Intruders on Caina

Caina's orbit, Cocytus System

It was once of those days when Captain Caileta felt she was being punished for her services to the Empire. Days on duty aboard the Yavin Runner were dull and lack of any excitement, all the contrary to what she was looking for when she signed up in the Academy. Supposedly she was to intercept pirates while keeping a low profile, but with the Yavin Runner stationed close to Caina, no one was stupid enough to show up and put a threat to the darkest House of Scholae Palatinae. Day after day her vessel scanned transport ships hoping to find anything that could be considered dangerous, and day after day the most interesting notes on her journal were the finding of smuggled goods, which she was supposed to let them go. Whoever was in control of Caina knew about the illegal goods being transported from and to the planet, and wanted that traffic to keep flowing. So day by day, the mood of Caileta and her second, Lieutenant Barrezz, was turning worse and worse.

She was sitting at the bridge while contemplating these thoughts when that ship appeared. Long range scanners picked up its position and the usual protocol of casual approach and scanning began. By the time the short range scanners were showing the presence of the ship at close range, there was still no visual on it. Alarms were raised, and Caileta felt her blood pumping through her veins for the first time since she was assigned to that boring post.

The ship didn't answer to any attempt of communication and flew past the Yavin Runner without being seen. How, none of the technical officers on board could explain. Captain Caileta gave order to scramble a group of TIE-Interceptors and take care of the strange ship. Her second in command, Lieutenant Barrezz, acknowledged as the best pilot on the ship, volunteered to lead the group of TIEs.

The small starfighters were launched from the hangar bay of the Yavin Runner and set immediately to hunt their target. A proton missile was launched to show the pilots of the small TIE the exact location of the rogue ship, also hoping to stop the advance of the silent vessel, if not destroying it. Whatever they were fighting was not a common enemy, Caileta thought, it had to be a prototype, something never seen before. But when the missile reached the point where the invisible ship was supposed to be, it just disappeared. No explosions, no sounds, nothing.

It took the starfighters a few moments to react, though they all flew converging to the supposed location of the ship firing all their lasers in an incessant bombardment towards their enemy, filling the void with a cascade of violent green bolts of energy. Even for the Yavin Runner, such attack would have been too much for the ship to handle, but all light ceased to exist when the shots were close to the enemy ship. Seconds went by and Barrezz ordered the squadron to stop firing, after seeing that whatever that ship was, it was obvious that it was not receiving any damage.

Suddenly, Barrezz opened a comm link with the Yavin Runner bridge, though his voice was not the usual servile and weak voice that was so common in him. This was a voice used to command.

"This is Knight Kamalas, I repeat, this is Knight Kamalas. Override all orders and prioritize message to ground headquarters with code 09524. I repeat, prioritize message with code 09524."

Captain Caileta sat shocked on her chair. Barrezz was not a Lieutenant, he was not even Barrezz, but some sort of spy or secret agent. Not only that, but he was asking to send a code she had never heard of to Caina. What was going on?

Barrezz, or Kamalas, as he called himself, suddenly accelerated his Interceptor and rammed the void where the enemy ship was supposed to be located. The starfighter disappeared as well for a fraction of a second, and then a huge explosion broke the silence. The artificial emptiness that was around the mysterious ship vanished, though it was impossible to see the silhouette of the enemy ship between the fires covering it. Whatever it was, it suddenly turned towards the atmosphere and started a violent descent towards the northern regions of the planet. Captain Caileta, still in shock, didn't manage to order an attack on the ship. Only the strong grip she had on the arms of her chair made obvious the tension she was experiencing.

As the seconds passed, the Captain got out of her shock, and lowering her head she let a faint order get out of her mouth. "Communications, send that message. Report also the dead of Lieutenant Barrezz, or Kamalas, whoever he was."

She looked down at Caina, still wondering what was going on. Getting up from her chair, with a tired expression, she left the command of the ship to the rest of the officers in the bridge. Then she abandoned the bridge, walking slowly towards her quarters. Perhaps she was not made to be Captain after all...

