The sun had just barely begun to rise when Donovin entered the throne room within The Black Dragon Empire. It was part of the man's daily ritual that he entered the chamber to cleanse himself of the previous day's impurities.

He moved to sit within the center of the chamber, quickly crossing his legs in front of him as he sat down, arms stretched out before him with his palms facing up. He took in a deep breath and then closed his eyes.

It was in his moment of silence and complete emptiness that his mind began to drift off to a world unknown to him. There was something that seemed to call out to him, beckoning him to probe what he was seeing, more deeply. His curiosity, despite seeing this new world in vast detail within his mind, overwhelmed him.

Questions proceeded throughout his mind. The answers to such questions, he knew, could not be found, at least not yet.

He could see demolished land all around, scattered with ancient rubble of what he assumed was the structure of that of a castle. None of the structures looked anything alike, each having their own special significance.

This new land called to him for a reason. He knew it so, for his god walked in the moment his green eyes came to open once again.

He looked eyes with the figure he knew very little about, yet still worshiped. How could he worship a man that he did not know? Simple, he knew what the man stood for. He stood for something that Joel hoped to one day become.

His god was his mentor, as was his goddess.

Joel stood at once, bowing before the man. He moved to leave the room when the taller man stopped him, cutting him off within his steps.

"My Lord?"

Joel's gaze tried to comprehend the other man's gaze, but to no avail. He admired his god's ability to betray nothing of his thoughts or feelings. Mysterious eyes.

Swiftly yet smoothly the taller man reached into the hidden parts of his garments, his right hand becoming hidden for a brief few seconds.

The movements of his god flowed easily together; the Lord's timing was always precise, as if he always thought about what he was doing before hand. Calculated movements.

The Lord's right hand returned to Joel's view, and just as it did so, an object represented itself into the Lord's hand. The object was firmly grasped, curled within his large strong fist as it firmly held onto the item.

The object was much too big to even have a place within the Lord's garments.

Joel knew the item had to have come from elsewhere, but he knew not where. Only the Lord knew.

The god twirled the item between his hands, rotating it before him, as if testing its usefulness. After a moment, he handed the object to Joel.

As Joel took the object, the two man's hands touched briefly and it was then that Joel felt the power of his god, but only for a minute second.

His eyes widened for a second after the quick moment of contact, and he found himself taking a step back.

The Lord had startled him.

He quickly tried to recover from his movements, stepping back in place again as he bowed toward the god at the same time.

He could not tell what the Lord thought of him, nor if the man had even recognized his movements.

Today he was of little words.

Looking down at the object that he had obtained by his Lord's hands, he inspected the item closely.

A staff.

What was he to do with a staff?

His blue eyes slowly fell to the handle of the rod, finding an engraving upon the handle. It was written in his god's language.

He looked to his god once more, nodding to him in recognition.

"Thank You.."

He paused, thinking over his thoughts carefully.

"Much is changing, my Lord..."

He paused again to twirl the staff between his hands, though not as well as his Lord had done.

".. As am I.."

He did not know what the staff meant, nor why the Lord had given it to him. Yet still he took the staff, understanding that he was meant to have it.

"I saw foreign land," he said, looking off to the side as he spoke.

Joel had always found difficulty in asking for permission to anything, especially from his god and goddess.

"I wish to study my new findings more.. closely. I believe that there is a purpose to my vision."

Joel found himself being greeted by silence for a few heartbeats. It was only when his blue eyes fell to the chamber door's of the throne room that he received an answer.

Slowly the large marble black doors began to swing open.

He felt the Lord's eyes fall to him before the tall figure looked to the door.

"I shall return as soon as I can, my Lord."

Quickly the follower exited the chambers to head in search of any documentation that he could obtain to help him within his new quest.

After leaving the throne room, Donovin headed directly headed for the library. The structure was located several levels up, but Donovin believed the distance was well worth the travel.

The follower indulged in reading, often reading whatever he could get his hands on, even if he did not understand it. He was a true bookworm.

