The ship made a rough landing, as usual. Ahnk, while a tremendous dogfighter in the vicious Sith Infiltrator, wasn’t exactly the best when it came to landing the sharp-toothed vessel. Kicking up dirt as it skidded to a halt in the thick brush of the lush world, Ahnk’s Infiltrator had hit something hard underneath the plant matter. A building, likely. In any case, the hit had damaged the ships cloak… although the generator was fine, the field projector was damaged and the cloaking field couldn’t be produced.

While disappointing, Ahnk knew he had to go on. He would have liked to do it without attracting attention to himself, and, after those feelings of dread, he would have liked to be able to complete this mission and have an avenue of escape already secured.

Was there a gate on this world? Who was following him? Was he walking into an ambush?

He didn’t know, but with his damaged ship sitting exposed in a patch of grass with a plume of dust still dissipating above it, there was one thing he did know.

They knew he was here.

Ahnk hiked on, shrugging aside feelings of apprehension again as he did so. He pulled on a thick vine, hauling himself over the remnants of what once was a house, or perhaps a school. When he was on the top, he stopped, taking up a seating position.

He removed his leather gloves and shrugged off his backpack. With his bare left hand, he wiped the sweat from his brow, sweat that aggravated his fragile eyes as it dripped down his face. With his right hand, he pulled his canteen from the harness in his pack, and took a long sip. Not satisfied, he then turned it upside-down overhead, dampening his hair and clearing the offending sweat from his face. He laughed as he failed to recollect a time when, as a Sith, he had sat, humbled by sweat.

He went to wipe sweat from his face again when he realized he was crying.

He couldn’t pin down why, exactly. Something about being on a ludicrous chase through an overgrown set of ruins for something that might never have even been there, to stop an entire race from destroying the galaxy. He chuckled again. They were tears of ludicrous irony then. He smiled, taking another sip of water before replacing the canteen in his pack.

And then he felt something tingling in the back of his head. It was the force, once again, providing him a sixth sense of impending danger. Far less vague this time, he instead could pinpoint one force user, and a familiar one at that.

“Vonta…”

His face shriveled up in confusion.

“Vonta Horn?”

He kicked his feet off the edge of the building, and allowed the momentum to carry him to the ground. He landed with a sigh from the ground below, as long eroded masonry finally shuddered and collapsed into dust. He quickly checked to ensure that his lightsaber was indeed on his person. He didn’t know why Vonta was here, or if Vonta was tied to the darkness he had felt… but he did know that it was better to be prepared, then to be killed.

Again.

The trip down to the surface of the lush and green sphere of a planetoid was silent.

Sabreen was of the Teras Kasi. He knew this sith well. He was one that was responsible for genicide on several occasions. He had killed innocent men, women, and childeren in the past. Even switched from the dark to the light.

That was, in the end, nothing more then a cover to betray the light when it was at it's most vulnerable.

This sith was as dangerous as any. As well as being more cunning then most.

Vonta had alluded to her first experience with the sith.

She spoke of his raw power and how he defeated her then.

She was but a padawan then. Now she was a knight. One of a wholely new order.

She possesses skills that were seemingly lost to time in the cullings of the force users. She had faced down many a foe. Succeeding and failing. Though always continuing the good fight.

In her visions vonta had seen a Hypergate. Most of them were guarded by the gree but this one seemed to be hidden even from them. The vision showed an arch over grown by trees and wilderness. Overtaken by nature yet again.

If it fell into the hands of a force users? If it was simular to the one on Onyx that gave a working knowledge of the systems. Well the prospects for the use of such advance technology was staggering.

Vonta pointed them into the closest possible location of the sith. He would know that she was coming. Just as she sensed him he could sense her.

But could he really sense her true power?

Sabreen looks and continues to wonder as the shuttle touches down.

Varex tilted his head into a nod, the Cree'Ar body language equivilant of a grin on his face. Once again, he had guessed right. And once again, he had aced the test. Varex was beginning to wonder whether or not he had ever taken his job seriously. It was all just a game to him. A game that he could beat easily.

So when the two Cree'Ar emissaries stepped down from their ship and once again made their way toward the Daemun people, a feeling of confidence overwhelmed Varex. He felt as if he was going to drown in it. He looked at the two Daemun and found that he could stomach their presence for a few moments longer.

"I am afraid," Varex began, "That the current trade agreement is not enough for the High Elder nor, I must say, myself. Now, the High Elder mentioned something to me that I...we found most interesting. We have heard of this "Galactic Mapping Project".

All we require in exchange for our technologies are, as agreed, the ReMAT. And, hopefully, the information this Mapping Project has provided to you."

The shuttle flew to an area of forests with relatively few large trees. It fires off several rounds into the forest with its emerald green energy bolts. Greenery is vaporized in the path of the energy beams. Those that were unfortunate enough to only be ajacent to the plant life that was eradicated merely burst into flames. The Sentinal class shuttle flys over the area. The repulsors pressed the air down so forcefully that the fires were berefet of oxygen and died out.

Slowly the roar of the engine dies out and the exit ramp falls gently to the ground accompanied by the whirr of the servo motor mechanism dropping the exit ramp.

