The Tehpays Claw: Chapter 1 “The Arrival”

CHAPTER ONE: THE ARRIVAL

#Valkyrie #Tiphays Claw

GM: Sabina

IC: Lyra Bathori, Talorac Nathrol Bree

NPCs: Vanadís Zan & Bob

Theme Music: "Inner Light" by: Elderbrook and Bob Moses

https://youtu.be/4DPCHufDWJQ

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Date: 162 ABY [1421 AA]

// Deep Core, sector 5, L-10, Tythos System//

The Battle of Tython: several minutes after the blast:

\*WEEEEHOOOOP\* \*WEEEEHOOOOP\* \*WEEEEHOOOOP\*

Dead in space, alarms went off, panic spread all over the bridge of the Valkyrie. The Bayonet-class Light Cruiser was just another relic from the past, like many of the Darkshield's fleet. But, desperate times call for desperate measures and Halcyon and his wench had been very desperate….

\*Weeeehooop\* weeeehooop\* The skeleton crew ran around, putting out fires and trying to get the ship up and running again before their commander would regain consciousness.

Vanadís Zan, Sith knight lay on the ground. "Commander Zan! Commander Zan!" A young officer rushed towards her, kneeling down to see if she was still alive. "Commander, are you with us?" He asked as she turned her over. She was breathing, but her eyes were closed. The young officer gently grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, trying to wake her. "Commander Zan!"

\*Weeeehooop\* weeeehoooop\* "We need orders!!" Another officer yelled across the bridge. Finally, Vanadís slowly opened her eyes, dazed as she looked up at the young man. "Commander, are you alright?" He asked. For a moment she did nothing, but her memory came back to her. Then suddenly her eyes widened, glowed like a raging fire. She pushed the young officer aside and got back up, "REPORT!!" she yelled like nothing happened. "Power is back online, but our engine is dead, shields down to 40 percent" \*weeeehoooop\* \*weeeehoooop\* The alarm kept going. "What about weapons?... and someone please shut off that alarm!!!" The Anzati Sith ordered. "Heavy Turbolaser Batteries are down.. laser cannons still operational. Commander..we have many wounded.." an officer replied when finally the alarms were shut off. "Wounded? I hope we still have enough to man the guns!.." Zan snarled as she walked to the front, watching the state of the battlefield. Her fiery eyes scanned the ships, looking for a particular one; 'The Saving grace.' She never trusted that man and she had been right about him.

"Why are we moving?" She suddenly noticed, "I thought you said we have no engines" she turned around, glancing at the officers trying to do their jobs. "I don't know Commander, we're caught in some gravitational pull.." "from what?" Zan walked over to one of the work stations, the officer that was supposed to man it, lay hunched over the controls. Aggressively she grabbed the woman by her collar and removed her, dropping her onto the floor before taking the controls of the sensors. "What's that?" She asked out loud as she read the readings and then switched on a live feed from their rear view… a massive vortex of light.. "what's that!!!" She asked again as she saw other ships being pulled in, including The Saving Grace. "We need the engines working NOW!!" "We've tried Commander…" they truly had but without success and even if they had managed to get them working it was too late..

Vanadís watched the feed, eyes growing wider as the vortex came closer. "What is this?" She asked herself and tried to make sense of the sensor readings. But the Valkyrie was a warship not a science vessel and on top of that the sensors were out dated.

The ship began to tremble, "Brace yourself!" she yelled across the bridge as the old Light Cruiser was pulled over the threshold. Pipes began to burst, consoles sparked, lights flickered and for the first time even the Sith Knight was afraid of what was to come..

Date: 1090 BBY [169 AA - after the arrival]

// Deep Core, sector 5, L-10, Tythos System, Sunspot//

"Journeyer Bathori" a voice said as Lyra and Bob descended the ramp of the transport they arrived in. "We're glad you could come at such short notice" a pale skinned man with white hair said as he approached them. He was dressed in a protective suit but without a helmet. "I am Zaarin.. head of safety here at Sunspot." he replied with a smile and held out his hand to Lyra. "Lyra Bathori" the horned feline replied and shook the man's hand "and this is Bob" she said pointing at the strange droid, with tentacle-like arms, hovering next to her. "Greetings Safety Officer Zaarin" the droid responded with his emotionless voice. Zaarin glanced at it, his eyes pausing at the see through part of its head, the Jar. "ah.. yes… I heard about him.. I mean you" he responded as he blinked a couple of times in confusion. His response to Bob didn't surprise Lyra, it was common that people found it strange and didn't really know how to respond to him.

"Well eh… welcome… both of you.." he then said and turned towards the exit. "The Temple Masters speak highly of you, Journeyer Bathori and recommended you specifically for this job" Zaarin said and began his stride out of the hangar. Lyra jerked her head, motioning to her odd companion to come. "So what exactly is the Job? '' Lyra asked as she followed Zaarin. "Before we come to that, let me tell you something about Sunspot and what we do here… Sunspot is only a minor planet, with no moons, at first glance it seems insignificant compared to Tython, right? But we know that isn't true, we both know what happened in the future" he, like every Je'daii of the order, referred to the future in past tense. They saw the disaster that happened at the battle of Tython as a lesson from the galaxy, the Force itself; sending those responsible back to correct their mistakes. Zaarin continued "This rock is in constant flux; earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and even space storms are common here but despite this hostile environment the crust is filled with exotic elements. And you might have noticed something calling you upon your arrival" he glanced at the feline for a moment, probably wondering if she had heard that call, but before she could answer he continued "we found crystals deep below the surface, that ring with the power of the Force. They seem to be different from ordinary kyber crystals… anyway, why we are really here is ofcourse the dark matter. A rare and dangerous element that due to the unique materials and the environment is naturally formed by the planet itself." Zaarin led them through a series of corridors as he continued to speak, using a key card and a security code for each door they passed. "So you can imagine, with the knowledge our ancestors had about the future, they wanted to set up precautionary measures. To make sure never again, a disaster like at the battle of Tython would happen. And that's why they built this place and the entire security net around the planet" there was pride in his voice as he spoke. "We contain the dark matter and protect this planet" he added when they entered what seemed to be a briefing room.

Remaining silent, Lyra stepped inside, closely followed by Bob. "The reason you are here is to help us with the latest upgrades of the containment field" the head of safety said as he walked over to a table on the side "can I get you anything, by the way?" He asked as he pointed at the caff machine on the side table. "No thank you.. I just want to know why I'm here.. you mentioned the containment field?" Lyra replied. "Ofcourse" Zaarin said as he grabbed a mug for himself, "we've been having problems with the containment field around the dark matter well.. since we upgrade it.. " he put th een mug under the machine and pressed a few buttons before the hot caff began to pour into the mug "it's been fluctuating. Quite the opposite effect than we anticipated… and it's not just the field itself flickering, it's more like power surges of the field weakening and strengthening.. we're quite worried it will overload and we can't have that happening near such an unstable and dangerous element as the Dark matter." Zaarin explained, now holding his mug in his hands.

Lyra's furry ears twitched as she tilted her head slightly in surprise "so… I'll be working near the actual dark matter well?" She asked with worry, especially after he just told her how dangerous it was. "Yes.. within the well chamber to be exact.. you'll be wearing a protective suit Of course." Zaarin replied. Lyra's eyes instantly widened in shock "inside!?" He nodded and sipped from the hot caff, "our best mechanics tried using the most advanced droids, but they couldn't fix or even find the problem." "I'm just a journeyer" Lyra responded. "Don't underestimate yourself, you have a unique set of skills that not many possess. You understand and can communicate with computers and technology… we just need you to find the problem and then we can work together to fix it" Zaarin said and held up his mug "you sure you don't want any?" The horned feline just shook her head, feeling even more nervous about her task.

\*[Thirty minutes later]\*

Lyra stepped into the control room,dressed in a protective suit and holding a specially modified helmet under her arm. Bob followed closely. "All suited up and ready, Journeyer Bathori?" Zaarin asked with a smile. Lyra nodded confidently but underneath that facade she was still quite anxious. "Wonderful, come over here for a moment" he motioned to her to join him in front of a large window overlooking a massive subterranean chamber with crystal lined walls. "Down there is the well" he said pointing at a large black hole at the center of the chamber. It was surrounded by several tall pillars that casted a reddish field around the opening. "Those pillars are emitting the inner containment field" Zaarin explained as Lyra gazed down at the large chamber, she could indeed see that the field was fluctuating "Inner containment field?" "Yes, we have several layers of containment: the well itself, the entire chamber, this compound.. We were extra careful. But that one keeps fluctuating. Those pillars are connected to the generator against that wall, which obviously is connected to the control room we are standing in." Lyra nodded, "I'll see what I can find" she said but there was something, she had a bad feeling but assumed it was just her own nerves.

"Wonderful, this way" Zaarin pointed at the door In the corner, "and don't worry, we'll be right here watching over you" he said as he approached the keypad next to the door. Lyra stepped towards the door and motioned to Bob to follow. "Eh.. he is coming?" Zaarin asked, surprised. The hovering metal squid moved closer to the head of safety "I might not be an ordinary droid, but I am fully equipped like one" he said. Zaarin smiled nervously as he stared into the droid's eye but kept glimpsing at the brain floating inside the glass jar. "Ofcourse…" After a moment of awkwardness, Zaarin unlocked the door letting Lyra and Bob inside the chamber.

With a loud click the door closed behind them. "Ok, down we go" Lyra muttered inside her helmet and began walking down the durasteel stairs. Bob however, didn't need to use the stairs so he floated over the railing and straight down to the first pillar. "Any first thoughts?" Lyra asked while still descending into the well chamber. Bob silently moved around the well, scanning the pillars and the containment field. By the time Lyra joined him Bob finally answered "just as Safety officer Zaarin said, these droid sensors can't find anything… but I will try to link with the generator" Bob said and floated towards the generators along the walls.

"I'll see what I can detect" Lyra responded and took a deep calming breath, bringing her focus to the emitters. She closed her eyes and began to reach out through the Force. Raising her arms, palms of her hands forward, close but not touching the containment field. It was difficult to focus, there was much interference. Something she had never felt before and it seemed to come from everywhere. 'The crystals' she suddenly thought to herself and opened her eyes. The walls were lined with them, different shapes, sizes and colors, shimmering in the light.

"I could use some help" she whispered but it wasn't to Bob. Once more she closed her eyes and brought her focus back to the emitters. However, this time the veins beneath her pale skin began to glow. Her symbiote responded and tried to help her focus. "Yes, perfect" she smiled with her eyes still closed trying to connect through the force to the emitters..

Meanwhile, Bob had inserted his scomplink into the port of the generator. Communicating with the machine, the link was spinning back and forth in the port. After a few minutes, he said "I can't find any problems."

Then suddenly, without a warning the containment field lit up, a surge of power traveled from the pillars back to the generator. Bob's scomplink was still connected when the surge reached the socket and blasted him out. The squid flew back and landed on the ground.

Eyes wide, Lyra turned around in shock, it all happened so fast. "Bob! Are you ok?" She asked as she rushed towards the droid. "I am ok" he responded with his robotic voice and slowly floated up. "The power surge didn't come from the generator," he said. Lyra nodded "you are right, the field itself… but that's not possible.." the feline said and rose up again. She moved back to the well and gazed down into its depths, something was wrong, she could feel it.

As she stood there, the containment field began to light up again, this time she could even hear it humming. "Bathori, get back!!" The voice of Zaarin suddenly called out over the coms. Quickly she backed away, eyes locked on the field. The humming became louder, the pillars began to vibrate. "Ok, this isn't good" she said as her breath became more shallow. "Get back here!" Zaarin yelled over the comms again and they could hear the door at the top of the stairs unlocking. Lyra rushed to the stairs, as did Bob, their eyes still on the well. \*FLASH\* The containment field shut down "Kriff!" "Hurry up Journeyer!!"

Above the well a light appeared, small but bright. It grew quickly into a swirling vortex approximately two meters in size. It began to pull, sucking in anything that wasn't attached to the walls or the floor. Lyra was almost at the top of the stairs when she felt a tug, pulling her off her feet. She tried to hold onto the metal railing.. "HELP ME!!!" She screamed and saw in the corner of her eyes that Bob was also trying to hold onto the stairs. But the pull got stronger, Lyra was losing grip and had to let go. Bob saw it, he could have held on but instead he let go following Lyra into the vortex. "AAAAGH!!!!!"

Then as quickly as it had appeared, the portal closed. The containment field switched back on and seemed to be stable for the first time since the upgrade. Bewildered by what just had happened, Zaarin stepped into the well chamber and looked around. Journeyer Bathori and her strange companion were gone. "What have we done?"

Date: 1259 BBY [0 AA]

// Unknown  regions, F - 13 , Zonama Sekot System //

It was chaos total on board the Valkyrie, total panic as no one understood what was happening. "What's the status of our engines!" Commander Zan asked as she stepped to the center of the bridge and sat down on the command chair. The light cruiser was trembling heavily, it was a miracle it was still in one piece. "Engines still down, commander" an officer replied. "What about thrusters? We need to turn this ship around." Zan responded as kept her eye on the live feed of rear cameras. The Saving Grace was still ahead of them, being dragged through this strange Vortex. "The thrusters are too weak for this. The ship would be pulled apart.." the officer replied. "Try transferring power to the rear shields, because this ship isn't made to fly backwards" Zan said and began to use the controls on the armrest of the command chair, accessing the ships sensors.

When Anzati read the readings, she was surprised to learn that this vortex had similarities with a hyperspace wormhole. She had read about it and knew it was a rare anomaly. She glanced up at the live feed, the swirling vortex did remind her a little of hyperspace, but this was definitely something different. Then suddenly, the Saving Grace disappeared from view. "What happened to that ship!?" "It suddenly disappeared, Commander" "disappeared? You mean destroyed?" She asked with a grin as part of her hoped it was destroyed and that Bhaal was gone. "No Commander, there is no wreckage.. there…"

But before the officer could continue the Vortex was suddenly gone, the ship stopped moving entirely. Zan jumped up from her chair, "what just happened!? Reports!!" She yelled. "Navcom is re-calibrating…." the officer replied and glanced at the navcom with a frown "Unknown regions" the officer paused and looked up from his console with confusion in his eyes. "Unknown regions? Where in the unknown regions!?" Zan asked and thought to herself 'so it was a wormhole'. "Ehm… according to this.. eh.. we are in the Zonama Sekot System" they replied.