The library had quite a few levels to it, his Lord as well as his Lordess were quite the avid readers, they both enjoyed collecting documentations of all kinds. They both were gracious enough to share their findings with those of The Dragon Empire, and those who visited.

However, there were a few documents that were off limits. Joel knew this for sure for he had come into the library on several occasions to find his Lord or Lordess reading something. The moment Joel would find either of them reading something that was not for public use; he would find them both looking onto him, with a somewhat disturbed gaze. Joel always tended to walk by, understanding that some things were just not his business.

Still, he often wondered.

He knew every section of the library quite thoroughly, even the areas that were considered off limits to him. He allowed himself only to roam the areas that were not restricted to him.

He knew, had his curiosity ever get the better of him; he could easily get into the areas he was not permitted to enter. However, the man believed in honoring his Lord and Lordess, not disgracing them.

The documentation Joel happened to be looking for was located on the third level of the library. This level spotted more cubicles than it did documents, but it was just what Joel needed.

The follower had little information to go on, except for the imagery that he had taken to see within his rare vision. He tried to recall the details of his vision, typing in ancient castles, hoping that his description would help him to begin searching into some solid leads.

His description certainly seemed to help him, but the results seemed to be too enormous, too broad for what little he knew about the unknown land.

He was only looking for one place, not thousands.

***********************

It had taken Donovin almost two hours to narrow down his search small enough so that his findings were condensed enough to wade through. Still, nothing in his findings seemed to stick out to him.

That was at least, not until he came to identify the particular sectors from his findings. Each of his findings represented similar descriptions of his vision; so similar that Joel had trouble identifying which land description represented the land within his vision.

He blue eyes settled onto the words, Allied Tion, his mind wondering to some already known information about this.

The capital world of the sector happened to be Jaminere, a world he remembered that his Lord and Lordess had come to visit and make their marks upon.

A land that fit his description also happened to be located within this sector. The follower only had a hunch to draw toward, but he was sure he had found a name for the vision of the yet to be named, uncharted land.

Dravione.

Exiting the library, Joel returned to the throne room only to find a datapad waiting at the foot of one of the two leading chairs.

He debated on swiping the item from the chair or leaving it, but a twinge near the back of his mind urged him to pick the datapad up, and he did, reading only a few set of the words out of a very large piece of documentation.

Joel got no farther that two or three sentences, when he realized, to his own dismay, that he was reading part of his Lord's journal.

The context described Dravione in fine detail, from how the planet looked to what the man had seen on his travel's to the mysterious, once unknown land.

"I suppose it would have been a lot easier if I had just asked," he said, craning his head off to the side slightly to look behind him, his Lord stepping into view.

"So you knew all along then?"

A deep exuberant laugh escaped the Lord's lips, Joel assuming to know what for.

"I've wasted a lot of time, my Lord, time that could have been used elsewhere."

The older man clearly disagreed, telling Joel that his time was spent doing something productive, for he did learn something. The Lord questioned the follower on what good it would have done him if his Lord had provided him with knowledge he could have learned on his own. Just how noteworthy was it to gain knowledge by word of mouth and not by taking the time to study it on one's own time? Joel could not tell much difference in his Lord's words, but he would think on it. The taller man was wise and smart.

"Perhaps you are right, my Lord."

The man seemed to be displeased with Joel's response, narrowing his brow slightly, in what Joel could understand as mild protest.

"Not questioning your beliefs, Sir. I'm simply just trying to make sense of them," he said, folding his arms in front of his chest in strong frustration.

"Going there.. wouldn't it be a wasteful trip, I mean you have already been there. What good would my going back there do?"

A dark mood filled the room, the voice of his Lord ringing strongly throughout the chamber. Clearly, Joel had upset his Lord. The taller man asked him what experience he would gain only by staying in and reading. He told him that there was much more to everything than words, there was also life.

He told Joel that there were some things that could only be better understood through looking and observing through imagery.

"I understand, I will go and I will learn all the things that you now know."

Joel turned to leave the chamber but found his path blocked, his feet would not will him to move, his Lord's doing; no doubt.

"... and I will bring you back your world."