The obvious chirps and hi pitched sounds of bird like creatures permeated the vicinity after several moments of silence.

Cutting away the area to make a place to land disturbed the forest. Creatures all around them were getting over their shock or just plan runing away. The latter illustrated by the sound of creatures moving into the distant under brush.

Vonta Horn was dressed in full battle atire she was arayyed in a Jedi Robe with the sleeves cut at the shoulders. Her limbs had nothing save for a pair of gloves that she wore. Jensaarai armor was sparse on her at best. The two pieces included a helmet adorned on her head and a breast plate that covered her chest. The plate stoped just above her belly button, allowing her less coverage but more agility and ability to move. The helmet was in the shape of the head of bird of prey often seen on many a world. Her Jensaarai spirit chosen in her training. There was a blast shield just under the beak. That was a touch of the Teepo Palidin training. At her side were two weapons one, a teepo blaster that seemed far too awckward a weapon to actually work. Opposite the side arm was a light saber. One with a slightly longer hilt then most.

She felt the innitial fear of the creature on their landing. Fear was of the dark side. She hated cuasing any but she had no choice if they wanted to actually set down in this dense growth.

She gave a sigh.

Around her members of the guard were assembling and double checking their equipment. They had two Ylasimari packs able to repel the force.

She sent all of her team on details to scout the area for humanoid life signs. The Nohgri members of the guard were dressed in grey uniforms. They were known as the Shadow guard. They made the advanced guard. She had four teams made up. Two were two look for the siths transport and two were to help vonta round up the sith himself.

Guard Directer Toryn Sabreen went of with the ship group and Vonta took one detail her self. The force repulsing abilities of their companion creatures was limited at best. In a fight the nohgri were to only engage as a last resort. Vonta and Toryn would be the ones to finish the deed.

Of all of the foes that the self proclaimed Observer Jedi had fought this foe was the worse. He left her beaten within an inch of her life last time. Even the Krath seemed to pale in comparison.

In her mind she knew that she had fought bravely for a long time. She has done honor to the force. As she well do again. Preventing a killer from gaining the use of this prospectively dangerous technology.

[i]Statues had nothing on on the hardened forms of the Dameun reception as the discussion rang on in the web over the ramifications of such a move. The known assets of galactic civilizations handed over to the new comers to the galaxy, with unknown intentions.

Then again, they would not be bothered much by the galaxy at large, all that was of concern was them and theirs, and no other. The Dameun primary representatives grinned as they focused back on the Cree'Ar.</a>

"We agree to imposition"

Not now..

Sarah was not sure how long she had seen to daydream, but when she came back to reality, she realized just what harm daydreaming could do to a person.

No turning back..

Despite her operation coming to fall astray, Sarah did not mind. It felt.. right. She did not know why, but what was happening felt right. Like it was meant to be.

"So be it," She said through her communicator, not caring one way or the other what happened to her.

I'll hide nothing.

She did not want to return to face wrath for her failures. It felt so much better to be caught so far away from her allies, she didn't have to sense nor hear the condemnation. She did not know what would become of her, but none of that seemed to matter to her. She believed in getting exactly what she deserved.

Powering down, she awaited the tractor beam to pull her in. A funny thing hit Sarah though as she sat in almost complete idleness, the feeling of familiarity.

She did not like it. Not one bit.

He was walking at a brisk pace now. In his hand was a piece of equipment often ignored: a metal detector. Far less useful than traditional handheld scanning devices, or even the monitor system inside standard stormtrooper helmets, it wasn’t oft carried by non-civilians.

Ahnk chuckled. He was a civilian. Moreover, he was an ex-convict. He had to stop thinking that he was the center of the universe.

In any case, Ahnk did not need a full-scanning device. He was looking for metal, and nothing more. Energy readings on this planet were unlikely. And he already had a biological scanner; it was called the Force.

It didn’t really matter. He didn’t need a metal detector to tell him that this was a bad idea. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something…

And out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.

Laser.

Immediately, his Sith reflexes took over. He rolled, sideways and in the same motion, backwards. He then nipped up before flattening himself against an old, abandoned stone wall. He looked ahead and saw the metal detector and he pulled it into his hand with the force even as he filled his other hand with lightsaber. He didn’t turn it on. No, that would betray his position. He wasn’t sure what the laser fire was aimed for, but if it was for him, he would be ready. If it wasn’t, better not to let whoever was firing know where he was.

No, it was best not to be premature. Instead, he dropped to a crouch and waited.

The blast he saw had been part of a pair, or perhaps a pair of pairs. In any case, they had hit the ground… and seemingly not much else. And as he waited, he knew where they had come from. Overwhelmed by the rush of wind and the sound of the beast, it was impossible not to notice the shuttle.

It passed him at high speed before slowing about 200 feet ahead of him, and dropping to land.

Ahnk looked down, and in that moment, the absurdity of the metal detector became apparent. He threw it against a rock, smashing it.

“S<f>h</f>it.”

If Kal Shora had a mouth, he would have smiled.