"Zenoma Sekot?" Zan walks to the front of the bridge, gazing through the window. She knew that name from everything she had learned about the Yuuzhan Vong war. A living world that could travel through space, the last Yuuzhan Vong called it home.. "then where is it?" Zan asked as she gazed around at empty space. "It's. Its not here Commander Zan." Vanadís turned around with a furrowed brow, "what do you mean, not here? It hasn't moved for over thirty years, not since the Sith-Imperial war.." there was an eerie silence on the bridge, all eyes where on Zan and the officer reading the navcom results.

"I… I know Commander, but it's not here.." they trembled as they answered, worried that Vanadís would unleash her wrath on him. "That's impossible, the Navcom must be malfunctioning…" she turned her attention to the rest of the crew "I don't plan on staying here, wherever 'here' is. We need to get back to the fleet.. so start repairs now!!"

// Unknown regions , E-14, Arvacc System, TopaKeyali Outpost//

\*Beep\* \*Beep\* A soft alarm goes off in the control room of Topakeyali Outpost, a scientific space station located on the very edge of the Arvacc system. \*Beep\* \*Beep\* a small red light appears on the star chart on the wall. An amphibian humanoid female walks over to the wall and accesses the control panel. Her eyes widened as she looked at the long range sensor readings that were coming in. "Bortai, could you come have a look at this" the woman asks and glances at a male, sitting behind a different console. He gets up and joins her at the star chart. "This has just come in. An irregularity. It lasted merely seconds." The woman explains.

"I see" the male leans over the console, reading the data. "Could it be?" he whispered.. "I'm sorry Bortai?" The woman responds, curious to know what he meant. "Nothing, we need to send this data to Arvacc at once.. and keep an eye out if something like this occurs again" he ordered and looked up.

"Yes Bortai, I'll send it at once" the female replied and walked away. The male remained there and glanced at the star chart. He had a sparkle in his eyes, one of hope…

// Unknown  regions, F - 13 , Zonama Sekot System //

Spinning out of control, the Je'daii Journeyer was dragged along with the current. Her heart was racing inside her chest, her breath rapid and shallow, Lyra was scared. From out of nowhere she suddenly felt something grab her from behind, it was BoB. The Squid wrapped his tentacles around her, holding her tight as he used its own repulsorlift engine to stop her from spinning.

Suddenly Lyra heard a sound inside her helmet, she glanced down and saw a red light flickering on her wrist but was too confused to understand what it meant. "The suit Lyra, it's not made for space" Bob spoke directly into her mind. She gasped and despite the panic, she tried to tap into the Force, trying to summon a protective bubble.

It took some effort, but she got help from her symbiote. A bubble formed around her and filled itself with air. The light on the suit turned green but Lyra knew she wouldn't be able to hold this. "What is happening?" She asked telepathically, as she looked at the narrow swirling tunnel. Bob said nothing, he didn't know either but he used his droid body to cast another shield around her.

instantaneously, after several minutes of being dragged along, Lyra and Bob were thrown into open space. "Where are we?" Lyra asked as they floated between large pieces of wreckage.

~\*~

Meanwhile, on board the Valkyrie the crew was working on repairs. An hour had passed since their arrival and still they hadn't made much progress.

Commander Zan stood at the front of the bridge, hands resting on her hips as she gazed out of the window. Still wondering where exactly they were, in her opinion this couldn't be Zonama Sekot. All of a sudden she noticed something in the corner of her eye, a small light appeared close by. It was bright but was gone in an instant.

Vanadís could hear the beeping of the proximity alarm in the background \*beep\* \*beep\* she squinted her eyes as she focused on where she had seen the bright light. "Commander, there.. there seems to be someone out there" she heard someone say behind her. And they were right, she could see a person in a strange suit floating in space. "Bring them in!" Zan immediately ordered.

With help of the tractor beam, one the few systems they managed to get up and running, they pulled Lyra and bob in. Zan herself went down to the hangar, curious to find out who they dragged in.

When Zan stepped into the hanger, Lyra was being held by two guards, restraining her. "What have we got here?" The Anzati asked as she approached. "Je'daii filth Commander Zan" one of the guards said and pointed at the crest on Lyra's suit. "A Je'daii?" Zan spoke with venom in her voice and ripped the helmet of the journeyer's head. Her appearance shocked the Sith, she had never seen a feline with horns before. "Where is your ship?" She then asked.

Stunned, Lyra looked up, confused about what was happening. "My ship? I have none" she replied honestly. "No ship? Then how did you get here?" Zan was now equally confused but as she looked down at the suit she realized the girl wasn't lying, this was no space suit. "Well, how did you get here!!" "I…. I don't know!" Lyra replied

// Unknown regions , E-14, Arvacc System, TopaKeyali Outpost//

"Bortai, Incoming message from the capital." The male Arvacc looked up from his station. He had been studying the latest sensor readings, another irregularity had appeared only a few minutes ago. "Thank you, I'll see what it is" he replied and went over to read the message.

A moment later he looked up with excitement, "what is the nearest ship?" He asked. "Ship?" The woman responded with surprise but looked it up. "That would be Tehpay's Claw, Bortai… may I ask why?" "The capital has ordered us to send a ship to investigate the irregularities." He replied and walked over to the long range com system. He opened a channel to Tehpay's Claw.

"This is TopaKeyali Outpost for Tiphays Claw. At the request of the capital you are sent to investigate space irregularities in a nearby system. Sending the location and the data to you as well."

~\*~

Talorac Nathrol Bree sat aboard the Light cruiser TihPays Claw as it patrolled its sector of space around his home planet of Arvecc. He was looking out the window at the vastness of space lost in his own thoughts.

Tal, as he was known by his crew mates, was newly promoted to the rank of Jadeé (Cpl) it was the lowest rank in the ship, and he'd only been there 6 months, he wasn't really promoted to that rank as such as conscripted. but he was unlucky to be the one draughted Into the Navy to protect from their enemies.... he was a late conscription as his village was away from everywhere, which lead to him being 7 years late for his tour. Unfortunately for Tal, the planet hadn't been raided in over 200 years, so he wasn't sure why they were there.

The longer time went on, the further the Avecc slipped from the minds of the known Galaxy, and the less likely they where to meet other races.

The small cruiser he was assigned to went from 1 set of coordinates to another set of coordinates, scanning and training and then much to his annoyance, they then repeated the trip the other way. It was so very painfully slow at sublight speeds, so when the ship finally made the trip there and back. It  then turned around and did it all over again, the boredom was excruciating for Tal, even the gun drills, evacuation drills, fighter launch drills were losing their excitement, it took nearly 2 months to do the journey there and back and the quiet nothingness of space was what he described in his log as "a silent killer."

The ships cannons hadn't been fired since before he joined, but the fighters did blow up the occasional asteroid as they flew past one of the two asteroid fields or the asteroid ring on a long dead moon on their long and arduous trip.

The one thing he was scared of and so was the entire crew, if they got put into a position where they had to fire on another person... would they be able to.. they'd discussed it in detail in the mess hall many times, and each time they had the same result, they just didn't know. Out of the entire crew, Tal and the ships Fay Lesh (Commander) where the only ones who'd ever killed anything in real life, both hunters for their respective tribes but Fay Lesh Asos,  decided to stay in the Navy when his 10 years was up, but Tal longed to be back down with his clan, down there he was a Hunter and a Minstrel, at the age of 37, he was still considered a youngster for his race, but, as a Hunter, taught by his father, he was as skilled, if not better than most of his teachers and elders, he knew the forests and the oceans.... Well, that's not exactly true, it was more like he understood them and could see things just before they happened, it wasn't like the force, it was a situational awareness where his surroundings guided him and almost showed him the way..

Snapping out of his daydream and back to the cold vastness of space, he thought about his planet, Arvacc, it was in the Unknown Regions of space and only a select few traders knew the location, they did however, have a small but well equipped listening station called TopaKeyali Outpost out there somewhere, he didn't know where it was, as his clearance wasn't high enough, but he'd heard the chat about it in the mess hall.

"Tal, you with us?" His friend and lead fighter pilot on the ship asked

"Yeah, I'm here Sala, I was just thinking of home" He replied, his answer should have been "Yes, Doshyar (Lieutenant) or Yes Bortai (Sir), but Sala hated the titles so asked his friend not to use them when it was just them, "one day something will happen, another 9½ years of this and I'll go crazy! I don't know how you stand it?"

"I love it out here." Sala said "The silence, the solitude helps me focus on my writing, my book on my theories about the Masters will be published by the time we get home, so I will either be a writer of great renown, or I'll be doing another tour on this tub writing something new!" He laughed as he patted his comrade on the back, "Come though, the midday meal will be ready soon, so we can feast on the delicacies of the

Unknown to Tal, at the time he went for food, other, more sinister things were happening..

3 of the oldest and wisest Council members from 3 different tribes got together and formed a war council, something that hadn't been done for many a year and issued the following orders to their 1 and only hidden outpost…

The message read

"TopaKeyali Outpost from Arvacc central, we've recieved your transmission and the War council has made the following decision , send the closest ship to Investigate the spacial anomalies and keep us informed of their process Arvacc out"

(30 minutes later)

\*beepbeepbeep\* the comm chimed and flashed as it alerted to an incoming message..

The comm officer said "Hajat (capt) incoming message for your eyes only"

"Thank you Doshyar (Lieutenant), put it through to my station please" a moment later the message came through the station

"This is TopaKeyali Outpost for Tehpay's Claw. At the request of the capital you are sent to investigate space irregularities in a nearby system. Sending the location and the data to you as well."

"Acknowledged TopaKeyali Outpost, Heading to the target location immediately" the Hajat

The Hajat hit a series of buttons on his command chair and said…

"This is the Hajat, all hands to battle stations" the ships alarms made a quick \*whoop whoop\*

Tal and the rest of the crew scrambled to their stations, within 4 minutes they had all reported in and all things where go.

The adrenaline running through Tal was like nothing he'd felt before, he was physically shaking with excitement, his canons were ready,  and so was he.

"How long until we reach the coordinates Doshyar?" The Hajat said to his officers

"4 days at full speed Bortai (sir)"

"4 days… that won't do at all! He replied "power up the hyperdrive and engage when ready" he said with confidence.

"Hyperdrive, Bortai… we've never used that before, are you sure?"

"Yes Doshyar, get it done!"

"Yes Bortai" the officer said with trepidation..

\*\*\*\*\*

(10 mins later)

With the hyperdrive powered up, the unfamiliar whine of the engines echoing through the ship, the eagerness of the crew intensified ten fold, the boredom fo the last few months forgotten, the Hajat came on the comms again…

"All hands, this is The Hajat, we're  about to embark on a new mission, I don't know what's out there or if its something or nothing,  ut we have to be prepared to help others or to fight if need be, may the ancestors shine their light on us, and grant us their wisdom!" Just before the comm shut off one more word could be heard … "JUMP"

Moments later the stars elongated into blue/white tubes as the the ship jumped, for the first minutes the ship rattled and vibrated as it hurtled through at unfamiliar speeds,  the contents of the ship hurled everywhere from not being stowed away, Tal could hear his crew mates being sick, 'hyper sickness' he remembered it being called, but Tal was in his element, he was visibly shaking from excitement, the thrill of the hunt was on him now. But what was the outcome to be, death or glory, they'd soon find out.

After 3 very quick hours, and multiple scenarios of what may happen running through his head, he had to stretch his legs so got out his gunners chair, to get the circulation going again, others where still being sick, and the service droids were working overtime, 10 mins later he returned to his chair as the comm went again "all hands, this is the Fay Lesh, we're approximately 5 minutes out, from our destination, everyone get ready!"

Tal ran through a systems check again and a maneuverability test, he was ready, then before he knew it, the stars reformed, and the ship rapidly slowed, a speck in front of them was a ship, floating almost dead in space.

The bridge was a hive of activity.

"Scan that ship, I want to know what it is and where it came from?" The Hajat demanded. A few moments later a reply came..

"Hajat, its shields are weak and fluctuating, but holding, the design is like nothing we've seen before and the hull… the alloy…. It's of an unknown compound and origin… it reflects our scanners, so inside is also unknown!" The Doshyar replied "How can this be?"

"I don't know…. yet, bet we must proceed with caution, Hail them and send this message in  in all our known languages and await a reply, move to within 10km and hold position"

The comm officer nods to the Hajat"

"Unidentified stranded ship, this is the Avecc Cruiser TihPays Claw, we come as friends and offer aid, if you are unable to respond, please flash your bridge lights in response"

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

// Valkyrie - Hangar Bay //

"Are you take me for a fool, girl?!" The black and white haired Anzati hissed at the young woman they had captured, who claimed she didn't come with a ship. Vanadís looked her up and down; the strange suit did puzzle her, but she assumed there must be an explanation.

"You're telling me you traveled through space with a…" she stepped forward and touched the suit of the woman kneeling before her "what's this?… a hazmat suit?" and then glanced at the strange equipment strapped on the woman's back. "And what's this for?" She asked as she grabbed the woman's shoulder, pulling her forwards to have a closer look at the strange backpack "Is it a weapon?!"

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Bob

Until now, Bob hadn't moved from Lyra's back. Silently they  just sat there, listening to the conversation whilst using its sensors to scan their surroundings. But when the woman noticed them, they knew they had to act quick. So before Lyra could even respond, Bon detached himself from her back and attempted to escape through the nearest ventilation shaft.

~\*~

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

// Valkyrie - Hangar Bay //

The strange backpack suddenly moved "it's a droid" one of the guards noted the obvious as he let go of the woman and grabbed his blaster. He opened fire on the strange droid that was trying to escape. He managed to hit the strange strange droid once before it disappeared into a ventilation shaft.

