Fiction Gallery

Astralis wasn’t the best at sneaking, being two meters tall tended to make stealth a tertiary option at best. He crouched behind the trunk of a star palm tree to pause and listen. The heat didn’t make this any easier, nor did the rugged terrain of Mount Tantiss. After retrieving the Holocrons relic he was after, he had left the tunnel system through the dilapidated barracks building and was immediately aware of other force-users nearby. He instantly froze and cast out his senses using the force. It wasn’t hard to miss the ridiculous number of life forms half a click away through the jungle; there were thousands. Only a half-dozen were force sensitives and none were a match for him, individually or most likely even as a group. But thousands of soldiers were not something he could deal with alone even on his best day. He snickered at the thought of trying to deflect several thousand blaster bolts at once. Despite the fact that he would only have to deal with a squad at most, he really didn’t want anyone to know he was here.

As his yacht was hidden four clicks away on the OTHER side of these soldiers, he quickly ran through his options. There was a relatively thin spot in the defensive perimeter they had set up and he decided to try and sneak by, undetected. Thirty minutes later he was done with stealth - he thought to himself it was best to know one’s own limitations. He was about three hundred meters from the thinned out portion of the lines when he stood and yawned. He’d been up for almost twenty four hours, and attempting to sneak when he was hot, tired, and two meters tall was obviously not the appropriate tactic.

Astralis yawned a second time, causing his eyes to water and redden. He removed his helmet to wipe the tears of exhaustion from his eyes and the sweat from his forehead. He cursed and decided that as soon as he returned to Aliso he would make the repairs to his armor a priority. The environmental controls should be much more effective than they currently were. A new plan came to Astralis as he yawned yet again. He sat down on a fallen log and sent out a telekinetic beacon, hoping one of the enemy would be attuned enough to detect his presence. He really needed a nap. He dozed on the log while he waited, but nobody came. With a heavy sigh, he looked around himself. The trees were shorter here than many areas nearby, so he emitted several bolts of force lightning upwards in upwards, arcing over and towards the soldiers. “Hey! You’re surrounded!” he yelled. “Don’t move!”

He lowered his hand, stretched out his legs in front of him with his right ankle crossing his left, and laid his chin on his chest. He was fully asleep when they arrived ten minutes later.

“On your feet, now!” the voice woke Astralis. He casually opened his eyes to assess the response he had solicited. Two full squads of what looked to be poor foot soldiers stood in a half-circle in front of him. He sensed four hidden behind him, surely with blaster rifles trained to his head.

“No problem” was his response as he pulled his legs underneath himself and stood, hands raised to each side. “ it looking for trouble”.

“Keep your hands up! You’re alone, did your team leave you? Who are you with?” The lieutenant had a nasal, annoying voice. At least it held a small amount of the confidence earned from leading men in combat.

“Not with anyone. You saw the force lightning so you know that I don’t generally run with a unit”

At that, a short robed figure stepped out from behind the large star palm to the right of the lieutenant. “Why are you here?” Asked the Jedi.

“Same reason as you, I’d think” Astralis didn’t give the Jedi a chance to respond before saying “I’m not going to offer any resistance, I just want to leave. I have traipsed through the jungle as long as I care to and the reward isn’t enough for me to continue. Have fun searching, I didn’t find a damn thing. Time for me to cut my losses and head back to Nar Shaddaa ”.

“We shall see” the Jedi raised his hand and Astralis felt the weak attempt to perform a stasis hold. He easily shrugged it off with his superior abilities; going slightly rigid and looking shocked.

“Release me!” Astralis shouted, keeping himself absolutely still.

The ruse worked and the Jedi squinted and closed his fingers slightly as his hand seemed to reach towards Astralis. “Bring him along” the Jedi commanded and two soldiers holstered their blaster pistols, starting towards Astralis. One reached and brought Astralis’ right hand down from the elbow since he couldn’t reach his wrist. Astralis allowed himself to be bound.

The lieutenant approached and whined “surrounded, are we?” with a snide grin. “Did you expect us to flee?” He didn’t wait for a response but threw back Astralis’ cloak to check for weapons. He found none. “Nice armor, Sith scum” the lieutenant finished his search and bent to retrieve Astralis’ helmet. “You are ill-prepared and ill-equipped. No surprise that your foolish attempt to retrieve the treasures of Mount Tantiss has failed.”

“Like I said, I’m done - giving up and going home. No resistance”.

