Chapter One

_The facade of night was hovering over the ragged ruins of District IV's borders deep within Eden City on Yridia IX. What were once neon-blazing edifices slumped stoically in lumps of brick and concrete; what were once sterile white ambulances lay stranded, brown with rust where they had been abandoned in the inferno. Beyond that broken landscape, dark alleys that had escaped the influence of lingering radiation still lay barren like an untouched womb, the walls seeming to expand and breathe like the inner flesh. Even as late-night travelers screeched and reveled in the parts of the entertainment district that remained intact and unspeakably alive, many streets had succumbed to a quieter, more somber fate and awaited no footsteps upon its pavement.

The year was 33 ABY. And Those To Be Reckoned With were hunting for their next most wanted.

Donning the dark, shadowy attire as distributed from the team's armory, Dralin Fortea scaled the heights of a crooked stairwell winding through the broken infrastructure of a condemned casino building. He shielded his eyes from the pastel pink glare of a liquor store sign in front of him, and he brushed away the strands of his fiery hair as he descended into the nearest dark corridor of the district. The pavement seemed to shudder as he ran, as if it were flinching from his approach, or perhaps from the silver hilt he was clutching in his hand.

In the next few minutes, Dralin began to see familiar shadows swooping down upon the premises like birds of prey with their heavy feathered wings outstretched. The scrape of their boots was barely audible under the rush of wind through the narrow mouths of the alleyways, as the adjacent buildings and walls swallowed up the sound and belched out silence. Beautiful, efficient silence. Dralin let his right leg swing out from under him as he briskly swerved around the corner, his eyes set on the man he had been looking for the entire forsaken evening.

He was dressed nicely for a wanderer of the night, designer shoes clicking as he whistled with his hands deep in the pockets of his long, bulky coat. Out of the corner of his eye, Dralin spotted the tall silhouette of a fellow Reckoner disappearing and reappearing in the dark space as if traveling through an endless wind tunnel. He saw another skip across the top of a lower building, the glint of a blaster rifle in the crook of his arm. The man was whistling an old tune, a familiar one. Dralin cocked his head and listened for a while. Then he assumed his position as the target skidded to a halt and a shadow dropped gracefully to the ground in front of him.

It didn't take long to get the reaction the team needed.

With a guttural yelp, the man stepped back, only to feel Dralin's breath on the nape of his neck as he saw the holdout blaster spin in the victim's hand like a metal top. The man stepped back, lobbed three blaster bolts at the Reckoner behind him, missed, and fired three more. Dralin felt the heat of his lightsaber as he activated it, deflecting the white-hot beams as if scattering stones onto the barely lit alleyway. He could smell the sizzle of the bolts as they made contact with the pavement, burning the stone and leaving black scars in memorial of their brief journey.

Dralin eyed the surrounding structures, the swelling walls as if they threatened to overwhelm the movements of the team. The man let his blaster fall to the ground. He turned to disappear onto a nearby street, only to scream as he was bored down upon by flourescent yellow eyes. His heavy gauntleted hand ripping through the heavy air as if it were black velvet, Doni Tzu nonchalantly Force-shoved the man face-first into the nearest wall, watching him crumple to the ground with blood spurting from his nose like a broken faucet. It all seemed to have been done in silence, even as Mechronage Saltherion dropped from his sniper position and moved to flank Commander Teia Coran as she lifted her hood from her face.

Teia held up a hand as Mechronage raised his rifle and cocked it. Dralin breathed deeply, letting the resulting fog warm his chin and cheeks. The sounds of District Sin continued in their neverending crescendo, music blaring loudly from a pub nearby. The Knight deactivated his saber, watched as Doni Tzu pulled the moaning man to his feet, and stared into his victim's face mixed with blood and tears.

"Please," the man was saying, though his words were heavy with clotted, broken tissue. "Please, have mercy on me..."

Dralin cut him off with a swipe to the brow, the hilt giving an audible crack to the cranium as the bone splintered and the man dropped like a loose weight. Doni Tzu exhaled as if frustrated, and with his hands he tore the front of the man's coat open, exposing the two thermal detonators latched to his belt. He turned to face Teia.

"Just as we thought. He's loaded."

Teia nodded. "Can't argue with the data we were given. The intel we get is always pretty accurate." She stooped down and sifted her hand through the unconscious man's coat, pulling out whatever tangible identification was there. "Still, if this is the man we were looking for..."

"Assassin. Been trying to get Rend with a detonator or a grenade for weeks. I know," Doni Tzu finished Teia's thoughts for her. He directed his gaze to the lights, blurred in the generated haze. "So...I suppose we do the usual with him?"