Furious, Vanadís looked at the two men. She felt embarrassed, but only because the droid escaped but mainly because the officers had failed to check their captive.

"You idiots!!" She yelled and extended both arms, grabbing them by the throat with use of the Force. "You didn't even check her!!" She continued as she lifted them up from the ground. Struggling they reached for their throats. "I'm sorry Commander, we thought it was part of the suit" one managed to say as his windpipe was being squeezed. After a moment or two, Vanadís let them go and brought her focus to the strange woman before her. "You have a lot of explaining to do, but I have a feeling you're not going to cooperate…" she looked up at the officers, who were both ribbing their necks. "Take her to the interrogation room.. and inform security we have an intruder"

"Yes commander Zan" one replied as they both grabbed the woman by her arms. "Up! And get moving" they said as they pushed the barrel of their blaster in her sides. "Security, we have an intruder. A droid escaped through the ventilation shafts in the hangar bay." The other officer spoke through the comlink as they escorted their captive out of the hangar.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Interrogation Room //

Several hours had passed and the Valkyrie was still not moving. The hyperdrive was damaged their sub light engines malfunctioning still as did many other systems on board.

But all this time they had held the young Je'daii captive. They had strapped her into a chair in the interrogation room and questioned her about her identity, her ship and her mission. Despite their threats and even the pain they inflicted the woman didn't give them the answers they wanted. It wasn't because she was lying, on the contrary, she told them the truth, but they just didn't believe her.

"I'll ask you again! Who are you!?" Vanadís yelled in frustration. "And don't tell me your name is Bathori.. that whore doesn't have a daughter!"

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

Blood and sweat trickled down her forehead as she glanced up at the pale woman. "I told you already… I am Lyra Bathori" she said with an angry but weakened voice. "I am from the future" she added. She had already explained it several times.. she tried to tell them that the portal they came through was a wormhole that took them into past.. she had explained that she was descendant of the Grand Master.. she had told them everything. But they didn't believe her.. "I told you already!" She cried, "I have no mission, here. I'm not supposed to be here"

IC: Bob

Meanwhile, Bob was moving through the ventilation shafts and maintenance tubes. Trying find a way to help Lyra and himself escape. But Bob was hurt, he got hit once and that had danger his scomplink making it more difficult for him to access the ship's computer systems. He had to do it manually using his arms..

\*\*\*\*\*

GM: update

// Valkyrie - Interrogation Room //

Angry Vanadís kicked against the chair. The woman had told her the same story over and over again. A story so ridiculous a child could have made it up. "Stop with the lies!" She yelled and leaned in, bringing her face closer to the woman's. "If you don't tell me, I will feed on your soup" she said as she uncoiled the thin proboscises from her cheeks.

She stepped back again "I'll share with you what I think…" she said more composed. "I think you and you droid were sent to infiltrate. You distract us while your droid is sabotaging our ships systems. Making us vulnerable.. well am I close?" She asked

\*beep\* "Commander Zan, you better come to the bridge. A ship just dropped out of hyperspace and it contacting us" \*click\* a voice said over the comms. Vanadís let out a sigh, "it seem you'll have some time to think about your answer. But I'll be back..  and your droid, we will find it" she said before leaving the room.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

several minutes later, Vanadís steps onto the bridge and walks over to the front. A strange ship is visible. "Commander Zan" the first officer says respectfully. "The ship hailed us, they identify as Tihpay's claw, and Avecc cruiser.. whatever that means… they claim to be friendly and are offering help."

Vanadís glances at the ship in the distance, "Avecc? I'm not familiar with them" she admitted. "According to the ships database they are a amphibian spiecies from the unknown regions that lived in isolation." The officer hands Vanadís a datapad with some information. "Simpletons you mean" she responds mockingly.

Zan walks over to the comm station to answer their hails. "Avecc Cruiser… this is Commander Zan of the Darkshield cruiser the Valkyrie… please keep your distance or we will open fire" she said. Despite needing help, she wasn't going to let some strangers onboard her ship, she wasn't going to show them any weakness..

\*\*\*\*\*

As the Tiphays Claw pulled up close to the Unknown ship, it recieved its reply…

"Bortai, incoming reply….." the comm officer replied.

"On the loud speaker Doshyar!"

"Avecc Cruiser… this is Commander Zan of the Darkshield cruiser the Valkyrie… please keep your distance or we will open fire"

The Hajat said to himself out loud. "Open a channel and reply in the language they used ….. Valkyrie, this is the Tiphays Claw, again we offer peaceful greetings we're able to administer aid and help with repairs … Your ship is of unknown design to us, we offer you no hosting!"

~☆~

Meanwhile in Tals quarters, his pet Vorak Tails was frantic, he wasn't big enough to open the auto door out yhe room so with several flicks of his massive tail he his the manual switch and went rushing out straight  to Tals gunnery Station… On seeing his furrybfrien Tal knew they where in trouble, he left from his seat as the tiny monkey jumped and landed on his shoulder, wrapping his tail around him for support Tal sprinted the 150m tobthe bridge.

"Bortai…Bortai…!" He shouted as he ran, ignoring protocol he burst onto the bride, the capt seeing the Vorak said.

"What's that thing doing here … I ordered it left behind?"

The monkeys fur was on end and had gone a dark blue… "That ship Bortai… Has Red Demons on it… we're in real danger"

"Demons… There's  no way yontell that!" The Hajat replied bitterly.

"With respect Bortai, there is, the Vorak sense them, they turn dark blue for Red Sky Demons and light blue for the other Demons… whe need to  get out now…."

The Bortai could see the physical change in the Vorak, so he said "Fay Lesh…. Saltrii (Sgt).. my ready room …now" The commander and weapons officer followed him to the adjoining room "Raise the shields and go weapons hot… make ready but Do not engage until my return or we're fired upon… Tal, back to your station … and well done, you bring honour to your tribe." The door closed as they went in

~☆~

In the ready room the Hajat said "options….?" He asked "if Tals pet is right, And they are the Demons of legend, how do we fight them? We have no defence against their powers!"

"We strike first Hajat" said the Saltrii we have to take them out quickly

"I don't  know, we can only visually see their ship, we know its damaged but not how badly!" The Hajat replied " we have no way of knowing their weapons systems powerbor status!.. it my just be a trap"

"If I may Hajat" the Fay Lesh interrupted. "Let's pull the Claw back and have a couple of fighters do some flybys recording as they go, then we can at least see through the viewports."

"Agreed Fay Lesh, make it so!" The Fay Lesh saluted and went to find 2 pilots "Saltrii I also agree with you, once the video footage is back, and we've reviewed it, if its bad, we'll strike, make the necessary preparations"

~☆~

(10 mins later)

Tal sat back at his gun impeachment.. he feared the worst, Tails was sat on the beam above his head his fur was still raised and he was still dark blue, but he was calmer now, There was going to be a fight, the lack of communication better 2 ships told him that, the apprehension in the bridge crew also confirmed that, the shriek 2 fighters flying past brought him back to reality, this was really happening.. he was terrified….

~☆~

On the bridge, the Hajat started issuing orders

"Reverse engins, slowly, we don't want to give them a cause to fire, tell the fighters to begin their recordings as soon as possible, have the gun crews report status!"

As the reports came in the nervousness of the crew started to show, some where physically crying some had left their stations because they knew they may have to fight, Tal became the opposite like ice, the Fay Lesh was running round rhe ship trying to get some order but you no avail… this crew was green, never done anything in anger… it was all unraveling

~☆~

The fighters did a flyby, 1 on each side of the stricken vessel, on the return they began recording this flyby was slower and closer, to the Valkyrie, once passed they turned for 1 final pass….

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

Leaning on the railing of the viewing platform, Vanadís gazed at the Avacc ship. Impatiently she tapped her slender fingers on the metal, waiting for their response. 'If they are smart they will back away' she thought to herself.

"Response incoming" the communications officer said and switched the response to the speaker system;

<"Valkyrie, this is the Tiphay's Claw, again we offer peaceful greetings we're able to administer aid and help with repairs … Your ship is of unknown design to us, we offer you no hosting!">

Vanadís let out a sigh, she knew they needed help, but she wasn't going to accept it from \*them\*. An unknown species, to whom were they loyal? For all they knew they might be loyal to that damn Je'daii witch. "I repeat, stay away or we will open fire" she responded sharply and cut the connection.

"What our status? How far are we with repairs?" She asked the bridge. "Eh… not good" a woman replied with a trembling voice. Vanadís turned her piercing gaze at her, waiting for details "and?" "The Hyperdrive is still offline, we can't get it back on sublight endings aren't working yet but might be back online after a hour.. oh…eh" the woman looked up with a spark of hope in her eyes "lateral thruster have just come back online." "Great, so we can turn" Zan responded sarcastically, but was getting more agitated, "what about weapons and shields?" The woman checked the incoming updates "heavy turbo blasters still offline laser cannons are working… shield are at 45%."

\*\*\*\*\*

// Interrogation Room //

IC: Lyra Bathori

Still strapped into the interrogation chair, Lyra gazed around the room trying to think of a way to escape. She was alone, probably because there wasn't enough staff on board. She knew from the historical records on the Battle of Tython that the Dark Regime used scare tactics by sending every ship they had to Tython. Their fleet was larger than that of the Je'daii but manned with skeleton crews. A distraction to keep the Je'daii busy while they send the Devils payload to Sunspot to collect the Dark Matter.

Now that she was alone, Lyra used it to her advantage. She began to tap into the force, using her ability to control tech in an attempt to free herself from the restraints.

~\*~

// Vents //

Meanwhile, Bob was moving through the vents and maintenance tubes, trying to find Lyra while at the same time trying to avoid the crew that was looking for him.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

Commander Zan was pleased to see the Avacc ship back away. For a moment she thought they were taking the threats seriously. But just a she turned away, ready to get back to their prisoner she was stopped. "Commander, they just deployed two fighters" a bridge officer called out.

"WHAT!" Vanadís abruptly turned back to see for herself. "Deploy the Fighters!" She ordered.. "ehm… Commander we have no fighters" the reply was. Zan looked at them in disbelief "what do you mean?" "All fighters were deployed at Tython… none have returned, mam" they frightrently answered. Vanadís was getting more and more angry, everything about the battle of Tython was going wrong. It was a complete mess and it was the fault of bad leadership, but that was something she couldn't admit in front of the crew. She had to give the example on how it was done properly, she had to remain strong in front of them despite knowing how all of them felt. "Weapon stations… fire at will!!" She said and the Valkyrie opened fire at the two fighters..

\*\*\*\*\*

With the ship slowly backing off and the fighters going a reconnaissance flyby it was the second one that things went terribly wrong, all of a sudden, the Valkyrie opened fire on the 2 fighters without their shields up they lasted mere seconds, the first one was gone instantly, the second one on the second shot… the Tiphays Claw was close enough for the shock wave to hit and unstable the vessel, they weren't expecting a fight so they didn't have their shields up either, systems went haywire for several minutes while things where gotten under control.

"Shields up, return fire screamed the Hajat but only 1 of the Tiphays Claws gun batteries opened fire…. Tals gun battery…. The others were she terrified as they'd never been in battle before and were either frozen with fear or curled up sobbing in their gun batteries or hidden somewhere dark out-of-the-way way.

Tal raked the other ship with fire, the other ships weapons had hit the shields and made a sound not that unpleasant to Tal, but he didn't let up, he had no idea what was happening to the other ships shields, but he suspected not a great deal, the lasers where definitely stronger, so it stood to reason the shields where to..

~☆~

Meanwhile, on  the bridge

"Why aren't we firing back with all batteries?" the Hajat screamed. "All batteries open fire!" He shouted again, still just Tals gunnery Station was returning fire, "Fay Lesh… Get those guns firing..NOW!" He ordered.

The Fay Lesh sprinted off the bridge tobthe first gunnery position, no one was manning it, he ran the full-length of the ship and it was a mess, all order was gone, the fear they had about battle had finally come true, the men would fold under pressure, The Tiphays Claw move back faster now and started to turn. The 4 left on the bridge where working at speed to get the ship to safety, the Hajat was on the comm to the klip fár (General) at TopaKeyali Outpost "Bortai, we're under under attack from an unknown ship of unknown description and made from unknown materials… we've lost 2 fighters in seconds, please advise!"

"Hajat, what do you mean you're under attack, from who?"

"I've just said unknown attackers!" The ship rocked again as a laser blast from the other ship got through. "Please advise.. and be quick or well be dead…"

"Stand by!" Said the voice at TopaKeyali Outpost, and the comm went dead

~☆~

As the Fay Lesh got to Tals gunnery position, he said, "Good work Tal, keep up the defensive fire!" Then he said "Tal what's up with your Vorak!"

"What do you mean?" he looked up, and the Vorak was turning Light blue…" Unknown to them, on the Valkyrie, someone had tapped into the light side of the force.

"Fay Lesh, there's a Blue Demon on that ship to… I don't understand?"

"Neither do I Tal… Neither do i" the Fay Lesh trusted Tal, if he said there was a Blue Demon on that ship, there was one, he now sprinted back to the bridge to tell the Hajat….

Back on the bridge

"A what?" The Hajat said,"The ancient scrolls say they don't mix!" He paused then said,"Ideas?"

"I know Hajat, we need to get out of firing range and regroup, the crew is a mess, not ready for combat." As he said this the ship took a few more hits, with only 4 fighters left, they couldn't risk them at this point.. "Hail them again and offer aid, what else can we do, they're obviously military and well trained"

The Hajat,  out if ideas tried one last time..

