All that is required for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.
The old saying rang through the mind of the former Onyxian soldier and threatened to drive her mad. She had seen firsthand the ravages of war, the destructiveness of the Black Dragon Empire, the oppression of the New Order, and she was sick of it. What was worse was that the quote running through her mind was absolutely accurate. The Coalition, supposedly the bastion of light in the Galaxy, was broken. The Onyxian Commenwealth, for which she had fought, was defeated, abandoned, and occupied, though only after it itself had turned evil. The Confederation had broken away from the Coalition and isolated itself. The Cren Alliance was out of contact. The Azguards were bowing before the Emperor.
The Commonwealth wasn't much better. From her point of view, they were more interested in money than right. Seth Vinda and his group would be loathe to stand against evil if it hurt their pocketbooks. And the Jedi? The Jedi had disbanded, leaving the galaxy to its fate. Perhaps they had gone into hiding, perhaps there was a group still carrying on the fight, but there was nothing left that could stand against the might of the Empire and the Sith. Good men were doing nothing, and evil triumphed.
And so it would continue unless something changed. Such was the way of the galaxy.
Such was not the way of Jaeriel Skynia.
As she sat in her home on Generis, staring through the window at the newly erected Imperial base, watching the stormtroopers stride through the streets of her small town, she determined that something would change.
In fact, something already had. For the last few weeks, Jaeriel had been contacting members of her old squad, a special unit of the Onyxian Commonwealth whose records had mysteriously disappeared with the Commonwealth's capitulation. Well, mysteriously to those not in the know. In truth, it had been a simply matter for Jaeriel to hack into Onyxian military files and delete them. After all, she helped design and implement the software for them. She knew her way around quite well.
The members of her squad that she had contacted all had specific skills, skills Jaeriel would need to implement her plan. Two of them, Alana Vlupteur and Mika Lau, were experts in martial arts. Mika had mastered K'tara, an ancient martial art that focused on quick movements and stunning combination moves, and Alana was an expert in Teras Kasi. Cynthia Dmitrius, a stunning blonde from Valacar, was the technical expert. There wasn't a computer system in the galaxy she couldn't hack her way into. Then there was Jaqueline Stone, the woman who could go anywhere anytime and come back with whatever information was needed. Finally rounding out the team was Amanda Bates, an expert on security systems.
The thing of note about the entire team was not only that they were experts in their respective fields. They would perform whatever task was assigned them, certainly. But it was especially noteable that they were all female. Jaeriel had wanted it that way.
If good men will do nothing, she thought as the first meeting of the group was about to begin in her basement, then good women will fill the role.
The old saying rang through the mind of the former Onyxian soldier and threatened to drive her mad. She had seen firsthand the ravages of war, the destructiveness of the Black Dragon Empire, the oppression of the New Order, and she was sick of it. What was worse was that the quote running through her mind was absolutely accurate. The Coalition, supposedly the bastion of light in the Galaxy, was broken. The Onyxian Commenwealth, for which she had fought, was defeated, abandoned, and occupied, though only after it itself had turned evil. The Confederation had broken away from the Coalition and isolated itself. The Cren Alliance was out of contact. The Azguards were bowing before the Emperor.
The Commonwealth wasn't much better. From her point of view, they were more interested in money than right. Seth Vinda and his group would be loathe to stand against evil if it hurt their pocketbooks. And the Jedi? The Jedi had disbanded, leaving the galaxy to its fate. Perhaps they had gone into hiding, perhaps there was a group still carrying on the fight, but there was nothing left that could stand against the might of the Empire and the Sith. Good men were doing nothing, and evil triumphed.
And so it would continue unless something changed. Such was the way of the galaxy.
Such was not the way of Jaeriel Skynia.
As she sat in her home on Generis, staring through the window at the newly erected Imperial base, watching the stormtroopers stride through the streets of her small town, she determined that something would change.
In fact, something already had. For the last few weeks, Jaeriel had been contacting members of her old squad, a special unit of the Onyxian Commonwealth whose records had mysteriously disappeared with the Commonwealth's capitulation. Well, mysteriously to those not in the know. In truth, it had been a simply matter for Jaeriel to hack into Onyxian military files and delete them. After all, she helped design and implement the software for them. She knew her way around quite well.
The members of her squad that she had contacted all had specific skills, skills Jaeriel would need to implement her plan. Two of them, Alana Vlupteur and Mika Lau, were experts in martial arts. Mika had mastered K'tara, an ancient martial art that focused on quick movements and stunning combination moves, and Alana was an expert in Teras Kasi. Cynthia Dmitrius, a stunning blonde from Valacar, was the technical expert. There wasn't a computer system in the galaxy she couldn't hack her way into. Then there was Jaqueline Stone, the woman who could go anywhere anytime and come back with whatever information was needed. Finally rounding out the team was Amanda Bates, an expert on security systems.
The thing of note about the entire team was not only that they were experts in their respective fields. They would perform whatever task was assigned them, certainly. But it was especially noteable that they were all female. Jaeriel had wanted it that way.
If good men will do nothing, she thought as the first meeting of the group was about to begin in her basement, then good women will fill the role.