"We'll take him to District II first. Get the police to write a report on him," Teia said, and Dralin raised an eyebrow amusedly. The report was just polite paperwork, compared to where they took their prisoners next. The regular Yridian police normally didn't get to keep these targets incarcerated. "After that, we take him to the usual spot. Get information on the explosives he was using. Get him to talk."

"Sounds like busy work," Mechronage grumbled, and Dralin rolled his eyes.

"Sounds like business as usual," he retorted, and he bent down to lift the man from the ground and swing him roughly over his shoulder. The man was light and easy to carry, even though his face was bloated with blood and threatened to stain the Dark Jedi's immaculate robes.

In a singular unit, the Reckoners disappeared into the dimness of the district, sweeping the dust from the streets with their quiet footfalls. If this man was anything like the other troublemakers they had recently put up with, then this was a pattern that would have to be brought up with the higher leaders of the clan. It would be of particular concern, and not just to Those To Be Reckoned With.

---

"So," Ronovi muttered, her breath fogging up her glass as she kept the whiskey close to her lips in order not to spit at the Ubese in front of her, "I finally get you as a Proconsul, someone I could tolerate as an anti-social, disgruntled man, and you tell me you've been a damn woman all along?!"

The situation couldn't have been more perfect for Ronovi to desire a strong drink even more. She bore her organic eye into the gray visage of Ji K'awiil, sitting across from the Consul's desk with his...no, her helmet bouncing on her knee. The drawn cheekbones, the deeply set eyes glowing from above the breathing mask, the ceremonial braids gathered at the nape of her neck...Ji had known how to play the role of a butch assassin, and well. Now as Ronovi felt her veins stretch like elastic from the flesh of her forehead, she could sense that Ji was amused by her higher up's reaction.

'You think the Imperials would've hired a woman to do a man's job?" she asked, and her vocal chords scraped against one another as she forced her thin, dry voice from her throat.

"Yeah, what's your point? Hell, I'm a woman and I was an underground fighter," Ronovi growled. "But you didn't see me pretending I had...well..."

"You would never understand my sacrifices," Ji continued, ignoring Ronovi's interruption. "I'm Proconsul now. I don't need to pretend anymore." And she finished talking before her voice completely gave out, signing a gesture of dismissal toward the Consul's alleged ignorance.

Ronovi bit furiously down on the inside of her cheek and drained her glass before setting it down with an angry clatter on the desk, scattering datapads from their resting places. Even as Aedile and Quaestor of Cestus, relations had been tense between the two Dark Jedi in the room, and here they were, settled in the same castle, working for the same fiefdom. And now that this little insight had been discovered, the new Consul didn't know how she'd manage to maintain her sanity with K'awiil marching around the vicinity with her head raised high under that respirator. She moved toward the half-empty bottle to refill her glass when a castle worker stomped into the room, bowing curtly to the Epicanthix as Ji settled back into her helmet.

"Ma'am," he said, "we've received a transmission from the ambassador sent to Yridia IV. He claims the interim governor has some matters of concern to discuss with you."

"Does he now?" Ronovi asked, raising an eyebrow. It had been only a few weeks since she had begun setting her sights on fully colonizing Yridia IV, to make it a sufficient economic counter to Yridia IX. She wondered what sort of bargain the fresh-faced Yridian had in mind now.

"Yes, ma'am. He wishes to meet with you, promptly."

"I'll arrive on my own schedule. Thank you very much," Ronovi replied sharply, waving a hand as if to brush away a fly. The castle officer turned briskly down the adjacent corridor and the Epicanthix cast her glare back at Ji. "Looks like you get to hold down the fort for a day or so. But don't get too comfortable, K'awiil. I don't want to come back hearing that the new girl in the room's been messing things up."

"Oh, don't worry, Tavisaen," Ji rasped from under her helmet, mimicking Ronovi's sharp use of the Ubese's surname.

Ronovi snorted bitterly and splashed the sides of her glass with Corellian whiskey. One more for the road, she thought, or she was going to go mad.

---

Another inside job botched. That would be another tally mark for her book. She dipped her feet into the tall grass as she stood overlooking the vast landscape of Yridia IV. The silhouette of the fortress loomed behind her.

There would be no point in continually attacking the clan from the inside. They had grown wary of such tactics since the events following the Eden City Tragedy, and such strategies weren't working anymore. But she could smell the tension brewing from the colonial settlements of the planet she now secretly resided in. She could feel the frustration as the villages were forced into towns, then into cities...the mines pried open again as Tarentum poured the need for economic and governmental development down the people's throats like medicine.