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Tiphays Claws, cease fire immediately… we are not a threat to you, stand down!"..... he cut off the comm and said "Damage report? Open a channel to command …

~☆~

Tal was worried, he felt things where turning worse by the minute… was this ship playing dead? Was it luring them into a trap? Why where the red and blue Demons together? The more he thought about it, the more questions where raised, how would they stop these aliens boarding their ship? The truth was they didn't know who these aliens were or where they came from … he needed to find out.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

\*Boom\* the Valkyrie jolted slightly when the first fighters was destroyed. "One down, Commander" an officer said, but Ofcourse Vanadís had seen the blow and was smiling. \*Boom!\* the second was obliterated a moment later, making the Anzat laugh. In response the alien vessel opened fire. "Transfer power to the forward shields" Zan ordered as she gazed out of the transparisteel window. "Use the thrusters to keep the Valkyrie facing them head on" she added as she wrapped her fingers around the cold durasteel railing of the observation platform. "Forward shields are up with 20% Commander, thrusters stabilizing out position" one of the officers reported. "Excellent"

"Their shields are holding, commander" was reported a few moments later. "Aim for their shield generator" Zan responded and then remembered her prisoner. "You!" She pointed at a Male officer, "go check on the prisoner, we can't risk losing her" she said, knowing very well that these Je'daii where resourceful, Of Course that strange horned feline would attempt to escape while they were preoccupied.

\*\*\*\*\*

// Valkyrie - Interrogation room //

IC: Lyra Bathori

\*click\* the leg restraints popped open but there was still a belt keeping her in the chair as well as the wrist restraints that kept her from escaping. "Well… it's a start" she mutters in frustration as she tried to pull her hands free. A pointless exercise but when the room began to tremble and her furry ears picked up on the sound of laser cannons firing, she knew time was off the essence.

"aaarregh" Lyra growled as she used every bit of her strength to try free herself. But the interrogation had taken its toll, the young Je'daii was exhausted and in pain. "Pain.. sith use it as fuel, right?" She said softly as she stopped struggling. The Masters would tell her to try avoid using the darkside, especially since they sensed her struggle with balance "but, it's a life and death situation" she tried convince herself.

\*Boom\* somewhere close by there was an explosion, probably a pipe bursting. Lyra closed her eyes and focused on her pain and attempted to use it to fuel her connection to the force. Once more she tried to open the retstrains with her mind..

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Vents & Maintenance shafts //

IC: Bob

The strange squid like droid floated through the tubes and shafts, using its sensors to try pick up on its companion; Lyra. The tubes rattled as the laser cannons began to fire. After several minutes he finally picked up on Lyra's location. He zoomed through the tubes towards the interrogation room.

Through a grate he could see Lyra, strapped into a chair with her eyes closed.. No one else seems to be there "psssst.. Lyra.. Lyra" he called out with his droid voice. With his tentacle arms, he tried to push the grate open, but it was welded shut.. not a surprise since it was an interrogation room after all. "Lyra.." he called out again and moved a different arm to the grate with a small laser torch and began his attempt to create an opening.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra heard Bob, but kept her focus..tapping into the force, using her pain to fuel her connection..

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Interrogation room //

Lyra's attempt to open the restraints was unsuccessful and a moment after that the door opened. A man entered, dressed in a officers uniform. He glanced at Lyra and smiled "ah your still here.. don't worry we haven't forgotten about you" he said as he stepped closer he noticed the ankle restraints were loose. "Naughty" he said smirking and put the restraints back.

He moved closer to her bruised and sweaty face. "What are you?" He asked and brushed a lock if her hair out of her face. "Zyngerrian hybrid or something?.. you're kinda pretty though" he added.

The man stood with his back turned towards the ventilation grate. For now, the bridge officer didn't seem to notice Bob was there, he didn't even know of his existence.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Meanwhile on the bridge the tension was rising. Under normal circumstances, the Valkyrie would have destroyed the alien ship but the damage they had suffered they were losing. "Shields are dropping, Commander! 40%..." \*Boom\* "36%"..

"Keep steady!!, engage those thrusters!" Vanadís yelled over the noise. "Commander, we can't" but before they could finish their sentence they were being hailed again. "Open a channel" Zan responded.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Tiphays Claws, cease fire immediately… we are not a threat to you, stand down!" They heard a voice call out over the comms. "Cease fire" Vanadís ordered reluctantly, she wanted to destroy that ship, but in their current state could never do that… she opened the channel to respond "no threat? We warned you and still send your ships… we do not want or need your help. Turn around now" she replied, hoping they would listen.

[Damage Tiphay's Claw; Shield down with 56%. Several Canons overloaded due to lack of use in the past.. a couple of wounded, nothing major]

\*\*\*\*\*

The Tiphays Claw kept backing off, her shields where almost depleted and several of the alien vessels shots had got through before they stopped firing, nothing had penetrated the hull thankfully, The Hajat was still barking orders and demanding answers, "Have command commed back yet?, why didn't all batteries open fire? Why did they destroy our fighters?.... can  someone please give me some answers"

The Fay Lesh stepped up and said "Hajat, unlike us their not soldiers, we knew something like this would happen but we also never expected to see combat" He said as calm as he could "You're expecting a comm back from command… you'll  be lucky!" The Fay Lesh was in full hunt mode, cool calm and collected, it didn't help the Hajat was panicking, he knew the answers to the questions he'd asked already, but didn't want to face the truth.. this combat vessel was manned by farmers, fishermen and poets.

"Doshyar, take us to point 67 and hold there, let the shields recharge, Saltrii, open the armoury and arm the crew, if we're boarded we will have to fight, I know the crew will gold but we have to have hope" He ordered "and Saltrii, send Tal up here please on your way"

~☆~

Tal sat back in his chair, no point firing, the guns are useless against that, ironically, the Claw was bigger than the enemy vessel, but that was down tobthe Arvacc being so big compared to Galactic standard people, Tails was still shifting between light and dark blue, and Tal couldn't understand what was going on, if there was a Light Demon on there, surely they had to try and save them, but how? How do you get on a ship that's superior to yours? The questions  kept coming when the Saltrii came up to him, "Jadeé Tal, report to the Fay Lesh on the bridge" Tal looked confused "Nie jadeé…now!" He snapped.

"Yes,  Saltrii, sorry, Saltrii" Tal shot off with tails on his shoulder still, he soon reached the bridge and the Fat Lesh, the Hajat was nowhere to be seen  so he said "reporting as ordered Fay Lesh" and saluted.

"Good, Tal I'm putting you in charge of a squad if we get boarded"

"Bortai, what?"

"There is a chance these aliens will try and take the ship. I need a warriors to help fight"

"Bortai, the men can't fight, they're scared, how can they help defend us, they not fighters!"

"Then we all die" the Hajat said as he sat in his chair "Command aren't responding, the men won't fight, we'll all die" The realisation of the situation hit the captain of the Tiphays Claw never having fought or killed anything himself, he realised every order he'd given was an empty order, he was asking the crew to kill, when he couldn't himself "I was a pot maker before this!" He said out of nowhere "I don't know how to fight!" He put down his datapad and walked off, everyone on the Bembridge was stunned, the ever confident Hajat, unlike wavering in his command, just gave up, just like the rest of the crew.

"Fay Lesh" Tal said, "We have to ho on the offensive, switch the cannons to auto fire, if they get that ship running at anywhere close to full power, we're finished" Tals hunter brain had switched on, "If we can help the Blue Demons, we may stand a chance."

"I don't know Tal, we're going to start a war!"

"It's the only way, and you know it Fay Lesh, just like the simulations?"

"Unfortunately I have to agree." The Fay Lesh said, "I'm taking over from the Hajat, "Comms, tell command we're engaging the⁸ alien vessel, someone switch guns to auto fire, have them track the nearest targets if they launch fighters. Engines to full power, fire when we're in range."

The Tiphays Claw learched forward, the cannons roaming and looking for targets, as the enemy vessel came into range the Fay Lesh shouted, "Make sure shields that are facing the enemy are at maximum, the ones the enemy can't hit are reinforcing the others"

"Yes Fay Lesh" came a scared reply.

The Claw was in range now, and the guns opened up on the Alien ship, 6 quad cannons where relentless, if any shots got through they couldn't see, but on they pressed.

Tal ran to the armoury, put on his armour and got his Lightwhip and crossbow, he was ready, all he could do now was wait….

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

"I'm no Zyngerrian!" Lyra responded to the guard. She felt offended but part of her understood his confusion about her appearance. Lyra was less bulky than most Cathar because over the generations the human genes of Bathori bloodline got more prominent. Lyra was more slim build and looked more human. "I'm a Cathar!" She yelled at him. As she glanced up she noticed Bob was trying to get in to the interrogation room so she had to keep the guard busy.

~\*~

IC: Bob

Meanwhile, as the guard seemed to be distracted by Lyra, Bob was still quietly trying to open the grate. The noise of the alarms in the background masked the sound of them using the laser cutter. And with his extra arms, he made sure that once he was through the grate wouldn't fall.

Quietly Bob floated out of the ventilation shaft, still holding onto that grate with the intention to hit the guard.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Interrogation room //

"A Cathar?!" They laughed at her, "you look nothing one, and what off these?" He touched her horns. "I read somewhere the Zyngerrians

were evolved from a horned sentient canine species.." he continued in a mocking tone. "Whoever told you that you are a Cathar, lied.

The guard was unaware of the droid behind him, the noise was to loud and completely focused on the girl before him. His kept touching the horns but it wasn't in a curious way.

Tag; Bathor - Legacy

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Meanwhile, on the Bridge Vanadís kept her eyes on the alien vessel. They had stopped firing and finally backed off. "Good.. that's more like it" she said softly to herself.

"Commander? What are your orders?" An officer asked behind her. The Anzat turned around and gave them a glare "my orders?" she asked looking down at them. "As long as those engines aren't working, we can't do anything!" She then shouted over the bridge. "We are sitting ducks here!" "But we can handle that ship" the officer nervously responded but instantly regretted saying anything at all.

Vanadís reached out, grabbing them by the collar and pulled them close. "One ship we can handle.. but what if they called for backup?!" She threw them aside and walked to the commander's chair "We need engines now!. We need the shield at full power and all our weapons operational.. those are my orders!!"

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra pulled her head aside, away from his hand "don't touch me!" She growled at him, "I know what I am!" and began to struggle, trying to pull herself free. Despite her efforts, she in a weakened state and couldn't free herself but atleast she kept the guard distracted

~\*~

IC: Bob

As quiet possible, the droid moved behind the guard and slammed the metal grate on to his head. \*CLUNK\* to make sure he stayed down, bob zapped him with the electro prod on his other arm.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie -Interrogation Room //

"AAARGH" the guard yelled out in pain as the grate hit his head. For a moment she just stood there, disoriented and in shock. The zap from the electro prod eventually took him out. He fell forwards, over the prisoner. "Uuugh" he groaned one last time before going completely limp..

Bathor - Legacy

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Vanadís had her back turned to the view screens, she never expected that these aliens would open fire again. Due to ther repairs the shields had been down so the first shots actually hit making the entire ship shake violently.

"What the!!. SHIELDS UP!!! RETURN FIRE!!" Commander Zan yelled in shock. But her shock quickly turned into rage. 'How dare they? These singletons' she thought to herself and moved towards the weapons station to take control of the forward cannons herself. "Fire with what we got!!" The commander ordered and everyone did what they were told.

~\*~

Damage report Valkyrie:

the Auto fire of the Tiphay's claw wasn't as accurate as when they were operated manually. But still the first couple of shots cause fires on several decks of The Valkyrie.

Once few shields were up, they took a heavy blow as well taking it down another 10%.

Damage reports Tiphay's Claw:

The Sith Knight, operated the forward cannons and used to force guide ber aim. She hit the alien vessel where it counted the most, weakening their shields for another 5%.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Bob

Bob pulled the guard of Lyra, making him drop onto the floor of the interrogation room..he then began to open the restraints to free his partner.

Suddenly the ship began to shake, explosions could be heard and shortly after the cannons began to fire again. "We have to get of this ship, Lyra" Bob said with worry in an electronic voice.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

Her eyes winded when the ship shook again. "I agree bob.. but how?" She asked as she hopped out of the chair and over the unconscious guard. She knelt down to search him, hoping to find maybe a weapon or anything else useful. "Knowing the Darkshield, I doubt there are any fighters left onboard" Lyra said as rose up again, thinking of a solution.

"The escape pods? They should be still intact.. atleast we can get away from them while they are preoccupied with whomever they are firing at" Lyra said, glancing at Bob..

\*\*\*\*\*

As Tal was putting in his armour, he could feel the ship accelerating, his light whip and on his hip and his trusty Tridend in its place on his back, his helm on and he was ready. Tals biggest problnow was how did he get a boarding party ready when none of the crew could fight and were cowering in their quarters, form the sound of it, the Hajat had crumbled to,  Fay Lesh was in charge now and he was heading directly to the enemy ship…

~☆~

(Meanwhile, on the bridge)

"Fire torpedoes, a .2 second delay on the second torpedo" the Fay Lesh knew that firing the second torpedo a fraction later would help maximise the damage to the enemy ship, "4 rounds … Fire!" He shouted as the first salve head out, it took 5 seconds to reload and fire the second salvo, 10 seconds later, rounds 3 and 4 had gone, the first 2 hit before the 4th ones had even loaded, that's how close the ships were now,  The Tiphays Claws lasers were still firing repeatedly, but slowing down as they were starting to overheat from constant use. The Fay Lesh had a decision to make, keep going and ram the alien ship, or turn away and see if it was still there after the torpedoes hit, he decided on the latter.

They had no way of knowing if the shields had failed, or if any of the 8 explosions that their sensors had registered, had dome any damage at all to the ship, once the ship had done a full turn, he was hoping to see a big hole in the ship, and then his sensors may get through.

~☆~

Tal saw the first shots hit the Alien vessel out the viewport, the second ones just about to hit, and with one final skake as the last missiles fired, then a sudden turn to port tipped the ship and he lost sight of the last 4, "He changed his mind" Tal said to himself, but knew the fight was far from over, he knew that there was someone or something on that ship that needed their help, but he also knew this unknown ship was still formidable even laying dead in space.

Tal went into hunter mode, he knew that an injured animal,  in some cases was far more dangerous than one that wasn't, this was no different, they'd been warned off when they offered help, their fighters had been destroyed when doing a simple flyby. These people, whoever they were meant business, and they weren't in the business of sharing …

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update:

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

\*BOOM!\* the first torpedo coming from the alien vessel hit, causing the entire ship to shake violently. "Shields?!!" Zan yelled over the noise of alarms going off. "Shields are at 18%!" Somone managed to reply.. "Eighteen!?" the Anzati commander replied in shock, she knew that their shields weren't going to hold much longer but running was no option either. Being at the weapons station, she quickly responded by aiming at the incoming torpedo!!.