The Lord released him and he moved toward the chamber door, stopping once he got there. The taller man seemed to know of his question, even before he could ask it.

".. Thank you."

Something strange yet wondrous happened just as the doors to the throne room abruptly swung shut behind him.

.. His staff.. It began to glow.

It was then that Joel knew that he held not just any ordinary staff...

Yetshua The Dusk had had enough of the same old same old. As he held his lightsaber in his hand, a purple bladed wonder, fasioned after a katana, he felt the gental tinglings of what he knew must be the force... but it was just a hunch... he needed training. He was a Zebrak. His horns covered his head and his black robe fell around him. His red and black skin melted into the darkness of the night as he slipped into the place he somehow knew he must go. Suddenly he saw a man standing in the street. "Hello" said the stranger. "The Lord told me to look for you here... follow me..."
It was really an odd story that led to these events. His family assasinated as part of a long feud between two households. He arrived only in time to destroy those who had killed his family, but not in time to save them. Now he wanderred alone. A lost soul looking for some way to ease his pain. The only solace to him was the battle to the death. He knew however that he would soon meet his end if he continued in this persuit. Unless.... he would become a soldier. I fighter for a cause. Then he could fight all he wanted until he met his end. The BDE almost called out to him as that is what part of the universe he happed to reside in. It was the natural choice, and he was glad he had made it.

(Present time)
Yetshua sits in his training room surrounded by darkness in a deep state of meditation, waiting for Joel to come to him....

One year prior: Korriban...

The Black Dragon Empire it seemed was in too much dire need of attention for the Lord to go off to meet with his newest and latest contact.

The Lord often called upon many of his followers to do the minor tasks that he could not, because time would not permit it.

Joel, a true follower, often found himself doing little deeds here and there for his Lord and Lordess, despite his hidden protests.

He often knew better than to question the gods.

He did what was told, most of the time.

**********************************


Walking upon the dark streets of Korriban, the follower eventually came upon the one he was seeking. The figure was dressed in black garments, the attire looking slightly bigger than what was necessary for the being's size.

The man had chosen a barren spot, behind a storage house. Joel wondered what exactly he was meant for, his purpose not quite clear by appearance alone.

Joel kept his greeting toward the man short, he did not care to waste his time on irrelevant chitchat; he'd come to Korriban for one reason and one reason only...

.. To prod this new presence, as his Lord had told him to do. To steer his goals from anything else but what the Lord asked for would be a waste of time and effort.

... He cared not to waste the Lord's time.

Motioning with a quick nod of his head, Joel made his way toward the back entrance of the storage house.

"... We speak in here..."



Present time...

It was not long after Donovin's shuttle settled into the jump for hyperspace on route to Dravione that he began to feel a familiar presence wash over him.

Yetshua..

He was sure of the Zabrak's presence, the red and black tattooed figure had a presence that could not go uneasily dismissed.

You're on Dravione.. interesting..

Despite the miles of space that separated the two force users, Joel could easily feel the Zabrak's presence. He contributed this to having known the other being for several months now. The connection was much the same as it was with his Lord. No matter where Joel went, his Lord was often felt with him.

Yetshua on the other hand, had a way of creeping up on Joel when Joel least expected it. The Zabrak's presence would one day be dismissed from his mind, no place to be felt. Yet on other days, Joel could clearly feel him. His private thoughts, naturally closed off toward the other, never came to ever reach Yetshua when the Zabrak came to his mind, but nonetheless, he spoke within his mind, usually, as if he were actually speaking to the other.

It was odd though, he only felt Yetshua when Yetshua wanted him to notice him.

.. What are you up to?..

It would be at least a few more hours before Joel arrived on Dravione...

The general's face was dark and lined and regal to the point of arrogance under that expressionless mask, as he studied the bridge crew of the Black Dragon Empire battleship, his eyes holding a mixture of curiousity and disdain.

"Is your fleet ready to depart, Commander Pegent? I grow impatient," he said, his mechanical voice quiet but with menace beneath it. "Our mission will not be set in motion if we remain here in orbit."