No, there was no point in simply pricking the inner belly of the beast. In order to tame it or even kill it, one was better off with an army and generals. And Nilani knew that for the situation at hand, she would need just that._

Hello, everyone. What you just read was the first installment of our upcoming clan story arc. While there are no set dates for the main events, I figured I'd give you guys something to read and explain what sort of plans we had for the story arc. As I said in my last report, every six months we will have a clan-wide story arc, complete with a clan-wide run-on. This will be one of the more serious storylines, contributing to our clan lore and helping further develop our new houses.

Over the next few months, you will see updates to this storyline, and not just written by me. House leaders, BT leaders, your Rollmaster of Fiction, your Proconsul, and even you will have a chance to contribute to the storyline. I have left the enemy vague on purpose, because I want everyone to become involved in what plot could possibly unfold in this story. No micromanaging, no dictating. This will be an all-clan effort.

I have instructed Raiju to create a thread in the Tarentum message boards to contain each chapter of the new clan storyline (which, by the way, have been updated with subforums for Kaerner and Reinthaler, so each Quaestor and Aedile should alert the Grand Master and the Seneschal of who should be granted moderating powers), but we will only create that thread once we have a title for the story arc. That's where you guys come in. When you read this piece, what do you imagine as an appropriate title? If enough of you send me ideas, I may make this a clan-wide competition.

As you've noticed by now, I have decided on a header and dividers to use for my reports. A lot of people volunteered to make me headers, and I was more than happy to take them in and choose the best one. While the work done by Robin Hawk was chosen, below are the other headers and dividers that were made for me. These are the people to go to if you are interested in getting some good report headers should you be a house or clan leader:

Archangel:

Impetus M'Nar:

Driftan Housan:

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to make me a header. I really appreciate the charity.

Development for the houses is going very smoothly. Kaerner and Reinthaler are starting to look very unique in terms of their bases, hierarchal structure, and overall identity. That's a very good thing. It means that both houses offer something very different for each member, and I'm happy for that. House and BT wiki pages have been updated with more information, so if you'd like to view the edits and changes, go to the DJBWiki.

Last week, several house and BT leaders and I held a summit meeting in a separate channel on IRC. While some leaders did not or were unable to attend the meeting, I would say it was a moderate success. Raiju has released the meeting notes to all house summit and BT leaders, so for those of you who missed the meeting, no worries - you have the info now.

I did learn a few things from the meeting, too, and how to more properly hold such sessions. First of all, I will be better with asking for schedules - some members were confused about the final schedule and thought that the meeting would last longer. So I plan to make that clearer in e-mails next month. Second of all, I wish to use Skype as the new medium of communication for the clan meetings. IRC proved to be quite a hassle for me, and I was disconnected halfway through the meeting after five minutes of my typing without knowing I was typing to dead space.

So in order to make the monthly meetings more efficient time-wise and information-wise, all leaders should download Skype and send me their usernames if I do not have them yet. If you don't have a microphone, don't worry - you may type as well in the meeting. But maybe some vocal conversation would be healthy as well, as I tend to be a lot more relaxed when I'm talking rather than typing.

Lately we've been getting some people either recommending Equite promotions for themselves or other people in this clan. That's fine, if you have the proper reasoning for it. And in many cases, Ji and I are getting a lot of activity lists as so-called evidence for a member's allegedly deserved Equite promotion.

For us, becoming an Equite cannot simply come from a regular activity record. While that activity is expected of Journeymen, to become an Equite or earn Equite promotions, you need to prove to us that you can go above and beyond your expected contributions to the clan. Completing an SA exam is not enough to merit you becoming an Equite or earning an Equite promotion. Neither is earning a competition medal. This is the point in your Brotherhood career when you need to raise the bar we've set for you. We expect extra effort, extreme dedication, and of course, a specific duration of time in between promotions. Exemplary work in a leadership position is one way of proving you deserve an Equite promotion. Another way is working on various projects - whether BT-wide, clan-wide, or house-wide - that are not part of the regular Tarentum curriculum. But my point is, an Equite needs to prove to us that he or she can flex some muscles and go, "I can do more than what's expected of me." And an ACC win isn't going to cut it.

Hope this clarifies some questions you may have possibly had, and no hard feelings to those who have recommended promotions that we perhaps don't see members earning yet. We just want to let you know that if you're going to recommend an Equite promotion, you better have a solid reason for it, and not just a list of activity I'd typically see for a promotion to Protector.

And now, time for a segment of the report I like to call Tidbits.