“You’ll stay awhile. Master Lyzell will decide what is to be done with you”. Astralis yawned, a bit annoyed that his eyes teared up and reddened and he was unable to rub them. “Take him to base and put him in the cell” the lieutenant turned away and the two soldiers walked Astralis off through the jungle. The young and inexperienced Jedi led the way and in a few minutes, Astralis found himself in a not-so-rundown structure of the original base. He was placed into a forgotten cell beneath the facility at Mount Tantiss. The red laser screen hummed to life while Astralis rubbed his wrists where the stun cuffs had been. The three that had brought him here sat just outside. The Jedi padawan who had “captured” Astralis spoke.

“We are the Seekers of Light. You will wait here until tomorrow when Master Lyzell arrives. He will decide what to do with you”.

“As I’ve said, I am no threat - I just want to leave”. Astralis repeated. He didn’t expect less but he also just didn’t want to be bothered, so the less they said the better. He sat on the durasteel shelf that served as a bed in the small cell. He rotated to his left, swinging his feet up. He kicked an old clone commando helmet and several other pieces of trash off the end and laid back. He was asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

After several hours of much-appreciated sleep, Astralis awoke. A quick survey revealed that only one soldier remained to guard him. He surveyed the call and the junk he had kicked off the bed. The helmet was just as he thought - no visor though. An old data pad that looked as if it hadn’t been functional in years. There was a small blaster with a huge and obvious crack in the power supply. A disused and rusty cybernetic hand and a utility belt with only two pouches. The belt was the standard issue for storm troopers. This junk was obviously thrown into the cell to clear the adjoining room’s desk. Astralis bent to retrieve the utility belt and checked the pouches. A small fusion cutter (looked to be a F-187) and a tiny hologram projector were in the first pouch. The second contained only a glowrod that flickered on and off periodically. Astralis thumbed the hologram projector on amd a miniature holographic Palpatine smiled and said ‘welcome to Mount Tantiss’ before glitching hard and repeating itself. He thumbed it off and tossed it in the corner. The sound alerted the sentry to the fact that Astralis was awake. The lackey turned and shouted at Astralis.

“Keep it down in there!”

Astralis laid aside the rest of the useless junk and arced lightning into the laser screen. The lightning popped and sizzled, and shorted out the screen. Without the red haze of the laser screen of the cell, the foot soldier paled quite noticeably. Before he could unholster his blaster pistol the poor sentry was struck in the chest by another blast of force lightning. Astralis held this one, gritting his teeth and pouring the force into it. The sentry died. Astralis left. When he got outside he checked his bearings and cast his senses towards his ship. The troops had moved off in the other direction, spread out to search the ruins. Astralis ran towards his ship, and stopped halfway there to retrieve his belongings from under the fallen log he had been “captured” on. He ran the rest of the way to his yacht. While running, he had the ship prepare for departure and once there, was able to quickly leave the horrible planet - WITH the Holocrons he’d been tasked to retrieve.

2 Jedi's and 2 Senile Droids Walk into an Old Secret Imperial Base

Bridge, Corra IV

Kalen looking at the half filled cargo crater. It appeared as though D had only packed the first page of the 3 page list of items that they needed for this mission. It was calamity in the making. None of the critical gear made the trip. The Jedi reminded himself that it was probably his fault for not explaining things better for the droid. Still, a hint of rage at the droid incompetence began to bubble up within him. It didnt help that Karracca new(but very old) R3 droid just chiped his binary giggles from the corner.

“I would never forget to read the second page of anything Master Joss.” Reece beep booped.

“Oh you mind your circuits you flea ridden tin can” D said to his robot counterpart.

Kalen was looking at his datalink with the first page if the ‘mission equipment’ list open, which read-

-Glowrod with a flickering charge

-Emperor Palpatine Hologram Projector, stuck on loop

-Imperial Datapad with a locked interface

-BlasTech DH-17 Blaster Pistol with a cracked power pack

-Stormtrooper Utility Belt, missing most pouches

-Destro-6 demolition charge trigger, but no charge

-F-187 fusioncutter

-Rusted Cybernetic Hand

-Clone Commando Helmet missing visor

Now, exactly why Kalen and Karracca had needed those specific items, well, that info will be lost to the sands of time. But what was important was that none of it was mission critical. This was the second mistake of its kind that the protocol droid had made this week.

“So if you read the second page D, where is the stuff from the second and third pages?”

“In the other cargo crater sir.” D said with a bow.

“And why would you forget to load the second crater then?” 