Introduction

I hope you're ready, guys, Excidium is in full motion and this month is the beginning of something completely new and exciting for our House. Instead leading the story of the House towards one direction or another, we're giving you the chance to shape this story with your ideas and your good work. This is just the beginning though, as I said, and think of it as a run-on where only the best can steer the story in the direction they'd like. But that's not all. December and January have brought so many changes to Excidium that it's hard to begin naming them. I'll give it a try, though. Keep reading!

What has been going on?

It all started with what I like to call "the New Wave". Recruitment went somewhat a bit over what we're used to number-wise, but the quality of these new recruits has been astonishing so far. We've also seen some returning, full of great ideas for the future of the House. Together, plus the usual insane activity levels of our older members, my mail has been exploding several times with notifications. I'm very proud and excited about what is going on, so much that I almost forgot that we belong to a bigger club!

Anyway, some may have catch some news about a new Battleteam being created within Excidium. This initiative has been proposed by Shadow Nighthunter and the summit has greenlit this proposal. Members of the House have already expressed their interest in joining his new subunit, so stay tuned for more information about it! Also, as you can see below, you can also influence in the Battleteam creation by suggesting what its new name should be.

This sounds great, how can I participate?

I'm glad you asked! Maybe you did not, but this may interest you anyway. You want crescents? You want your name penned forever in Excidium's history? You want fun? Join these competitions below then!

• Chapter 1: Intruders on Caina - Did you read the intro fiction? If you want to have a saying in what is going to happen and set the intro for the next month, this is where you have to sign up.
• The Weakest Link - We all have flaws, it's what makes us human (or Twi'lek, or Wookie... you get the point). This competition is about developing your character and improving it through an inner voyage of inner discovery.
• Garden Warfare - Not all is going to be that serious, isn't it? Our beloved Quaestor brings us a nice and light gaming competition of Plant vs. Zombies. Kill those b... zombies!
• What is going on?! - There are times we wish we didn't get up from bed that day and nothing goes right. Well, if you join, be prepared to give your worse in one of those days!
• Stickman, I choose you! - Are you good drawing, making those cool flipbooks that look like animations, or straight away doing animations? Then get to work, this is a really interesting competition and I hope that will get many entries, just to see the results!
• Save the Squidlings: Fight for Supremacy - Adorable baby Quarrens are in danger, and people gather to see who's more fit to save them. Will you be the one?
• Save the Squidlings: Paint me a Picture (or two) - Draw a small two picture story of your heroic efforts to save the Squidlings! These little guys are really in trouble, it seems.
• Save the Squidlings: A Story to Tell - Ok, you fought to see who was the right choice to save them, you have shown how you did it, but people want to hear more about it. Care to tell us the whole story?

Be also on the lookout for "Who are ya working for?", the naming competition for our new Battleteam, starting the last day of this month!

Accomplishments

I really cannot do this. You guys really did so much that I would fill pages with what you have accomplished this month. But that doesn't mean that I won't mention all of you. This is a list of astonishing Excidium members that have taken over the Shadow Academy, promoted, wrote, created competitions and earned so much since the beginning of the year:

• Archangel Palpatine
• Shadow Nighthunter
• Zehsaa Hysh
• Blade Ta'var
• Alara Deathbane

Our big guy and the "Golden Girls" have been the most active members this month, to a level that is hard to describe. Thank you to all of you for making us feel proud of being part of Excidium!

Hey... I really didn't want to read all this...

Don't worry, I'll shorten it for you!

• We got new people, and they are amazing!
• The Shadow Academy's staff must be thinking on charging us... too many SA courses taken!
• We have so many competitions that you will be hands full the next month!
• Something bad is going on in our home planet.
• No, really. It's TRULY bad.

I'll see you on the other side. Meanwhile, take care, for the night is dark and full of terrors.