Justicar Kir Katarn is looking for applications for the now open Right Hand of Justice position. If you're a DJK or higher and have some experience in law, this is the job for you. For more information, check the main DB website and e-mail your RHOJ applications to Kir Katarn at [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. The deadline for applications is Friday, April 23rd.

Congratulations to Ji K'awiil, Saitou Tarentae, Scion Altera, and Severon Vercingetorix on their Seals of Loyalty awarded to them on the Day of the Exodus. You have proven to your clan leaders that you are a vital asset to Clan Tarentum. Also, welcome to 33 ABY, biznatches.

Members, check the "Stuff that Matters to Me" section of the Competitions page on the main DB website if you wish to see the competitions that your BTLs or house leaders are releasing. If you have any suggestions for competitions, e-mail them to me, your house summit, or your BTLs, depending on what level you'd like to see the comp run on. In the meantime, there are still two clan-wide competitions being run by me, which I have received very few submissions for. The deadline for both of these competitions is April 25th. Check the Competitions page to find them, and if you participate, you have a very good chance of earning a medal.

Due to work and some technical difficulties, Ji will be releasing his first PCON report next week.

And that concludes this report's edition of Tidbits.

Another segment I wish to start in my reports is a section called Biweekly Awesomeness. Every other week, I will present something I find to be of utmost awesomeness in my report. Now, this awesome "thing" could be Star Wars-related, could be fiction-related, could be gaming-related, could be related to anything. But I'll try to make what I present in this segment worth your time and not just some goofy Youtube video I may have found at 1 AM in the morning while I was drinking a Bulmer's and possibly procrastinating on a paper. Which has totally never, ever happened before because I'm such a diligent student and don't just spend time writing random plays and composing songs on the guitar. ...(Cough)

In today's edition of Biweekly Awesomeness, I would like to shine a light on an incredible artist that Ji discovered on deviantart: Jedi-Art-Trick. Now some of you may be thinking, "Oh, no! Ronovi, are you advertising? There are plenty of artists in the Brotherhood who do their work for free, and you talk about someone completely un-DB-related? Shame on you, you silly dwarf android. Shame on you." Okay, maybe you can call it advertising: I call it promoting. I call it giving an artist a chance to have his work exposed to a wider audience. That's not to undermine the many great artists and contributors to graphics in this Brotherhood - you know who you are, and I commend you for your work. But don't get me wrong, this guy needs more attention, as he is completely deserving of it.

Now, Jedi-Art-Trick is mostly a Star Wars-based artist, though he has worked on various graphic novel projects. More recently, however, Ji and I both requested a commissioned piece from him, detailing our characters as they are portrayed in the Brotherhood. Needless to say, the result was good enough to get me praising him in this report:

Awesome, or totally awesome? As you can see, I'm more than happy to show you guys what Jedi-Art-Trick is capable of creating. Now, does he do his art for free? No, but I found his work to be worth every penny. Not to mention he is very easy to communicate with, he's very flexible, and he's very willing to take your commissions. If you'd like more information on him, click the link below to find him on Deviantart or you can contact me by e-mail at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] and I can give you some information as well as some tips on how to properly request a commission from him:

http://jedi-art-trick.deviantart.com/

And that, my friends, was your recommended medicinal dose of Biweekly Awesomeness.

Boy, this has been a long report, hasn't it? Anyway, here is the only question I received after requesting questions be sent to me to be answered in my reports:

"Are you really bisexual?"

Thank you, Celahir, for such a deep, thought-provoking question. And the broad, mind-blowingly philosophical answer is: No, I am not bisexual. I am in fact a 3'4" android hellbent on destroying the world. And everyone knows that androids have no sexual tendencies. I'm sure that answer won't confuse the heck out of any DBers who had no idea about the joke beforehand. Heh.

Anyway, if you still want to send questions to me for my Ask the Consul section of this report, e-mail them to me at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] or hit me up on IRC.

And now for the long-awaited:

TL;DR

• First chapter of untitled story arc released; send title ideas to me
• New subforums for Kaerner and Reinthaler on the Tarentum message boards; e-mail Muz and Orv in order to organize moderators
• First monthly summit meeting held; future meetings to be held on Skype; meeting notes distributed
• Regular activity does not equal deserving Equite status
• Tidbits: RHOJ position open for applications; Ji, Saitou, Scion, and Severon earn SoLs; participate in competitions, darn it (Check "Stuff That Matters To Me" on Competitions tab on DB main page)
• Biweekly Awesomeness: Jedi-Art-Trick (artist)
• Ask the Consul: No, I am not bisexual, Celahir

Until next Consul report, Tarenti, keep on rockin'.

<right align>Ronovi Tavisaen Tarentae, Consul of Tarentum, PYRG</right>