\*BOOM!!\* the torpedoes explode before hitting the Valkyrie's shield, still the Valkyrie shook. "Shields at 14% and holding" an officer reported. But more Torpedoes followed and despite the Darkshield vessel's attempt to destroy them before impact, the blasts still weakened their shields..\*Boom!\* \*Boom!\* "shields down at 6%, we can't hold Commander.. we have to surrender" the officer urged. Vanadís kept her eyes on their target, firing at the enemy "Surrender?!.. NEVER!!" She responded as her darkness spiked in her anger.

Despite the many alarms and warning signals, the bridge suddenly went quiet. Everyone was in shock, none understood why they were even there fighting these aliens that had nothing to do with the battle at Tython. Vanadís kept firing "transfer power to the shields!" "From where?!" An officer asked, they had no power to spare. "Anywhere!!! Life support, powere.. from the lower decks!! ANYTHING!!" Vanadís answered. "Yes Commander" they responded to the order, not daring to go against it.

// Valkyrie - Lower decks //

With the push of a button power was transferred. Lights on the lower decks dimmed to emergency power only. Electronic locks opened, even the ones on the holding cells. Heating went off, causing temperatures suddenly to drop…

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

"Power transferred… shields now at 12% and holding" the officer reported. "Just 12??" Vanadís glimpsed over shoulder.. "the generator is damaged Commander, it can't generate a stronger shield" the replied. Zan clenched her fist her anger spiking even more.

~\*~

\*\*\*\*\*

// Valkyrie - Corridors //

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra and Bob had left the interrogation room by the time the first torpedo hit. The blast was so strong it made the wounded feline fall. "What the kriff is going on out there?!" She reopened in shock after she hit the wall. "Uughh" Lyra pulled herself up and held onto a railing along the wall to avoid falling again as the ship kept shaking from explosions in close proximity of the Darkshield vessel.

When they came across a computer terminal she stopped. "Check where we can find the escape pods" she asked her companion.

~\*~

IC: Bob

The Squidlike droid moved to the terminal and extended his scomplink and inserted it. But nothing happened. "It seems my scomplink has been damaged" he replied and pulled it out of the socket.. "dont worry, I can still operate a computer faster than you" he replied and began manually to navigate through the terminal when suddenly it switched off as did all the lights

Before Lyra could even ask, he responded "if seems the power on this deck went down" as the lights went to emergency power. "I'm afraid I can't use the computer.. there should be a deck plan near the elevators" he then suggested.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

A shiver went down her spine, could have been because of the sudden drop in temperature or the bursts in darkside every she felt resonating through the entire ship. "The elevators it is" she replied and quickly moved further down the corridors..

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Holding Cell //

The interrogation room was on the same deck as the holding cells. And one of those cells was occupied. This individual would also noticed that the power went down on the entire deck. He would hear the lock of the door pop open aswell as voices; of a woman and a droid down the corridor…

\*\*\*\*\*

The Tiphays Claw continued to turn, for a big ship, it had and amazing turning circle. Within 4 mins of the final torpedoes leaving the tubes they where lined up again for another run, this time, 3 volleys of 2, the same spread as before, but this time, they held their space, waiting to see the outcome of the potential devistation that they'd hoped for.

~☆~

Tiphays Claw Bridge

The Fay wasn't an experienced military officer, like Tal. He was a Hunter, but he had read up on military strategies and many military campaigns of the distant past, He never had any idea that he would have to use the things he'd learnt, but it seemed to be fate he was on this ship at time, if he wasn't they'd probably be dead by now.

He was studying the report of their first run at the Alien vessel, The lack of information was disturbing, but their scanners were up for the job, so he made a decision.

"Saltrii, find me 2 people to get 2 fighters In the air…. NOW!"

A few moments later the reply came back "Fay Lesh, we have no one. They're to scared"

"Dammit" came his reply "we have 3 out of 18 people able to fight, what the hell is hoping on…!" He switched to a shipwide comm "All hands, this is the Fay Lesh, I need 4 pilots on the bridge now, or I start executing uou allbfor treason!" He said with a tone that none of the crew had heard before. "And I mean it!" He added unnecessarily

~☆~

Valkyrie Holding Cell

Duran Sensi, was still in his cell as the fun began, he'd not been there long so the wise and mighty leader of this group hadn't had a chance to interrogate/torture him yet, unknown to him he'd been through a rip in time and space and ended up here atbyhis point, the former imperial now followed a new path, a grey path where he felt complete balance in the force, the only problem was the force dampening cuffs he had on, really hampered his abilities, and the cell had a hard durasteel cot, and a toilet, that was it, so you can imagine his surprise, as the power went out, and the door opened.

Cautiously, he opened the door, in case it was a trap, he looked out, there was a women and a funny looking droid thing a bit further down, they looked to be prisoners to, so Duran took a risk and said "Hey droid, any chance of some help?" Holding Up his arms he to show he was no threat he added "please" and slowly moved towards them.

~☆~

Tal heard the message over the comm, in full Avecc armour he he grabbed the 4 closest pilots to him and dragged them into the hallway.

"You can't do that Jadeé, I out rank you" the Doshyar said.

"You are a coward!" Tal screamed back, "we are under attack and you hide like a scared skivet in a tree, We are Arvacc, we are solders"

"We have seen no war for 200 years, I am a tailor, he is a baker" the Doshyar said pointing to one of the other people in the hallway.

"Wrong, he said, we are soldiers of the Arvacc nation, we were chosen to serve, now get I. Your ship and do your job!"

"I…I…I can't" He pleaded

"You can and you will" Tal said extending his Lightwhip and cracking it "MOVE!"

Reluctantly the 4 pilots got up, with another crack of the whip they moved ecen quicker.

Tal knew he'd have to answer for his insubordination, but hed rather face the rath of the Fay Lesh and be alive than dead.. heading to the bridge with  his faithful companion Tails scampering alongside him, to tell what he'd done. He he got there as the pilots were reporting in, you could hear the trepidation in their voices and the Fay Lesh issuing his orders

"Stay away from their lasers you have 4 torpedoes each, hit them from the other side" He ordered as the 2 ships left the hanger, before Tal could explain, the exo said "I don't know what you did, but well done, we may actually get out of this alive!" He turned his attention back to the viewscreen "Reload both tubes and fire on my mark?"

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Her anger spiked and could be felt by anyone on the bridge. It fueled the Darkside energy that resonated through her entire body. "Shields holding at 12%" the officer repeated. Whatever they tried, nothing seemed to work but Vanadís Zan had no intention to give up. She wasn't going to run like a coward, even if she wanted to they couldn't with the damaged engines.

Still standing at the weapons station, the Anzati Sith knight kept her focus on the incoming torpedoes. Her anger fueled the darkside and helped her focus. Using that focus along with the Force she aimed at those torpedoes. \*Boom\* \*Boom!\* the first two were destroyed before getting close, but they were quickly followed by two more. \*BOOM\* \*BOOM\* again destroyed but they got alot closer and caused the Valkyrie to shake violently.. "Shields holding at 10%" the officer reported.

Again two percent down, this wasn't going to end well. Two more torpedoes came their way and Vanadís again used the force to aim for them. \*boom\*... \*BOOM!!!!\* instantly lower flickered on the bridge… "SHIELDS DOWN!!!" the officer called out in panic as control panels and began to spark. It seemed the second  torpedo had hit them full on… however, this was something that Vanadís had allowed to happen. Instead of aiming at the last torpedo, she had used the Force to aim at the enemy's shield generator.

"enemy's shields are down as well!!" Another officer reported. "Good!" Vanadís replied with a wicked smile as this had evened out the odds, "fire whatever we go at their cannons!!" She ordered the other while she herself began to open fire.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Corridors //

The others could feel the entire ship shaking with each blow. And when the final torpedo hit several conduits along the wall bursted and sparked. The sound of the alarms was deafening… "Warning! Warning! Hull breach, evacuate deck! Warning! Warning!" The computer suddenly began to call out "Warning! Warning! Hull breach, evacuate Deck!"

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

"Commander, we have a hull breach at the lower decks" an officer reported in panick… "seal of the deck!" Vanadís replied whilst keeping her focus on weapons. "But what about the people down there?" "What people?!" Zan responded in surprise, she was convinced everyone was on the bridge.. "the prisoners.." "Collateral damage!! SEAL IT OFF!!" Zan responded.

"Yes commander" the officer replied and began to flick the switches that would seal off the deck..

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Corridors //

Because the main power of the lower decks had been transferred to the now busted shield generator, the system didn't respond as it should. The airlocks didn't close at once but moved slowly giving anyone down there some time to get out before they would be locked in..

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra turned around in shock when she heard the voice of a man behind her. Her furry ears instantly turned and flattened, her tail puffed up, she was ready to fight.

"Who the kriff are you?" Lyra asked and looked the man up and down. By the look of his clothes he was part of the Regime, Darkshield officer, but then she noticed the cuffs which confused her. 'Why would they imprison a member of their crew while they already lacked the numbers to operate this vessel properly?" She wondered. But before she could ask, or before he could even answer her initial question, the ship began to shake violently.

Some of the dimmed lights exploded, panels across the walls sparked. They were hit, that she knew. Then a few seconds later the computer voice began to call out a warning. "Kark!" Lyra responded and glanced at her droid like companion. "There's no time for introductions!" She exclaimed "we got to get out of here!!" She added and turned around. They could see the doors were slowly closing, they had to be fast.. "you coming or what?!" She asked over her shoulder at the stranger. "The elevators are this way!" She began to ran, hoping they would make it on time.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Everyone at weapon stations fired at the enemy ship's weapons, in an attempt to disable them. However, they hadn't anticipated on the enemy launching two more fighters..

"Enemy deployed two fighters, commander!!" An officer reported at the first sign of them. "Shoot them!!" Zan responded. Unlike normal there was a hint of panic in her voice. Without their shields they wouldn't be able to hold against these fighters.

\*\*\*\*\*

"Shields down, Fay Lesh" came the shout from one of the consols still being manned by one of the crew.

"How? We didn't take any serious hits?" He replied "Hard to port, full power to the  engines, get us out of firing range of that ship!" He ordered, concern in his voice.

"Fay Lesh, their shields are down, and they have a hull breech, I'm scanning now!" The bridge offer said " it seems they're dead in space sir… engines down, shields down and  venting atmosphere, all they have is cannons!"

"Hail the fighters, have them destroy the shield and weapons generators. They may be dead but they're still dangerous!" He ordered.

With the message sent, the fighters broke off their bombing run on the ship and turned their guns to the new objective, one the shields and one the weapons, a single straif and the couple of explosions should be enough…

The Fay Lesh hit a button on his console and said "Unknown ship to our Starboard… you are dead in space, venting atmosphere and in serious trouble, we only fired upon you In response to your actions, Again we offer you aid and friendly assistance! Please respond?"

The Fay Lesh started pacing behind the command console his hunters instinct told him to blow the ship to pieces, but he also k ew there might be potential allies on board to, so he was caught in to minds over what he should do…

Throughout the entire engagement, Tal felt uneasy, Tails was changing colour repeatedly and he knew whatever was happening on the other ship was bad… bad for them, they had no dealings with outsiders for years, now they had this, admit it or not, they were in big, big trouble, his hunters instinct told him that.

~☆~

(On the Valkyrie)

Duran shrugged his shoulders and followed the woman and the …. Whatever it was, thankfully with the power levels fluctuating, the doors where closing slowly, so as he jumped through, he stopped, and held his hands out, waiting for the doors to close and start to crush the cuffs, there were definitely easier ways to remove them, but he was planning on getting his stuff from the captains quarters, before he escaped.

"Vandis Zan, that's her name, the woman who had you imprisoned… nasty creature that one, I'd know, she was my master" He said wishing the doors would speed up a bit, "She's a Sith Knight, and an extremely dangerous one!."

Duran knew that Vandis would take his stuff to her private sanctuary on this ship, his total betrayal of her teachings and leadership was taken harder than he expected but being dragged here… to wherever they were was a stay of execution for him, and now his best chance to escape "This ship is running on a skeleton crew, and vastly undermanned, so the hanger bay should be relatively free of bodies." He'd probhave to find  a different way off the ship, "you can wait for me if you like?" He said as the doors began to crush the cuffs, as the mechanism failed the rush of the force hit him like a hammer, using it, he stopped the doors closing temporarily as they where through so he could get his arms back, then let them close.. "That's better" he said, "Hanger bay is 2 decks down, you can't miss it." He said sincerely as he went off in the

other direction, he was a bit shaky due to his imprisonment and lack of food but the force would sustain him for a bit as he went on his hunt for his belongings …

~☆~

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

While waiting for the reply to the Hail the Fay Lesh looked at the chrono.. only 10 mins had passed, the ship was wounded when they got there, now it was more like a floating piece if space metal.

"Tal, recommendations!" He finally said. Without looking at his subordinate.

"Bortai?" He said in confusion

"A simple question Jadeé, youve studied the war logs in our databases, what do you think about that ship? you've been quiet"

Still shocked he was being asked for an opinion. "Extreme caution Bortai, we don't know how close to them having engines up and running, I'm going to assume they have some sort of backup generators for their shields and weapons, even if it minimal power, and then we'll become the hunted!" He was in his stride now and he continued "without knowing who they are and where they came from, we're at a big disadvantage, I'd manoeuvre behind and below them, get close enough to do some deep scans, se if we can figure out that part of our problem, and we'll be in perfect position if they launch fighters, maybe even grab one in the tractor beam"

The Fay lesh thought for a moment, 15 mins since their comm, "You heard the man, make it so!" He said, as the ship began to move he said, "get the shields back up and focus all weapons on the engines, they twitch and it looks bad, fire" another few mins and the ship was In position, you could cut the tension on The Tiphays Claw with a knife, the Fay Lesh wanted to go and see the rest of the crew, the ones that crumbled under pressure, but leaving the bridge now was their death sentence…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

As the Arvacc vessel scans the Valkyrie, they will notice the enemy's shields are completely down. Their scans also pick up on the hull breach a couple of decks down on port side. It isn't big but causes the deck that Duran, Bob and Lyra are at to depressurize and without the ships shields they are losing oxygen quickly. With the power down the doors to seal the deck off, respond slowly.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

"Commander!... commander Zan we are losing atmosphere.. we can't keep up" the officer yelled in panic. "I told you to seal that deck off!!!" Vanadís replied in anger as she tried to destroy the enemy's weapons arrays. "Power is low, it was transferred to the shields.. the airlocks are barely responding… we have to surrender before we lose the ship!" The officer tried to talk sense into Zan. But the Sith knight didn't want to surrender; to her that would mean failure.