The BDE officer bowed his head slightly, "General Grevious, all is ready now. Our fleet is now prepared to depart to Dravione per your orders."

His eyes bored into the old face of the commander, "Excellent. If there is nothing to delay us, the order is given." One of the ship's officers stepped up to the bridge's command station, and approached the pair with a datapad in his hand. He bowed slightly to his superiors.

"General Grevious... a message has come in a secure channel for you." His paled hand offered the datapad, as the mechanical monster took it in his grasp. The message was from Sully Anre, the Supreme Administrator of the Black Tion Hegemony. Grevious murmured under his breath, his gaze drifting off into infinity as he thought what Anre's report would be. He then brought his mind back to the business at hand.

"Fool!" he exclaimed bitterly as he finished the report. "I knew the Jedi Zen Elara would present trouble. His persistance has made an attempt to rally resistance on the planet of Dellalt which I thought lost, and now they are expecting us. Interesting." His eyes casted to the display of starmaps of the Hegemony and Allied Tion.

"And according to our spynet, our contact on Dravione should be arriving soon." The General's face twisted evily behind his mask as he thought aloud to the officer. "Whatever our agent, Joel Donovin, has in mind, I hope it is achieved before we arrive, because I have no intention of sparing anyone who resists us when we reach our destination."

"I am sure this agent of yours will accomplish what is need to be done," Pegent remarked, as an unpleasant feeling began to stir in the pit of his stomach.

"This one is reliable, but I am uncertain. He knows the consequences if he attempts to follow his own interests," the general said, his voice even mechanically huskier than it had been earlier. "I want Dravione and Donovin in my possession when this mission is completed. I sense he is strong is his abilities. All he needs now is guidance. By me."

He turned to look at the commander's strained face. Pegent felt an icy shiver running up his back. The issue was no longer open to argument.

"Send a message to Administrator Anre with an update from me. Tell him we will rendezvous with the BDE's contact above the planet and await instructions," he ordered.

"As you command," Commander Pegent replied.

"Make the jump to Dravione, immediately after you have transmitted the message. I will be in my chambers." General Grevious quietly dismissed himself from the command bridge, and disappeared behind the durosteel doors.

The timer aboard the bridge of the BDE Star Destroyer Sleeping Death counted to zero, and with a flare of starlines through the forward ports, the fleet of the Black Dragon Empire jumped to hyperspace.

Toward Dravione...

I am here. This population is nothing special. Subduing them should be no problem.

There was a sudden break in the silence as Yetshua stood and walked out of the small chamber that he had been meditating in. As he walked outside he felt the wind blowing and knew that soon Joel would be there. He began to make it very obviouse through his energy just exactly where he could be found.

Over the planet of Dravione...

The captain of the Tion Cluster Shoto-class battlecruiser DragonFire sat in front of the telemetry array, watching the feeds from the assault shuttles and helmetcams the death commandos wore. The usual life-systems input wasn't there. General Grevious probably didn't think it relevent to have it online on this mission. Well. That didn't matter. Captain Massey didn't care if they died, he only needed a victory over Dravione and whatever information he could gather on the fortresses that littered the surface of the planet. Plenty of that coming in. The assault group's sensors gathered it up, gravity, atmosphere, lighting, weather conditions, all kinds of readings, and spewed it into the DragonFire's recorders. Offhand, it didn't look like a world that was going to become a vacation spot anytime soon. Gravity a bit higher than human standard, maybe a gee and a quarter, so fat people and those with heart conditions would not like it much, even if it happened to like look Paradise, and in no way did it look inviting. The local star made most of the planet tropical, at least weather-wise. There were small ice caps at the poles, but even the more temperate regions would give you body heat plus a couple degrees. Vegetation was sparse, the oceans were full of nasty salts, and there didn't seem to be many places where an unprotected human could survive even without killer locals prowling for supper. The polluted air would require full-time filters or implants. Looked like a place to dump garbage to Massey. No wonder the fortresses were abandoned ages ago. Who would want to stick around this place for long?

"Captain, we are breaking through the overcast," came the bridge officer's voice.