Instead, he allowed his hands to do the talking. He reached beneath his cloak, and pulled forth a small ampoule of fluid. The fluid was actually single helixes of ribonucleic acid. An easy to manufacture code that most would miss if they discovered it. The cybernetic nexus was prepared for coded inputs such as this, and it quickly rewrote the data. In a flash, the hyperping generator appeared, and then the negative energy regulator, until finally, the gravitic manipulation array appeared on the hull of the Mak’Bek Cruiser. The Cree’Ar technology was complete.

He turned to his colleague, and he nodded his head.

Zeratul watched the shuttle with fascination. The Cree’Ar had so far had two incursions into their space. Both of them had been dealt with swiftly, but this he felt was of a different nature. He was prepared to issue a command when he heard one issued by one of the Cree’Ar on the Sep'Ta'd'Porl'a'Mor.

”D’a’dool.”

He leapt from his chair.

“Pend! Pend!”

He strode to the nexus located on the bridge and placed his hand on the hull. Instantly, it inserted a tubule of a sort, which pulled forth a small sample of his blood. It verified that he was a ranking officer, and the tek’a’tara responded to his command.

Too late.

He watched as two balls of plasma sprung from his vessel. They hit the shuttle in the aft section, the engines. They were disabled… moreover, they were melted beyond repair. Around them, the vessels shields failed in cascade, unable to channel the energy coming in, or that going out as the engines exploded and the ship went into a spin. Normally, without engines or shields, a second round of weapons fire would follow, and this round would be aimed for the vessel’s command center. Zertaul waited for the next two shots, and when they didn’t come, he knew he had to act quickly.

“Bar’z’ran!”

Zeratul almost felt his ship lurch forward as it began to move. He knew that he would have to justify his actions but he felt that this was something he needed to do.

The ship was moving quickly, but Zeratul knew that they were not fast enough. Without the engines, they had no power systems, and without power, the ships life support would not function. He didn’t know what species was inside… but if they were human, they would surely not survive until they were inside his vessel.

Two teams split to search for the sith.

Each team consisting of 20 members.

Toryn was the leader of one,Vonta of the other.

The Alderaanian guardsmen were garbed in commando trooper black armor. This was a stealth mission and the regulation white Guard armor would stand out like a sun in this lush green and brown landscape. The only exceptions are the Nohgri Shadow Guardsmen. Their mandate is to fight from the shadows so naturally their armor is already a shady of gray that they use to hide in the shadows.

The two teams started a search pattern. There were 5 nohgri in each group and they scouted ahead. Smelling for a scent to following and looking for signs of a bipedal beings passing.

They were followed by a cadre of other guards men. A wookie in each group adorned in the storm commando armor carrie shoulder mounted rocket launchers. The shoulder mounted device was designed for a standerd human. Though in the hands of a wookie the canon looks more like an oversized blaster rifle.

The group was rounded out with a mix of twi'leks, Zabraks, and rodians. Each species was noted by the helmet styles of their black armors. The Head tails on the twi'leks were hidden below a triangular buldge in the back end of the helmet. There were slight bumps on the Zabrak Helmets to fit their horns into the head piece. And the Rodian Helmet was molded to the unique Rodian head shape.

At the head of each group was Vonta in group one and Toryn in group two. Slightly behind them one Rodian of each group carried a Ylsimmari pack. This was a fall back possition. A way for the soilders to gain a sembalance of protection of the force if needed. An ace in the hole in addition to the Force user and Martial Arts master.

Nohgri shadow guard moved like wisps of air through the brush. Even Vonta had trouble tracking their movments. There was a compartment on the mouth piece that opened for the nohgri. Letting them take in the scents of the land.

The teams moved wordlessly.

Stalking through the forest growth while scanning the surroundings for signs of passing.

Vonta had lost track of the sith spawn. She felt him. But he must have felt her as well and done as she had. Masked her force presence.

She contemplates that, with luck, Toryn may find Ahnk first so that she need not face him again. She was not one to run from a fight but this was one battle she would like to avoid. Toryn was as good as her in a fight against a force user.

No.

He was better then she was. He was a Teras Kasi Master. A being that had fought against dark force users for longer then she had been alive. Something belied by his looks. Under that helmet of his he looked no more then a human being in his mid tweenties. His art allowed him a greater longevity then most beings.

Vonta just registers movment to her right. She readies herself but feels no danger.

With a russle of leaves done intentionally to anounce his arrival, one of the SHadow guard meets her carrying something.

She scans it with her eyes. Reconizing a metal decetor's components when she saw them.

She Communicates to Toryn in coded speech that she found evidence of quarry.

This was not more then a short distance from the landing sight.

He knew they were looking for him.

The Jensaarai helmet forged with the image of an eagle in mind adorned her head. A far crie from the Blacks and greyys of her companions. But her green and feather designed cortosis armor blended far better then the blacks and grays. The brown sleeve-less Jedi robe reflects the browns of the soils. And she begins to move with animal like grace forwards. Flowing with every step. She drops a blast shield visor down from the forhead portion of the eagle helmet. She blinds her self and begins using Teepo blind sight arts. Allowing her to see things in 360 degree vision for 50 yards around her.

The chase was on.