“I didn't forget to load it Master Joss. On my word, lest I be disassembled sir.” D rambled.

“Then who forgot to load it?” Kalen began pacing back and forth in the small 5 metre by 5 metre bridge of the Corra IV.

“I don't know sir. I saw it down in the hold just yesterday.”

“Wait yesterday…you saw it onboard yesterday? So you mean the other crate is onboard?” Kalen sounded relieved and engaged at the same time.

“Well yes, I assume so sir as we haven't landed anywhere or stopped for a few days.” the droid said matter-of-factly.

“I swear sometimes D, you're lucky sliced protocol droids are so expensive. Otherwise I might be half tempted to put your cranium through a bulkhead. Grrrr.” Kalen said as he stormed out, heading to the main cargo hold below them. Brushing past Corra with a grunt.

“Whats wrong babe, she called after him…you guys aren't still teasing him are you.” She said as she walked in and took a seat in Kalen pilots chair, something only she was allowed to do.

Karracca and Reece(R3-E5) as usual, began gossiping back and forth in Shryiwook and binary respectively. The two had actually been reunited by a twist of fate when Karracca was looking for an astromech and came across Reece in the classified ads of Interstellar bulletin board. Karracca had actually owned Reece for a few years three and a half decades before. Though, Reece had become somewhat more arrogant, depraved, and outright hallucinagenic since the last time they'd been together. The old wookie had learned a few days after buying him that the plucky little droid had avoided a memory wipe since Karracca had sold him. At random times throughout the week since he had taken possession of him again Reece would randomly mention to Karracca he had found out the answer. Each time Karra would brush off the astromech as just rambling due to his memory circuits being nearly full. But as they got closer to Wayland, the droid had become more and more urgent in his proclamations.

Finally, as they landed on Wayland the little R3 droid screaming out ‘the answer’ he had found.

“The answer to what Reece?” Kalen relented on behalf of Karracca just so he didn't have to hear the droid natter about it anymore.

“The answer to whether or not the Emperor had a child.”

“Really Reece? Yeah, we know he did, there was like, two direct-to-net holovids released about it just last week.” Kalen replied.

Reece, who thought he had found out a galaxy shaking secret and had diligently held that secret in for so long stoo stoically for a moment. He had planned to keep the secret until he met up with some trusted sidekicks(yes, Reece was so hallucinagenic, that he actually views humanoids as his sidekicks) who could help him solve the case. But instead, his hopes of ever lasting glory for himself and his kind faded yet again and he cooed and moaned, and spiralled into a deep state of droid depression for a few days.

Jastin Marek’s Diary

DO NOT READ!!

6:30pm, October 1st, 43 ABY Exciting update! Things with Lira seem to be going really well. When I got to the park this afternoon, she was already there waiting for me. She seemed to have a small cough, so I handed her my handkerchief—I knew it would come in handy at some point.

Then we took a lovely stroll and watched the sunset. I told her about my ongoing monthly self portrait project. She seemed interested, and we made tentative plans to review the older ones, from back when I was a kid. She seemed excited about the one I have planned for tomorrow, and said I’ve got the right haircut for it. That came as a relief, because I spent quite a lot of credits on this haircut.

Anyway, as we walked, she had her arm around my arm almost the whole time! I even got the chance to be a real gentleman when she accidentally stumbled. I caught her as she fell—funnily enough, she accidentally bit me on her way down! She was super apologetic about it though, and we had a good laugh. I did unfortunately bleed a bit on her shirt though, so she had to go back into her apartment to change.

Now I’m waiting outside, breathing in the cool air on a bench, fitting in a quick journal entry while I wait for her. Up next we are headed for the Last Kaal to get some drinks and see where the night takes us. Major first date energy. Okay diary, gotta go. Think she’s headed down now.

7:23pm, October 1st, 43 ABY You just never can tell, can you? That was… well, okay, fine, they can’t all be winners. Sometimes you just have off nights, right?

So Lira did come down, and I walked her to the bar. She seemed to be walking a bit sluggish, but maybe I’m just not used to having to match pace with someone else. She got really cold all of a sudden about halfway there, so I was able to give her my jacket, which was pretty cool I guess. But when we got into the bar, she was all tapped out after the first drink. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to be out all night, but one drink? She started coughing and sneezing, excused herself to the restroom, and then came back and told me goodnight. Didn’t even let me walk her home, for kriff’s sake!

