<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Perhaps today is a good day to die<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->...

That one sentance.

It was the last words his father had said to him.

Mase Paret wondered what was going to happen now. His father had been killed in the battle of J't'p'tan. The Duskhan League took the planet but not with out heavy losses. Viceroy Jian Paret and the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Eclipse<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->-class Super Star Destroyer <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Pride of Yevetha<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> had been lost. Along with numerous <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Imperial<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Victory<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->-class Star Destroyers. The only survivors were the Advanced and regular Thrustships.

Mase had been on board the Victory-class Star Destroyer- <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Honor of Yevetha<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and spoke to his father moments before explosions rippled the mighty <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Pride of Yevetha<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. But Mase was suspicious. A few vessels had pulled up along side the flagship and appeared to connect with it. Mase thoguth that maybe they evacuated some of the crew. And maybe, there was slim chance that the Viceroy had gotten out as well.

But there was doubt. Deep down, even Mase didn't beleive it.

So what had happened? The final moments of that battle simply didn't make sense. Why would TDL vessels come so close to the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Pride of Yevetha<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->?.



Mase was taken out of his thoughts by the annoyingly loud voice of <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Viceroy<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Yanth. Who was backed up by Supreme Commander Greth.

"This meeting will now come to order!"

Mase sighed and sat back in his chair next to one of his good friends, Yzan Spret, who had been called to this meeting as well.

"Mase Paret, you may now brief us on the Battle of J't'p'tan"

Yanth said it with such a bored expression it made Mase want to jump up and jam his wrist-claw right into him. But Mase kept his cool gaze and stoop up. He went to a holo-screen and pressed several controls. The screen lit up and showed the ships at the beginning of the battle for J't'p'tan.

Mase went on to describe the battle in as much detail as he could. Yanth and Greth sat back, as if they already knew what happened and they just wanted to get this over with. But the other council members seemed interested. So Mase continued.

After he finished, Yzan was called up and was told - not asked - to report of his infiltration activities. He gave a long and detailed discription of his stay in Lithe's Palace.

Afterwards Mase and Yzan had been dissmissed from the chambers so the council. They turned and left the chambers.

DarkSaber's heavily modified B-wing starfighter Shattered Dreams emerged from hyperspace with a slight shudder.

Keying the com, DarkSaber spoke.

'Sir, I have arrived back from the Capitol. It is indeed as you thought. The Duskhan Leauge is under the control of the traitors.'

DarkSaber smiled at this and guided his ship towards the planet. The modified B-wing shot over the barren fields, entering the capital city and swerving between the towering buildings.

The man smiled behind his mask as he set down on the roof of one particularly large building and got out.

Locking this fighter down, he entered the turbolift and beagn to desence into the depths of the building...

The Yevetha turned around. He hated this...office. He was made for the bridge of a warship...not..this office.

He turned around and stared at the Clone Trooper. The man had come highly reccomended. And the Yevetha was paying him enough.

"You are sure?" He asked.

He had sent DarkSaber to N'zoth on a mission to find out what was going on. And who had assumed command after Jian Paret's death. But now the Yevetha were under the control of traitors, who had used others the Hutt...the force-weilding Exo. The traitors had killed a superior officer and that was considered murder by the Yevetha.

And murder was punishable by death.

: DarkSaber nodded. :

I am aure, Vicory. The traitor matched your description exactly. He must be... dealt with.

: The Vicory shook his head slowly. :

Have no fear, Vicory. You will be restored to your rihgtful place as head of the Dushkan Leauge...

: DarkSaber stroked the hilt of his blaster. :

I can be very... convincing, Vicory.

: He smiled behind the mask. :

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp A lone Yevethan walked the streets of Galantos, his cloak gathered up around him and the hood raised. This was not a rare event; Yevethans had been outcasts in the Cluster since the failed offensive under former Viceroy Nil Spaar. It was yet more common for this specific Yevethan. As the nephew of the despised leader, Tetengo Spa’ar was one of the few remaining members of his family to hold a position of power amongst their people. He’d been only a minor intelligence agent with a promising career ahead of him at that time, and that alone had saved him from the purge that followed his uncle’s downfall. Now only he and a distant cousin remained in government and military work. The rest of their families were gone.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Many things had changed since the time of that purge. Tetango was now an accomplished case officer, the top agent in the Yevethan black ops forces. It was his teams and his agents that were sent in on the most difficult missions. Tholaz and J’t’pan, in both of those he’d lead advance teams in scouting out and achieving important objectives. In fact, a portion of his mission had been retrieving the deep cover agent. After destroying or disabling their targets, Spa’ar had personally escorted Yzan to the commando teams ships. Normally they would have moved on to secondary objectives, however certain information regarding Spret’s mission required immediate face to face contact with the Viceroy. The two heavily modified Lambda shuttles launched from the embattled planet and made way for the “Pride of Yevetha.” They’d just closed when the incident had occurred. One of the shuttles had been completely destroyed along with the Eclipse Star Destroyer and the other ships close to it.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp The circumstances had been rather drastic, but like any good operation, there were fallbacks. Yzan was taken to the Victory Star Destroyer “Honor of Yevetha” and left with the Viceroy’s son. Meanwhile, Tetengo and what remain of his team stayed only long enough to repair the remaining shuttle and prepare for their next mission. By the time the VicStar had returned to N’zoth, they were gone.

His cousin held the family seat on the council, now a minor seat, and was Spa’ar’s ear on the current situation. A situation he wasn’t pleased with at all. He’d always been completely loyal to Viceroy Paret, and the power-hungry bureaucrats back on N’zoth made him sick. Yanth and the others were traitorous scumbags, who would be receiving their due soon enough. There was far more going on than they would know until it was too late. This he knew.