"Very well."

Massey switched to the viewscreen that wrapped around his command chair. The hologram lit the air to his left, showing a swirl of clouds that flew past and thinned. Under the cloud cover, the land below was dull and gray, scraggly trees or what passed for them, lots of young igneous rock exposed to the air, sharp edges, and dirty colors.

"Got a big thunderstorm forty klicks ahead," one of the pilots from the invasion force chimed over the comlink as the comm officers monitored them. "Tops up to twenty thousand meters, look at the voltage on that lightning."

"Inform them to go around the storm," Captain Massey ordered to one of the comm officers at the pit station. "Have them find me one of those fortresses and put down within a couple of kilometers. Don't want our commandos to get too tired on their walk."

"Copy, Captain."

Massey watched the shifting pictures. So far, this mission had gone exactly as General Grevious had planned. Right on the nose. It was almost boring. Maybe something would happen down there to spice things up a little.



Kix Davin and 1st squad approached the ancient fortress cautiously-- armed to the teeth as they were, and walking knowlingly into some kind of ambush in his mind. The fortress-- bunker? hideout? whatever-- loomed like a massive, dark structure with high peaks. Its surface was ridged and convoluted, a dull blackish-gray with bits of lighter color here and there. As they drew nearer, Davin saw that the lighter bits were bones, a lot of them skulls, all blended into the surface.

"Damn," one of his commandos said quietly.

"Some kind of secretion, all right, with a little organic stuff mixed in for the hell of it."

There was a double-doored entrance with a beaten path leading to it maybe a hundred meters ahead.

"I ain't going in there," a commando named Ramz said. "Screw that."

But the trio of assault shuttles buzzing back and forth overhead like dragonflies meant otherwise. As if to confirm this, Davin's comlink came to life. "Move in," Massey's voice said. And to punctuate the command, one of the soldiers fired a thin red blaster shot against the door, digging a small smoking crater into the stony surface. Nobody responded to the shot.

"Wonder how the other squads are doing?" another said.

"Who cares?" Ramz said. "We're about to become history here if this falls apart."

The six of them moved toward the entrance of the fortress. Once they were inside the place, maybe they could just fan out and scan the area with sensor sweeps and not go in any deeper. If there were Tion rebels, this would be the perfect place to hideout and take shots at them.

The group reached the doorway. Davin flicked his shoulder light on and took a deep breath. He stepped into the ancient structure first. Whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen.



Captain Massey was staring through the holographic readouts when a tiny chime called for his attention. He focused on the viewscreen. The three assault shuttles were holding over the entrance to the first fortress; the other commando squads hadn't made it to their destinations yet. What was--

Sensors showed flying objects closing on the assault shuttles.

Impossible! There wasn't any civilization on this world. The Tion rebels didn't have, couldn't have flying devices!

Then he realized what was wrong with the images. No heat signatures, no power leakage, no sensors. Either the craft were so primitive they had to be gliders, or...

Massey blinked. "1st squad," he said. "Alert!"

Back on the surface, the first wave of flying creatures, now identified as hawkbats, dived on the hovering assault shuttles. The holocameras caught and recorded the images. They looked reptilian, with grayish, scaled skin. They had delta-shaped wings that spanned at least ten meters, short, sleek bodies and elongated heads with rows of pointed teeth. Carnivores, definetely. There were a dozen in the first group and they attacked soundlessly the three shuttles.

The death commandos were good, Captain Massey had to give them that. The blaster rifles lit and tracers of red swept the air. The creatures fell and died as the high energy beams cut off wings, slashed bodies, lopped heads. Nine of the things went down in the first three seconds as the six commandos fired their weapons repeatedly.

But the second wave arrived and there were too many. One of the things took a shot to the chest, was probably dead instantly, but slammed into a shuttle and knocked it sideways. Another attacker flew in while the shuttle was tumbling and showed how well those big toothy jaws worked when it bit a piece of fin from the top dorsal. The shuttle spiraled down toward the ground, four or five of the beasts following it in controlled dives.