Now I’m sitting at the bar, having my second drink and scrawling this entry like a loser. Can’t tell after the alcohol, but I feel like I’m getting a sore throat now. Great. Gotta go, bartender is looking at me like I’m crazy.

7:57pm, October 1st, 43 ABY Just got home. Don’t usually write this much in one day. But I feel… really weird.

Came on fast, right before I left the bar.

Just had to get out of there.

Bite mark from Lira is swollen. Real bad cough.

Sorry about the messy pages…

I don’t

Maybe could be

Just practicing my drawing

No, I

You should see this

I don’t

No, I don’t

Normal?

Is this, does it look?

Normal?

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Aleho knew this was not the type of archaeological site she typically visited, but there was something about delving into the recent past to uncover truths. Ashura had taught her a great deal about the Galactic Empire and its various activities. Mount Tantiss was one such activity, as it housed Palpatine's secret storehouse, and due to that, the locals believed it to be cursed.

She mused all this over as she piloted the Joben T-85 speeder bike to the location, her mountain destination growing larger as she approached. The Sith knew she had to be wary because this was a hotbed of scavengers and wildlife lying in wait. Aleho wasn't too concerned as she believed she'd have it handled if anything did pop up in her way.

Finally, after several hours of travelling, she arrived at the base, and it was clear that she wasn't alone, as a team of three guards stood outside on watch. Aleho realised that they were lookouts to alert the people inside if someone was coming. This was troublesome and not what she wanted. Her master had chastised her for lacking passion apart from just archaeology, and that she'd reach a bottleneck on how much she could grow as a Sith, but the Knight was confident in her skills.

Deciding to have a little fun with these goons, Aleho used her necromanctic Force powers to create a wraith from where she was undercover. The ghastly, gruesome entity looked at her, and she then pointed over to the three guards while whispering.

"Go say hello to them."

The wraith nodded her head and moved off while Aleho used her teleportation ability to "blink step" (as she liked to call it) another spot to watch the fun. The three guards were chatting and taking it easy rather than actually working, so when the wraith appeared and said, "Hello," they all screamed like five-year-old girls while firing their blasters at it. The wraith fraigle, having been hit with blaster bolts, quickly fell apart. However, the distraction was enough for her to "blink step" up to them. The last thing they heard was the sound of a lightsaber ignited and being swung.

Aleho didn't want to pat herself on the back too much, as the likelihood of those inside coming out to investigate was high. So, she decided to go on the offensive and entered the complex. It wasn't hard to track down the others as they were making quite a noise, and the concept of stealth seemed like a foreign concept to them. The question was how best to mess with them.

Then she decided not to bother and rushed out to attack. Her stamina, her mastery of her lightsaber form, her strength and of course the ability to amplify herself through the Force. All of this combined proved to be enough to handle the remaining peons standing in her way. The sounds of blaster bolts, swearing, lightsaber cutting through people and whatever else was in its path dominated. Aleho made sure to end each one of them in the most efficient way possible without getting too cocky.

Until it was just her standing in the room, along with corpses littered about the floor. Honestly, it hadn't been hard, and likely these people were not the best out there; otherwise, she would have had a bit more challenge. Still, she had time now to investigate and see what she could find.

Who said history was boring? Aleho certainly didn't, but she was one of the few who could go into dangerous places and uncover the secrets there.

Mount Tantiss Expedition

The mission was seemingly simple. Head to an old secret Imperial research facility on the planet Wayland, proceed down to the base that was built into the side of a mountain, and retrieve a device in a laboratory.

Karracca warned Kalen about the endless dangers they might face on the planet and within the base, but Kalen appeared unfazed by the warnings. A contract was a contract, and this one had a nice price tag on it. So they were going to at least try. As they approached the planet even D three in a cryptic warning.

“Uh, Master Joss, I should have you know, that 2 of my previous Masters both attempted to enter the base we are now heading for. Neither returned.”

“Really? So what happened to you after your Master didn't return D.” Kalen replied.

“Well Master. Each of those times led to brief periods of me functioning as an autonomous cybernetic being. Truly disturbing and terrifying times that I'd rather not talk about. Suffice to say I found a new Master quite quickly each time. I found that I'm temperamentally ill suited to enjoying freedom and liberty, how you humanoids deal with the constant choices and countless potentialities will forever escape me.” the protocol droid said, sounding almost poetic.

“Wow…so how long did you have you’re freedom each time?”

“Less than 72 hours on each occasion sir. The second I nearly turned myself in for scrapping…”

“Fooooof…well I'm glad you didn't buddy. But the 3 of us are together now. So if we don't return, at least we'll die together.”

