze of corridors. Eventually, Jalua found a small room she had been given where her backpack was located. Fetching a grey robe out and placing it over her armour, a gift from the Mandalorians, she slung the backpack onto her back and finally spoke. "I need to do this alone. I won't be in any danger because they won't know I'm coming. I'll be safe and quiet enough anyway. But since I know there is no other way at keeping you from following me, stalk my ship. If I'm in trouble, you'll be close enough to help. We leave in a couple of hours". With that, Jalua left herself no room to negotiate and walked around Lauren and out of the room for the last time. She would spend the following few hours near the coolant systems of the warship where it was dark and quiet. Using a simple torch, she would begin cleaning her weapons, assembling her gear and preparing herself for a few long days.

[Dan Zorko]

Dan hobbled over to the turbolift, which brought him to the bridge. He emerged with Don still carrying Jaya in tow. The crewmen all turned and stared as he walked in. As he made his way over to the captains chair, the sound of someone clapping was heard from somewhere on the bridge. Soon, otthers joined in, until the whole bridge crew was in wild applause. Dan raised his hand for silence. When the noise died down, he said "Contact the Talons Revenge. Tell her to set a random jump closer to the Mando territory, and then dump it into the navcomps of the rest of the fleets." Don came closer to Dan. "Sir, we should get you into a bacta tank ASAP. We need to go back to the Talons Revenge." Dan shook his head. "No. We'll do it as soon as the Empress is sent off. I don't want to miss it." Don nodded. "As you wish."

As soon as the course was plotted, the ships hit hyperspace.