\*Boom!!\* the entire bridge shook. "They just destroyed the shield generator.. there is no way to repair it now!" Officer reported.. "KRIFFFF!!!" Vanadís screamed, her anger causing several conduits to spark. \*BOOM!!\* "they took out the portside cannons" was immediately reported a moment before being hailed again.

"Seize fired" Vanadís reluctantly ordered and listend to the enemy. "What are your orders?" An officer cautiously asked, praying that their commander wouldn't continue fighting. Zan could sense his thoughts and felt embarrassed,  she looked weak in front of her crew but she knew they couldn't continue the fight.

"Open an channel" she said and turned her gaze to the view screen. "You responded to out actions?" She asked their leader. "We told you to stay away, we told you we didn't want your help. And yet you send your fightere to us" on the outside, Vanadís looked calm, but inside she was boiling with anger. "You provoked us!" She added through gritted teeth.

~\*~

Meanwhile a few decks down. The three prisoners had reached the elevators. As expected there was a deckplan on the wall, that told them that the escape pods were one deck up. However, the doors on either side sealed them in and the elevators themselves weren't working due to lack of power. The only way out of there was to climb up (or down) the elevator shaft

\*\*\*\*\*

// Valkyrie - corridors //

IC: Lyra Bathori

As they rushed down the corridors, past the slowly closing airlocks, the ship kept shaking violently from explosions. Lyra could sense the darkness growing, she could sense the spikes of anger coming from the Sith on the bridge. "There it is!" She exclaimed in relief when they reached the elevators. She paused to let the stranger catch up. He seemed to have found a way to remove the cuffs. As he spoke up, the door behind him sealed.

~\*~

IC: Bob

The squid like droid moved towards the map on the wall. "The escape pods are one deck up" he noted, "we can't used the elevators…" he added as another door on the other side was sealed, locking the three of them in one place. "We can force open these doors, and climb up the elevator shaft" Bob then suggests

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

The horned feline nodded "seems like a plan" she said sarcastically, knowing this wa she only solution. She turned towards the stranger. "Your master?!" Lyra's ears instantly flattened and she glared at him. "So you are one of them… a Sith!" She growled.

"I know about the skeleton crews, the Regime's entire fleet was like that… strength in numbers, right?" The way she said it would suggest she knew more than she should, which was a fact since she learned about the battle of Tython a century after they had arrived in the past.

~\*~

IC: Bob

"The hangar bay empty" Bob said as he moved  next to Lyra. "All fighters have been deployed during the battle" he added as he used his sensors to scan the stranger.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

"The only way off this ship seems to be the escape pods… but.." she paused and squinted her gold and green eyes at him. "Why would we wait for you?  you are one of them after all" she said as she watched him turn away. However he didn't get far, as they were now sealed in..

~\*~

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Vanadís impatiently waited for the repose of the enemy. Meanwhile, the crew tried to repair whatever they could in this dire situation..

Pacing back at forth, Zan kept glancing around the bridge at everyone working, when an officer reported on enemy movements. "Commander, they are moving!" Instantly she stopped and glanced out of the window. "What are they doing!!!" She asked. "It seems they are moving behind us.." the officer replied..

"So, they choose to provoke us even more!!" Zan yelled. She wanted to open fire again with the few cannons they still had on the starboard side. But she knew it would only cause more trouble. "Hail them again!!" She said and took a deep breath.

"Enemy vessel.. we replied to your hails and your response is provoke us even more!!" She was no longer calm. Her eyes were fiery red and het voice as sharp as a blade. "We do not want your help!.. stay away.. the Regime will hear of this, we might not be able to do something about your threats, but the Dark Shield \*WILL!!\*.. So, again… we ask you to keep your distance."

\*\*\*\*\*

The Fay Lesh loomed at Tal and his comm officer  as if to say what is she talking about… 'Regime… Datk Shield…' he mouthed the words.. they just shrugged thier shoulders and shookntbeir heads  in response…

"This is the commanding officer of the Tiphays Claw, with whom do I speak?" The Fay lesh asked In response "Your Vessel is of unknown nknown desifn to us, we merely sent out our fighters to to take a vloser look, you fired without warning" He went on to say, he left out rather part about yhe Valkyrie being able to blow them out the sky with ease even though they we're  damaged.

He paused for a few moments then said "We moved to a safe place  ehind upu merely as a precaution, we also know you're dead in space, and life support at some point will fail!" Was his last reply as he signaled to end the conversation.

"Well see what she says!" Knowingbghis was still going pear shaped he was still worried.

Tal had been tapping away at the console looming for anything that would explain her words but nothing came up, he'd even taken a holopic of the ship andbthay came up blank..

"Nothing, Fay Lesh… absolutely nothing on them or their ship, I've got the computer analysing thier laser signature and I've sent out a drone to pick up some debris from their ship for more analysis, but I'm expecting that to vo.e back negative… I can't shake the feeling that we're still the prey in this stand off" He said worriedly.

""Me to!" Came the reply "Transfer everything we have on them to the captains office, and send a mayday request for help to command" He said to the comm officer "Tal, with me" He said as they headed to the office,  leaving only the other officer to run the ship and send the mayday….

~☆~

(Lower Dec's on the Valkyrie)

Duran bent down and picked up a piece of the force dampening cuffs, "Yes, my master… as tou can see the master/apprentice thing didn't really work for me, on the count that she just wants everything in her way dead, my path is different now, I'm neither sith nor jedi… but that's a conversation for another time, once we're off this floating coffin" Duran looked towards we're the bridge would be and said "Can you feel that.. she's angry and that makes her extremely dangerous, we need to move cautiously!" He dropped the piece of cuff on the deck and moved to the lift, he took a small flat bit of metal and wedged it between the lift door and the frame, levering it open enough to get a foot in so he could then open it fully. "I'm Duran, you must be…. Lyra… is it…?" Before she could answer he said "You 2 coming or what?" And disappeared into the lift shaft "Wait for me in an escape pod, don't worry though, you won't be discovered, Vandis has the crew so scared they wouldn't even dream of going near an escape pod, it's serve or die in her eyes" He said before scampering up 2 levels, we're je carefully opened the door to the exit of the shaft on that level, getting out, there was no-one there, so 100 feet down the corridor he stood in front of the door to the personal quarters of Vandis Zan, to get his belongings… using the force to unlock the door, it was easy enough to slide open, he'd have preferred to do things manually, but Vandis was always cautious, an extra lock on the door, better encryption on her logs, personally, he'd say she was paranoid but that was his interpretation of the facts from what he'd known as her apprentice. It didn't take long to find his sabres and his blasters, they were in a draw in her desk, he had to break it open, several minutes it took, but he did it, and now he had to move quickly, as his using the force would tip his master to his escape, especially since she was personally dealing with his betrayal.

~☆~

(Tiphays Claw, Captains cabin)

"We may have to destroy that ship?" The Fay Lesh said to Tal, after they sifted through the data on the other ship. "I have no idea where it's from or who they are? Who's this Dark Shield? And what's this Regime? She mentioned, I know we've been isolated a while, but even our trade partners haven't mentioned anything, and then the ship, if it wasn't damaged when we found it, we'd be dead already"

"I know " He said it's worrying me "but there are devil's on board that ship, it may explain their aggressive behaviour and they're still dangerous." Tal replied "And Fay Lesh, we can't take them on with our crew being like thay are, we have to deal with that problem to, there are 5 of us still functioning out of 18, we have a fully functioning ship but can't use it to its full potential!"

"That reminds me" He said as he hit the comm "fighters this is the Fay Lesh, I want one of upu 3 points off the Starboard side and the other 3 points off the port side of the enemy ship, form a triangle with us and have that ship in a kill box, Fay Lesh out!"

"Copy that" came the replies as they moved to their assigned positions.

"Their move" Tal said thinking of the 'Blue Demon' on that ship he'd come across some text naming that as JEDI. Guardians of the Light, how could he help him/her…. This was something to ponder and research some more…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Vanadís glared at the man speaking, despite her growing contempt, she stayed silent until he was done. "This is Commander Zan of the Valkyrie, Sith Knight of the Dark Regime" she replied to his first question, there was obvious pride in her voice when she did. With all the struggles she had faced, Vanadís was proud of what she eventually had accomplished over the centuries and wasn't ashamed to show it.

Eerily calm, Vanadís kept talking; "We refused your help and asked you to keep our distance. We even warned you that if you didn't listen to our request we \*would\* open fire. We truly believed that you would respect our request when you backed away.. but then you launched your fighters." She paused for a moment to think about what to say next. It was difficult to contain her true emotions, but unfortunately with the ship's current state she had to avoid provoking them any further.

After a deep breath she continued. "how observant of you" she said with slight sharpness in her voice. "Yes, Valkyrie suffered battle damage before you even showed up. Our… dispute didn't help." Again she paused and glanced at bridge officer's who were working hard to repair whatever they could while she was speaking. "We never intended to be here and to be honest I… can't even explain \*how\* we got here. However our maps didn't show that this is Arvacc Territory. All we wanted to do was to repair our engines and get back to our fleet… unfortunately now, it seems we will be stuck here a tad longer."

"They moving in position, Commander" an officer reported and Vanadís looked at the screen, seeing that the two fighters were now taking position on either side of the Valkyrie. Zan clenched her fists but still tried to remain calm. "I can see what you are doing" she said as her eyes began to glow. "Again trying to provoke us by surrounding our ship?... we are not stupid… we know that we don't stand a chance with the state our ship is in" she admitted. The bridge went quiet, everyone seemed to be in shock. "But I have a suggestion" she said in a diplomatic way that not only sounded unnatural coming from her, it also felt unnatural to her.

"We will stand down…" she said and signaled to the bridge officers to unlock their targeting systems of the few weapons that were still operational. "Still, we can not accept your help. However, if this truly is Arvacc Territory, we would appreciate it for you to… to tow the Valkyrie outside of your borders. That way we can go our separate ways" she said and closed the com channel.

"Hopefully they will accept. Meanwhile, we need to focus on the repairs of our shields and sublight engines" she said and let out a deep sigh. "We need those to be able to make way to the closest ally of the Regime and hope they have a proper shipyard." She added..

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra squinted her eyes slightly as he began ti explain, and raised an eyebrow at him when he claimed to follow a grey paty now. "Really?" She responded skeptically, 'how convenient' she thought to herself, thinking this was just some elaborate trick to gain her trust. It was hard to believe that a Sith of the Dark Regime would turn grey moments before a battle against the Je'daii..

She nodded at him when he mentioned the anger of his Master, "I feel it… wasn't planning on stayed" she replied and glanced at Bob who had floated towards the elevators to assist Duran with opening the doors. "Yeah, I'm Lyra" she replied and decided not to tell him her last name. He didn't need to know she was somehow related to the Grand Master of the Je'daii.. "This is Bob" she added and also moved towards the elevator as Duran disappeared into it. She didn't reply to his comment about waiting for him, until now she wasn't really sure what to do.

While Duran went ahead, climbing up two decks, Lyra and Bob only went up one deck.

~\*~

IC: BoB

With its droid arms, BoB forced open the doors and entered the hallway. "Coast is clear" they said and waited for Lyra to join them. "The nearest escape pod is down this corridor" he said and slowly floated towards the corner. It was dark, here and there they saw sparks coming from control panels and lamps along the walls. Part from the alarms in the distance it was quiet and empty.

"What are we gonna do about our… new friend?" Bob asked as he turned around the corner and floated down the corridor.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

"Friend?" She replied with a furrowed brow.. "I'm not sure" she added honestly and followed her companion down the corridor. "Don't you think it's odd that a Sith would defect moments before a battle against a grey order? Something he claims to be… no Sith nor Jed.. grey…" but part of her believed him or… wanted to believe him.

She knew the history of the Regime, she knew that the mistress of the Darkshield, the so-called Valkyrie of Vahl, was the one with the real power. Who manipulated everyone, including the Darkshield himself to turn against allies. Their army was built on lies, fed by her manipulations. Maybe this Duran, finally saw through those lies and realized who the true enemy was..

~\*~

IC: Bob

It didn't take long for them to reach the first escape pod. Bob immediately went to check on the state of it by manually accessing the control panel at the hatch..

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Crew Quarters //

Just as the other decks, the deck with the crew quarters was abandoned as well. Lights were dimmed, flickering in some places as power had been transferred from there as well. Crew wasn't there, since everyone able was on the bridge or the few other stations that had to be manned.

With power down, Duran easily managed to unlock the doors to Vanadís' private domain. Her quarters were significantly bigger than the other but lacked any personal touch. Without her name on the door one couldn't tell that this were her quarters.

It was easy for the defected Apprentice, he found his belongings in her study… maybe it was… too easy?

~\*~

// Valkyrie - bridge //

Impatiently, Vanadís waited for the Arvacc to reply. But whilst waiting she suddenly felt something buzzing in her pocket. She reached for it, pulling out a small device, a comlink of some sorts that notified her that someone had broken into her private quarters. "Sensi" she whispered to herself and then turned around. She wanted to confront her treacherous Apprentice but then quickly realized she couldn't leave the bridge now..

She looked around to see who would be available to go instead. "You two!" She said, pointing at two officers "take two security droids and go to my quarters… someone, presumably my Apprentice broke in… kill, whomever you find" she said.. the officers nodded and immediately made their way off the bridge, taking the heavily armed security droids with them..