The other two shuttles were also in trouble. Flapping wings buffeted the commandos as the things darted in and snapped at the heavy durosteel, tore at it with taloned claws as if the shuttles were themselves alive.

Blaster fire flashed, the flying monsters died under the flares of energy, but those who weren't hit kept attacking. One of the shuttles looked like a popcorn ball beset by a flock of starving crows; the durosteel was pocked with gouges and bite marks, dented from impacts. The commandos fought on, but they were losing.

The first assault shuttle splatted against the ground, shattered, and hurled several commandos away from the impact. Almost instantly the flying creatures were upon the soldiers, tearing at them, ripping limbs from torsos, spraying blood in thin red fountains.

They tore the commandos apart but didn't eat them. Apparantly, they didn't much like the taste of human flesh.

Captain Massey watched, amazed, as one of the shuttles landed in a controlled dive and one of the commandos leapt out and sprinted toward the fortress. While the flying animals fell on the other soldier still trying to exit the shuttle, they did not pursue the fleeing one. The running soldier neared the entrance.

The third assault shuttle burst into flame while still thirty meters above the ground. By the time it crashed, all the passengers inside had been mostly consumed in the fire. One of the wyvern cannons went critical in the heat and a blinding red flash turned the shuttle into dust, along with four or five of the hawkbats who had followed it down too closely.

How interesting, Massey thought. Surely there was a market for these things. Perhaps he could capture one. A baby, perhaps. ID Tech or Tion Industries could probably study these creatures and use them to some effect against the Imperium's enemies in the future.

But first, he had to protect his primary mission and secure the site. He called the other shuttles sheperding the other commandos. "Comm officer, inform the other shuttles to dispatch immediately to the 1st Squad coordinates," he ordered.

"What about the other squads in the area?" his executive officer turned to ask.

"Never mind them. Do as I order. Keep a ground-hugging flight path. Inform them, there are flying aliens there who will attack them. Get moving."

He leaned back in his form-fitting chair. Yes. This was turning out to be more interesting than he had anticipated.



Davin heard the explosion and stopped.

"What the hell?" a commando began.

They were only fifty or sixty meters into the old building and the devil they knew suddenly seemed less dangerous than the one they didn't. "Let's go see," Davin said.

"I'm with you, pal," Ramz said.

"I'll watch our rear," Mbut, the Devaronian, said. He held a wyvern blaster rifle in his arms. He panned it around.

What they saw was amazing. There were some kind of flying things flapping around like giant bats out there. All three shuttles were down, only one of them intact, and one of the commandos was hauling ass toward the fortress, moving at fast speed as he broken-stepped the rugged ground. He carried a wyvern blaster rifle in one hand.

"Move back," Davin said. "We need to grab him before one of those things gets him."

"Copy that, Commander," a soldier said from behind him. "What I want to know is how come the things who live here haven't swarmed all over us by now."

"Don't look a gift bantha in the mouth," Mbut said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means be glad you're still sucking in the air," Mbut said. "Such that it is."

They watched the commando run. One of the flying things made a half hearted pass at him, swooping down like a giant raptor seeking prey, but the soldier dived flat and the thing missed by ten meters anyhow. By the time it circled around for another try, the BDE trooper was nearly at the fortress's entrance. The hawkbat must have decided it had business elsewhere. It soared upward, caught a thermal, and lifted away.

"Get ready to catch him," Davin said.

The commando reached the entrance and ran inside. All six of Davin's squad grabbed him, and he sprawled under their grip in a panic.

"Easy fellow! You're safe!" Davin shouted at the shaking commando. He looked up at his squad. "Fall back deeper into the fortress and wait it out. Inform the higher ups we're going to have trouble with the locals here..."

As the takeover of Dravione continued, it was discovered there were no Tion rebels. In fact, the settlers there welcomed the Black Dragon Empire, especially when their armies aided in the population control of the hawkbats. Thousands of their nests were destroyed or relocated, in order for their expansion to continue uninterrupted.

And Joel Donovin? He accomplished his objective on Dravione and returned with General Grevious to the Tion Cluster...