His thoughts were disturbed by the beeping of his comlink in his ear. His teams comm specialist reported to him that a B-wing, obviously not standard from it’s performance, had landed in the last few minutes. Turning the corner, Spa’ar walked on, his step determined. The traitors would pay.

Mase sat in the small cafe' in Hariz, the capital of N'zoth, thinking dark thoughts. He was tired of the Council and their constant bickering. He had just come out of a session of the Council, Yanth was setting down guidelines and new rules. He was slowly turning the Duskhan League into a dictatorship, with him as the head.

Yanth's associate, Greth, was controlling the military like a puppet on strings. Greth maintained control by bribing the leaders and captains of ships. Mase estimated that Greth had 50% of the military under his control. The other half was loyal to Mase. But it was only a matter of time before Greth succeeded in bribing, threatening, or blackmailing them too.

Mase took a sip of his <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> d'tgh<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> tea and swallowed. The liquid burned down his throat and awakened him somewhat. His best friend, Yzan Spret, pressed his hands together and looked at Mase.

"What is the latest?" Yzan asked.

"Greth has just started on Captain Krenmt of the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Valiant<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. If he presents enough money Krenmt will be his" Mase said darkly.

Yzan scoffed.

"He'll have control of the whole military within a few months if we don't act soon" Yzan said.

Mase shook his head.

"We can't act yet. I have to have confirmation from Galantos. This well-thought-out plan will go up in flames if we do anything without discussing it with my contact" He said.

Yzan took a big gulp of his drink, a dark green liquid with something floating inside it. Yzan loved trying new things. Mase decided not to be surprised.

"Anyhow, I will discuss it with Spa'ar . He is a familay friend. I trust him" Mase said.

Yzan leaned in close.

"Be careful Mase. Spa'ar is related to Nil Spaar. He may be working for Yanth and Greth"

But Mase shook his head.

"I doubt it. But I will be careful my friend"

"Good"

Mase got up and looked around. Nobody was paying any interest in him and Yzan. Mase nodded to Yzan once and walked out of the cafe'.

Meanwhile on Galantos, The Viceroy stared at the clone.

"Convincing? I'm sure you can be. We will got down to business as soon as-"

He stopped speaking as the door opened and a hooded man entered.

"As soon as Admiral Spa'ar arrives."

Jian walked over and shook Spa'ar's hand.

"Tentengo, this is DarkSaber"

The figure's gaunt six-fingered hands came up out of the cloak, lowering the hood and tossing the rest back over his shoulders. When revealed, the agent's clothes were as dark as his cloak, and baggy for two reasons. The first was to disguise his shape when he wasn't cloaked, the skeletal appearance of his clothing otherwise could perhaps give him away. The second was to leave space for a number of pockets and other storage possibilities. He was never without his gear.

Spa'ar shook the Viceroy's hand, apologizing for his abrupt entrance. "I'm sorry to interrupt Viceroy. I didn't think the doors would be unlocked when I arrived." Mentally he made a note to "speak" to his men that he'd placed in charge of Paret's security. This shouldn't have happened. His thoughts were interrupted by the introduction of Darksaber.

The two somewhat bulbous protrusions of the Yevethan's face reddened slightly as his dark, widely spaced eyes looked over the clone. Like all Yevethans, Tetengo was highly xenophobic. Unlike most though, his distaste for alien species could be defeated. Spa'ar didn't know this mercenary's credentials, but he would have to prove himself to get beyond the agent's distrust.

He nodded respectfully for the sake of ettiquette, and turned his head slightly, back to the Viceroy. He looked to Paret for acknowledgement as to what information the man could be trusted with, but pulled the Viceroy out of earshot just in case.

"Sir, I recieved a few reports from my men back home on my way here. As you suspected, Greth is quickly taking over the military. He currently holds approximately half of the remaining fleet loyal to him. I've instructed a small number of the commanders I control to feign loyalty to the traitors as well. Unfortunately this resulted in two of them being taken as sacrifices when they did, but the rest of them are well placed."

"We currently hold an advantage with the forces that were 'destroyed' at J't'pan, particularly with the 'Pride of Yevetha'. The real question is how long that will last. Greth gains the loyalty of more officers each day, while my cousin reports that Yanth is growing more hostile at each council meeting." Spa'ar's eyes closed for a moment, and he hesitated before saying...

..."He's beginning to sound like my uncle."

Jian nodded.

"Yes....but Nil was killed. By the very slaves who ran his vessels. I assume the same thing will happen to Yanth. Which is why I have employed this DarkSaber. He is an assassin and hired thug. I am going to send him to N'zoth to contact Mase. I am told my son has useful information for me.

" But do not worry Tentengo. I know the shame you have endured. I know that you want to clear your name. I can help you do that. But first we have two problems: Yanth and Greth. They need to be out of the way before I can take over as Viceroy. But right now, Yanth is the biggest threat. My contacts tell me he will succeed in turning the Duskhan League into a dictatorship within one more week.

"That will not be allowed. We have to act before then. If we do not...then we will have no hope of saving the Yevethan people"

: DarkSaber nodded slowly. :

Do not concern yourselves with Yanth overly. He and his followers will be dealt with soon enough.

But first, I must make contact with Mase... and tell him that his father is alive. I am sure he will be quite delighted by the news.

Jian took on a bored expression and sat down at his desk. He looked at the window and watched the distant storm clouds in the sky grow nearer.

He smiled. The storm clouds were a perfect example of what was to happen in the days to come. Jian knew that a storm cloud was coming for The Duskhan League. He almost wished he could see Yanth's face when he finds out that Jian was behind everything. That Jian was behind Yanth's fall.

"Thank you DarkSaber. Now if you don't mind, I would like to talk to Admiral Spa'ar in private"