~\*~

// Valkyrie - escape pods //

Meanwhile a few deck below, Bob finds out that the first escape pod is damaged..

\*\*\*\*\*

They listened to the relpy and immediately concern hit the Fay Lesh "You were right Tal, there are Demons on that ship, we can drag them out of our space and be rid of them, but they get that ship fixed, the entire Galaxy will be in trouble."

"I don't like it… I don't like it at all!" Tal replied after a long pause "We get in any sort of fight we won't win, they have those laser things that my Trident and our armour will only hold out for so long, but who knows what advancements they made in the last 200 years, and the only fighters in this crew are me and you Fay lesh!" He thought some more "We know from the scans they have a limited number in their crew, but we don't know how many are Demons and how powerful they are, we also don't know about the Jedi on the ship, captive or alli, there are to many variables, but we tow that ship outbof Avecc territory, before we leave,  we destroy their engines so they're beyond repair….." he let the last part trail off to emphasise how dangerous that ship could be at when it was at full power.

"I'll need to think about that, but we do need to respond" they walked out onto the bridge, and the Fay lesh said, "Open a channel" and the static cleared he said.

"Yes Fay Lesh" the comm officer replied "They have indeed stood down, I can't be sure, not knowing their systems, but they are very advanced compared to ours, but it looks like all remaining power is being diverted to life support!"

"Valkyrie, This is is Fay Lesh Ocara of The  Avecc Cruiser Tihpays Claw, Knight Commander Zan, we will honour your request and wil tow you out of our space, but I do have more questions, where did you come from then? and what Is this Dark Regime/Shield you mention?, we will extend our shields around your ship, it will give you some protection as we go through the asteroid field." He then cut the comm and opened a channel tonthe fighters, "Come I 1 at a time and rearm, stay behind the Valkyrie incase they try something"

"Copy that Fay Lesh"  ame the reply and 1 of the ships headed for the hanger deck.

"Tal…. Tal …. TAL… "The Fay Lesh shouted "Prepare the tractor beam and engage on my command.." he piloted the ship himself and it started to move up and forward into position.

Tal stood motionless for a few more seconds until the shout snapped him out of his thoughts that were focused on the ship that he watched out the main viewport "I don't like this… i don't like this at all…" He said as he turned to do as ordered …

~☆~

(Vandis Zans quarters)

"Dammit" Duran said to himself as he realised his rookie mistake, he'd set off a sensor In the draw, he'd even said to himself about the extra security, then once in he quarters, hed not even thought about it, but he'd tell himself off later, now he strapped his gun belt on, and holsters his blasters, clipped his sabers to hi belt and grabbed his Jacket that she'd hung on a hook, smiling as he loved that jacket, it was strange she kept it, but she was crazy and he'd given up trying to figure her out…

In the Fight and travel through the rift a picture was damaged to reveal a hole in the wall, in it was a metal box approximately 12 inches square, with a biometric access code, Duran grabbed it on the way out, he wasn't sure what was in it, as his Vandis had very few possessions, so he assumed it would be personal to her, and hopefully expensive " Thank you Master!" He said he grabbed it and ran out the door. The next thing he knew was a big metal hand was in his way and been launched him across the corridor, dropping the box in mid air, he pivoted and landed safely ignighting red light saber incase any bolts were fired the 2 troopers could be easily killed but the droids were not so easily destroyed,  its tough armour, and adaptive learning  they where a much more complex version of the dark troopers Moff Gideon had created all those years ago.

He reached out in the force to warn Lyra that she could be in imminent danger, he knew his old master would also pick up his warning, but he also knew that if she had her hands full keeping the ship together and dealing with whoever was shooting at them, him escaping was the least if her worries at the moment, but she was concerned enough to send this squad to terminate him…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Outside Zan's Quarters //

Accompanied by the new generation dark trooper droids, the two bridge officer's entered the corridor leading to their commanders private quarters. The droids where able to see Duran's heat signature through the closed door and instantly grabbed for the large blaster rifles they carried. The bridge officer's stepped aside, allowing the large battle droids to take lead as neither of them were actually soldiers. Of course combat had been part of basic training, but they had never put those skills to the test.

When the doors to Commander Zan's quarters opened, one of the droids hit the ex-apprentice as he rushed outside, sending him across the corridor. The Bridge officers, standing behind the two droids also held up their blasters. Their hands were shaking a little, they knew what Duran was capable off. "Drop your weapons, Senshi!!" one of them yelled.

One of the two large droids stepped towards Duran, "Drop your weapons" it repeated after the bridge officers. And once more tried to hit Duran. Unlike the older generations, these droids had armor similar to Beskar, it could withstand blaster fire, flamethrowers and even repel lightsaber attacks.

\*\*\*\*\*

// Valkyrie - Corridors outside escape pod//

IC: Bob

"It seems this pod had been damaged, we won't be able to use it" Bob said as he retracted his tentacle-like arms. "The next pod should be further ahead" he added and without waiting for Lyra's respond he floated away. "Chances are that that one will be damaged as well, if so, I suggest we try the pods on the other side of the ship" he suggested

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

"Kriff!" Lyra exclaimed. Having felt the explosions she knew that maybe all the escape pods would be damaged. And if that was true, she had no idea how else they could escape..

Then suddenly Lyra felt something. The Iktochi-Cathar Hybrid had natural Telepathic abilities, so when the ex-Sith reached out to her, she easily picked it up. However, he didn't speak into her mind, all she felt was a warning. "I think we should try the other side" she suddenly said when they reached a corner, "I think our new friend has alerted security" she guessed as she wasn't really sure what happened one deck above them. "We might not have time" she added and turned around heading to the other side of the damaged vessel.

~\*~

IC: Bob

Bob paused and turned towards Lyra, he knew about her skills so he immediately understood that whatever she felt was important and shouldn't be ignored. "I'll go ahead" he said and then floated off down the corridor as fast as he could to reach the nearest escape pod. However when he arrived he noticed instantly that the first pod wasn't even there.

While Lyra was catching up, he quickly moved to the next. There, like before, he manually accessed the control panel next to the hatch. Again to check if they could use the pod.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - corridors outside of escape pod //

The first pod was indeed missing. However it wasn't destroyed in combat but seemed to have malfunctioned and launched by itself somewhere between Tythos system and Zonama Sekot system..

The next pod was there and on first glanced seemed to be in a good enough condition to be used for their escape.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Impatiently, Vanadís stood at the observation platform, her hands resting on the deformed railing, tapping her fingers as she waited for the Arvacc to respond.

When they finally opened a channel again she quickly composed herself and listened to what they had to say. A moment before their leader responded she could hear someone else speaking, reporting them on the Valkyrie's status. It angered her that they knew but there was nothing she could do about it.

Surprised, she tilted her head when their leader began to ask questions. "You don't know the Dark Regime?" She asked with genuine shock in her voice but before she could even answer the questions they cut the comms. Baffled, she turned around, glancing at the others "Who would have thought, there are people that don't know about the Regime… I wonder how much they do know about what has been happening in the galaxy.." she let out a chuckle and walked over to her chair.

"They are moving into position, Commander" an officer reported. Zan nodded and watched everything from the view screen. "Send them confirmation that we are ready"

\*\*\*\*\*

(Outside Zans quarters)

As Duran stood ready for the inevitable attack, the officers asked him to drop his weapons.

"Really, drop my weapons, I only just got them back!" his red sabre humming in the silence between the cracking of electrical charge from the broken panels and the noises randomly coming from the Dark troopers that stood before him, reaching out in the force he grabbed and tried to push the to officers against the bulk head, he knew zan wouldn't be coming and by now she'd know of his escape so hiding wasn't an option. Getting rid of the officers first, meant less to worry about, and then were the weakest link in this squad. Until the droids moved, they weren't a threat but he was still weary of them.

~☆~

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

The comm beeped, and a message came through that the Valkyrie was ready, the Claw moved into position. The first fighter had come in for re-supplying its torpedo magazine.

"Fire front grappling hooks.." the Fay Lesh said as moved their ship over the Valkyrie it was bigger by about a third and wider to, but his guess was they were both cruiser class vessels and the Claw being g bigger was because the Avecc stood at 2.5m tall.

The ship shakedown as they fired, "Fay lesh, grapples 1 and 2 holding" the officer said

"Fire 3 and 4" He said after, the ship shook again

"3 and 4 holding" was the reply. The ship moved  forward to take up the slack and with a massive jolt, the Valkyrie started to move with them. As the first fighter took off and got into a flanking position tbe second fighter entered the hanger

"Fay Lesh, why the grapples? They're for mooring underwater?" Tal said with a questioning look. "Why not the tractor beams?"

"That's simple" he said with a smile "You're forgetting the grapples are connected to generators that produce an electrical current to repel the larger prey in our oceans, if they try anything, we can send that current through their ship with enough force it will rip itself apart. I Don't trust them either, but if we can get them out of our space, they will become.e the problem of the… Jedi… is it?" He said "We just have to hope that thier ship is beyond repair." He hit a button on the comm "Valkyrie, This is the Fay Lesh, as you're aware we've grappled onto your ship and will take you to somewhere out if our territory…. Commander Zan, please enlighten me on this  Regime of yours, can you give me an idea of what it's all about? I thought I new all the tne Factions in the galaxy" He said and winked at Tal as he said it "But yours is unknown" he now waited for the reply but had other things to sort out, so he called up all the data from the sensors that they'd collected so far.

"What do you make of this Tal?" He asked "I noticed them before but they make no sense, that ship has unknown metals in it, but some are known to us, but these readings are all-over the place, they came from the the

same position that the ship was in when we got here"

"No idea, we need the science officer to go through these readings, it's just numbers to me Fay Lesh"

"Go find her then" He said "We're safe for the moment"

Tal headed off the bridge and asbyhe doors opened he said "And Tal… Don't give her a choice about coming"

Tal smirked as he walked off, he couldn’t help but think that if the Fay Lesh had been the captain from the beginning, things may have gone differently.

The second fighter was now in position flanking the other side as the 2 cruisers began to pick up speed, and turn towards the direction of the known Galaxy and riddance of these people.

\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Outside Zans quarters /

Duran didn't dodge or block the incoming fist of the droid, instead he focussed on the two officers that stood further away with their blasters ready. His attempt to push them against the bulkhead failed simply because the large droid's fist hit him hard on the left shoulder. Without having any proper armor on to protect himself, it would cause immense pain.

"Surrender your weapons" the droid, that just slammed him said and tried to reach for Duran's wrist in an attempt to disarm him. The other droid held up its blaster rifle, ready to fire if Duran would make the wrong move.

The two officers chuckled from behind the two large droids, believing that they were safe hiding behind the droids.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Bob

Bob didn't wait for Lyra and immediately accessed the control panel next to the hatch of the escape pod. By the time that the horned feline caught up he was relieved to tell her the pod was in a good condition.

Using the controls he unlocked the hatch "no damage on this pod" Bob said as he glanced at Lyra "this is our way off this ship…" he paused, remembering the ex-Sith. "I don't think we should wait, this is our chance to leave unnoticed," he suggested, it was obvious he had no intention to wait for Duran. He didn't trust him nor did he believe the story about him defecting. But it was up to Lyra to decide what they would do.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

Her heart was racing inside her chest, her breath quick and shallow. Despite all her training Lyra was feeling anxious. She was more than ready to leave this ship.

The hatch to the pod popped open with a dull click and a loud hiss. Quickly she got inside..the pod itself was small, built for a maximum of four people. As she got to the main control panel of the pod she listened to Bob. Part of her also felt like leaving at once but something told her she had to wait. Maybe it was Precognition, she couldn't really explain it. "We'll wait" she said as she did a routine system check, just in case..

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

On the bridge, Vanadís watched the view screen. She hated that she had to ask these people for help, what she hated more was that they didn't use the tractor beam, but some grappling hooks instead.

With a loud clank the hooks secured themselves on the Valkyrie's hull, the sound could be heard throughout the ship. The second pair where fired shortly after, causing the entire ship to tremble. Vanadís clenched her fists and grinned her teeth as she sat In her command chair.

"Yes… we are aware" Vanadís replied sharply to the Arvacc leader when they had reopened a channel. She lef out a sigh, trying to compose herself. Then once more asked about the Regime and again she felt confused about this question. She couldn't believe that anyone in the Galaxy hadn't heard of the Regime after the massive shift of power a few years prior..

With furrowed brow she stared at the view screen. "It would be my pleasure" she said and gave a faint smile. "I must admit, I am surprised you haven't heard or the Regime. Of Course you know about the civil war that resulted into the fall of the Eternal Sith Empire?" She asked and waited for a moment to see how they would respond. "After Emperor Dreadwar and Empress Viscretus where gone the galaxy was still in total chaos. Darth Halcyon, a defector of the Eternal Sith Empire, became the Darkshield. The Regine rose up from the ashes to bring back order to the Galaxy. Other powers rose, like those Je'daii on Tython. At first they were allies, but quickly they became a threat.."

Again she paused, for a moment she thought back on the conflict between the Je'daii and the Regime. "To answer your other question… before we arrived here, we were at Tython. Eliminating the threat of the Je'daii… we have no idea how we got here.. but it's important that we get back there as soon as possible" she explained and then waited for their reply.

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

The 3 Avecc on the Claws Bridge listened to the explanation given to them by the Commander of the other ship, they were nearly upto full sublight speed, but the ship groaned as it pulled the massive ship. The Claws bucky cables weren't designed for this and he had no idea if they would hold or be ripped out, ideally, the Fay Lesh would have liked to have slaved the Valkyries computer to his and then jump to lightspeed… but… he was pretty sure that the Valkyrie would be ripped apart even with them sharing the Claws shields and Zan would never agrees anyway, as she'd know that they'd have a poke around in their systems.

"Knight Commander, thank you for the explanation, I'll update our database with regards to the outside galaxy" He said when he sent his reply, "We've been separated from outsiders for several 100 cycles, so as you can imagine, it's understandable the Avecc are unaware of your…. People and their struggles!" He switched off the comm. He looked at the 2 others and said "Is she for real, or just deluded?"