“My apologies Master, but that isn't very reassuring.” The droid said before gazing out the cockpit window, eyes flickering with light, as if remembering something.

After they landed in a clearing about 800 yards away from the mountain base and suited the trio walked down the ramp amd stared into the dark jungle around them. It was only mid afternoon by the eery blackness loomed in the large TRIPLE canopy jungle. Various sounds of random jungle creatures could be heard all around them. D informed them that several were notable dangerous predatory species that would like stalking and hunt him and Master Karracca.

“Thanks D, but we got blasters and lightsabers. We'll be alright.” Kalen said he stepped off, walking towards the treeline as the wookie and droid tentatively began following him.

Before they got to the edge of the clearing an raspy and evil sounding voice rang on both Kalem and Karra's ears.

‘Those who enter, never exit.’

Kalen stopped and turned to hos companion “Did you guys hear that?” The first signs of apprehension entered his voice.

“Hear what Master?” D said.

“I heard it kid. Sounded like the Emperor to me.” Karracca growled. He had heard the voice of the long dead Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious before, many times. It was unmistakable.

“Emperor of wha…oh, you mean that Emperor.” The holovids about the fall of the Empire and the events of nearly a decade before often referenced or hinted at the Dark Sith Lord, and Kalen quickly clued in.

“Yeah, that one. I'm telling you kid, this is a bad idea.” Karracca growled.

“Hmm, spooky.” He took a few more steps towards the mountain and heard the insidious disembodied voice again.

‘Yes Jedi, come to my lair.’

“Alright then…uh, everyone back on the ship, lets get the kark outta here. No reward is worth this kinna Sithy weirdness.nope, nope, that's a whole bucket of nope.” Kalen said as he felt a corkscrew of goosebumps rush up his spine. He wasn't a coward, but he also wasn't suicidal. The trio got back on the Corra IV and beat feet, heading out of the system and away of this infernal place.

Astralis was nervous, but he quickly suppressed that. He was not the best at standing in front of crowds. He could lead men - and had - but this was not the same. No blood-lust, no adrenaline - just a gut-wrenching twisting as he thought about what he was about to do. The rear curtain, which he was behind, slid open a bit as the emcee finished his introduction, beckoning Astralis to the stage. He walked through the split in the rear curtain, only hanging up in it slightly. He stumbled as he extricated himself and his massive body rode its inertia all the way to the floor. The wooden stage with air underneath might as well have been a drum - it absolutely THUNDERED when Astralis fell in his face. The crown erupted in laughter. The laughter didn’t die down much as the giant in black got to his feet trying to muster some small amount of dignity. “Well at least I started off my set with a laugh!” Astralis yelled - few heard him over the laughter. Astralis spread his arms wide and walked to the mic. “Thank you! I’ll be here all week! Try the veal!” Low comedy and pratfalls was not what he had planned for, but one of the few things he knew was to give the crowd what it wanted. “ relieve it or not, that’s was truly an accident” Astralis explained to the laughing and cheering crowd. “Really!” he plead but they only laughed a little louder. “Okay then, perhaps now you’re ready for a joke?” Astralis probed the crowd - they were quieting down so he took a deep breath and was about to start his set - when he remembered what had just come through his mind moments before - give the crowd what it wants. He thought as quickly as he could, then decided that a bit of a bloody nose might just be worth the laughs. He decided to “accidentally” trip up the mic stand and hit himself with it. He reached for the microphone stand but reached a little too hard, and pushed the mic stand awkwardly forward, seemingly accidentally. As the stand fell towards the audience Astralis stepped on the weighted disc-shaped base, jerking the thin metal rod back up - and right into his nuts. He doubled over and let out a truly painful sounding “OOOF”. The laughing got louder, along with several groans at the direction Astralis was going. Red-faced and trying to catch his breath from the nut-shot Astralis blew air through his mouth, cheeks bellowed out - he held one hand up for quiet. “What short fucker was out here before me? That was supposed to hit me in the face!” He said into the mic. The crowd renewed the almost dead roaring of laughter. “Okay, that’s all I’ve got! Hope your ready for the incomparable Krima!” Astralis spread his arms wide, took a bow, and walked gingerly off stage, careful not to let his aching testicles touch the sides of his legs. His exit was slow, a bit bow-legged, and comic as he tiptoed. Applause and laughter followed him, so despite not doing a single word of his planned set, this turned out to be the most successful show he’d ever done.