"She's not deluded" Fay Lesh Tal replied "You can tell in her voice that she believes what she says" Tal had the map of the known Galaxy up and zoomed in on Tython "As far as are data shows, Tython is pretty much abandoned, and the Galaxy is run by the Republic and the Sith are presumed to be extinct… so I'm at a loss as to who these cultists are!" He said with honesty.

"That was my take on out there" He said jesturing to where they were going "Something doesn't make sense, our data can't be right and they can't be right, either we're so outdated In our knowledge, or they lie!" The Fay Lesh said, the concern on his face evident.

The comm officer had remainder silent but said, "Bortai, what if both are Indeed right" she said "The computer says it will take approximately 10 hours at this pa e to get to the Borderlands and I've been looking at the anonymous readings on and around that ship, if you can give me access to the main science computer in the observation room, and a couple of hours, I may have an answer for you."

"Go" He said, handing her his data card so she'd have complete access to the systems "You have 3 hours" He said to the rapidly disappearing woman, she waved her hand in response as the blast doors to the bridge closed…

He reopened his commbto the Valkyrie "Well take you to the our boundary of our lands as I promised, then we'll assist uou in calling your people if your long range comm systems are non operational, I'm pretty sure we damaged them, so we'll relay any message you wish to send, we're also approaching the first asteroid field, so hold onto something!" He added with a wry smile "Knight Commander, can you tell.me about your ship, In all my years I've never come across a design like her, in full working order I bet she's an impressive and formidable vessel?"

While he waited for any response he said to Tal, "I have a Job for you, its going to be difficult, I'll deal with the Hajat, but I need you to round up the rest of the crew and confine them to them to their quarters, some will have already gone there, but the others will be cowering somewhere" you could see the sadness in his eyes as he'd been putting off this task as long as possible, but now he had no choice, "Thank You Tal, you are true Avecc"

Tal said nothing but saluted, turned and went about his task.

"COMMAND, THIS IS THE FAY LESH OF THE TIPHAYS CLAW" He said Into the comm, they still hadn't responded "Please respond!" There was nothing but static on the line, he knew they were recieving the communication, but had no idea why they wouldn't respond..

~☆~

(Outside Zans Quarters)

"Tchak!" He said in his Native Kallen as he got hit, "Note to self, get Armour before before i leave!" He said to himself, he needed to switch tactics, he'd misjudged the speed of the droids, so he came at the problem another way, stepping to the side so 1 droid stood in front of the other one, he forced pinned the closest one  in place then grabbed the 2 officers, this time bringing the forward into the closest dark trooper, he was hoping if the 2nd trooper fired, he'd take out the 2 officers in the process, he couldn’t help thinking if he just left his weapons behind he'd be long gone by now, but if his new friend and the floating squid where to escape and survive, they'd need some weapons of some description, with the Galaxy in turmoil, he didn't like their chances one bit.

It was at this moment the ship lurched forward, Duran hadn't heard the cables attach tobthe ship on the count of the droid hitting him and him being busy, he knew the ship was dead in space so how were they moving? This day was just getting stranger and stranger brother minute, but he needed to focus on the problem in front of him…

With the distraction of the ship moving,  he jumped forward his goal was to plant the tip of his lit saber the the neck of the closest droid and then let his momentum take him past the droid and his blade would remove the head of the droid, but hed never fought against these droids, only with them, and never seen them against lightsaber….

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

The metal hull of the Valkyrie groaned as the Arvacc ship began to pull. The sound made everyone a little nervous, worried that the Valkyrie's hull would be ripped open like a tin can. Slow but steady they began to move and when the cables were fully extended they began to pick up the pace in sublight.

Vanadís got up from her seat, she as well was feeling on edge but not just about the ship. Something felt off, something told her that these people were up to something. So when the channel was briefly cut she turned to her crew, "keep working on those shields and engines while they take us out of their territory.. I don't trust them, they're up to something… I can feel it" she said with a furrowed brow and stepped to the front of the observation platform.

She peered out of the window, at the Arvacc ship that was dragging them across the system and then remembered the missing planet. "This doesn't add up" she whispered to herself..

A few moments later the channel opened again and she heard the Arvacc commander's voice asking her about their ship. She smiled, it amused her that these people thought this outdated vessel was impressive. "The Valkyrie is an decommissioned Bayonet-Class cruiser that dates back before the battle of Yavin. But of Course she was upgraded before she was brought back into service." She paused as she kept glancing out of window at the empty space before them. "Commander, I have a question as well" she then suddenly broke the silence. "Our navigational computer tells us that this is the Zonama Sekot system… however I know that can't be correct because where is the sentient world? There are no records of it moving the last thirty years.. so my question is, where exactly are we?" She asked and walked over to the navcom to check the data herself while waiting for an answer.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Outside Zan's Quarters //

Duran stepped aside before the droid could grab his wrist and disarm him. Before the droid could adjust his tactics the ex-Sith Apprentice managed to hold it in place with the Force.

The second droid that stood behind the other now responded by try to step in..however, Duran was faster and Force pulled the two officers into the droid.  The officers gasped in shock when they felt the pull and let out a scream in pain when they hit the massive droid. In pain, the two officers dropped to the floor and for a moment they were disorientated. The droid however was affected by this move. Just as it was about to step over the officers the ship suddenly jolted causing the droid to lose balance for a moment.

This brief moment allowed Duran to deal with the other droid which he had force pinned down. Aiming for the neck was a smart move, as it was one of the few unarmoured parts of the droid. The saber sliced through the neck, but before the droid was completely disabled it frantically moved its arms and began to shoot his rifle around. Then, whilst shooting the headless body dropped to the ground onto the two officers and then shut down completely..

The officers cried out in pain and tried to push the heavy droid off them. Meanwhile the other droid was still unharmed. "Kill him!!" One of the officers yelled before Duran could escape. The droid now began to fire its blaster rifle at Duran..

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

As they listened to the Knight Commander some answers were given, but for every answer, more questions took their place.

Fay Lesh Ocara knew this space like his patterns on his skin, what Zan asked about simply didn't exist, as well as questions there was now confusion to.

"I have a really bad feeling about this!" Tal said out loud this time as he knew the space around them to.

"Knight Commander" Ocara said " cannuoh please clarify your comments "what is this Battle of Yavin? You said about we have no mention of this battle in our records, our…. Allies" He said cautiously "keep us up-to-date on all major conflicts but the way you said it, it sounded something of a Galactic event, and as for the Zenama Sekot system….. We are a small system with a few planets and Avecc prime as our homeworld" there was no point trying to deceive the Sith warrior, as she knew not the Avecc already, "Your database must have been damaged and giving off false readings" he ended the comm message.

As this conversation was going on, a data stream was recieved by a tight beam transmission to the Tiphays Claw, It said 'Hajat eyes only'…Ocara didn't open it but sent it straight to the science station in the ship. He had more to worry about than what's in that message, if they died here today, the message became irrelevant.

As Tal and the Fay lesh spoke about potential strategies his terminal start flashing, the message from the science station said urgent.

"Tal, go see what she's found!" He said worriedly.

"Yes Bortai" Tal saluted and headed out, Tails scampering after him, several minutes later and several levels down, Tal entered the science station to see the other officer shaking uncontrollably.

"What's wrong?" He asked

"That ship, i was listening to the comm chatter between us and them…how it got here has been troubling me, the readings are bizarre. there is something in the database about the possibility of this happening before, 1000's of years ago but i can't 109% confirm it, it seems that's why Command took so long to respond, something to do with the Old Masters."

"Explain it to me?" He asked

"They are asking about a system that doesn't exist, and hadn't existed here ever, so shes speaking like it is here…. a battle we've never heard of….and they're on a class of ship that's old but made of metals that we can't identify and don't exist……"

Tal knew exactly what she was about to say, the dread hit him like like an angry Rancor, he ran to the lift,  before she'd even finished speaking. The lift, seemed to take a lifetime to go up several levels, then he ran to the Bridge..

"Fay Lesh, I need you to trust me…" He said bursting in without using the proper protocols "Ask The Knight Commander what year it is?" Tal could see the Fay lesh lighten in colour as Tals comment sank in..

Ocara compsed himself "Knight Commander, 1 final question, please forgive my asking,… can you tell me what year it is, Us Avecc don't see time as you do, so our grasp on the Galactic standard calendar is, we believe we're  approximately 200 years out of date"

He knew it was a weird question, he'd see what sort of answer came back?

~☆~

(Outside Zans Quarters)

With the officers pinned under the droid, down but not out, and the second droid now firing, Deflected the first bolts in the direction of said officers, don't want them shouting anymore orders, the rest were back at tnhe droid, trying to take out its eyes, well optical sensors, if he could manage that he could escape as the droid couldn't see him…

He did notice the small box he'd taken from Zans quarters had smashed, and lay open on the floor, in it was what looked like small jewes, and also high value credit chips, but he couldn't be sure as he was under attack, using the force he pulled them to his left hand, while his right Twirled his sabre, once in his pocket he ignighted the second blade and headed towards the droid, its adaptive learning programme meant defence with 1 blade would only last so long before it changes its approach to trying to kill him, the Deflected bolts still being returned to Dark Troopers head, he got into position to strike…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Standing at the navigational computer, Zan waited for an answer. It was strange, despite readings being off the computer didn't give any notifications that it was damaged or needed re-calibrating.

Her eyes widened when she heard the Arvacc commander ask about the battle of Yavin. A small gasp of surprise escape her lips as she looked up. "What is the battle of Yavin?" She repeated and shook her head.. "it was one of the biggest battles in the last 200 years" she replied and scratched her head. 'How is it possible these people don't even know?' She wondered.

"For years the Rebels of that time tried to fight the Galactic Empire, without much success.. But the destruction of the Deathstar at Yavin had turned the tides. The Rebel Alliance under the command of Mon Mothma and Leia Organa grew stronger.. a few years later after killing Emperor Palpatine the Empire began to fall." She paused for a moment still trying to understand how they didn't know..

"There been many battles after Yavin, non as important.. not until the war with the Yuuzhan Vong… which brings us back to Zonama Sekot" Zan pulled up a star chart and compared it with the system they were in. It wasn't exactly the same, some things were a little off. "According to the star charts…. This \*Is\* the Zonama Sekot system and it has been since that sentient world came here after the war. If this is part of your territory, surly you must have noticed a planet appearing and disappearing?" She said with a confused frown on her face.

Zan waited again for a reply, her anger had faded but confusion had taken its place. When their Fay Lesh opened the comms again he didn't have an answer for her but another question instead. "The year?" Vanadís tilted her head, "every world uses their own method to determine years. And since you are unaware of major Galactic events I'm not sure what to answer. The Majority of the Galaxy uses the Battle of Yavin, and now its 162 years after.. and in those 162 years the Galactic Empire fell, the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the Galaxy and were defeated, the Fel empire rose and fell, the Krayt Empire rose and fell.. the Eternal Sith rose and fell and finally the Regime rose up from the ashes and has been bringing Order to the Chaos of the last century." She explained and immediately thought to herself, 'if none of these events mean anything to them, something must be really wrong'

"200 years off you said?" She then suddenly answered and thought about a major event. "Then you must know about the Clone Wars? The period before the Republic became the Galactic Empire.. those clones were all over the Galaxy, your people would have probably come across them at some point?" She asked trying to figure out what they knew.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Outside Zan's Quarters //

The two officers struggled, trying push the heavy, headless droid off of them but without succes. However one of them managed to free his arm and reach for his blaster again. "Kill him!!" He screamed in panic to the other droid who had opened fire.

Duran was trained well by his master and easily defected the blaster bolts taking out the two officers before they could free themselves and open fire as well. The droid however was a lot more difficult. It used its armored arm to shield itself as it moved closer. But to do so it exposed the joints of its arm

\*\*\*\*\*

(Outside Zans Quarters)

As Duran pivoted away from the last droid, he did the same trick as on the other droid. But stuck his sabre between the the elbow joint of the bent arm, and then ignighted his otrr sabre and did the same on the droids other elbow and he dropped to the ground, his plan was to sever both joints once, as he ignighted his second blade. He opened the lift shaft and used force push to launch the droid in that direction. He wasn't sure if the driod had time to lock its feet to the deck, but hed find out…

~☆~

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

Listening to Vandis Zan Talk talk, the confidence I her voice was a sign she actually believed what she was saying was true, a d more than that, the details she was giving was that she'd lived a portion of it, and it was his belief that she'd studied these events thoroughly to have this much information.

It took him time to process all of this, and he knew he had to reply with something while he talked it over with the remainsnof his crew.

"Ahh, The Clone Wars!" He said when he finally replied, they'd run everything shed daid through their database and come up completely blank on all fronts, he knew the Avecc would have gaps, but to come up with exactly zero hits, that was impossible.  "That does sound familiar, but some of the events are unknown to me, I'll have to double check my database, as I said, we're a bit out of touch here in our little corner of the galaxy." He cut the comm.

"That settles it, they're not from this time, it explains everything about their sudden appearance, and all this knowledge they have about events that haven't happened yet, now we have to decide what to do, we have no idea what time period they're from so we have no clue as to when this Battle of Yavin took place that seems so Important to them" He rubbed his temples, he felt a headache coming on, as tbe other officer joined them from below devks, they carefully composed a message to command, and sent it. They also knew the speed they worked at, any decisions that were needed, were down to them as the leaders of the Avecc Military were long past retirement, and prone to long deliberations.

Tals hunters brain already taken over "That ship is vastly superior to ours in every way, and probably everything in this entire Galaxy, we don't know what they  can do to fix it, if they dmget it full functional, who's to say they won't take over completely and change this future so nome of what she says happens, so, we have 2 options, 1st one is we take somewhere remote, land it on a planet and destroy it, and leaving them to live out their lives as they see fit without their technology, 2nd, we just destroy them, and fly them into a sun removing them completely from existence" his normally joyful Manor soured by his own comments, "they're a wounded animal, we can't take them to civilisation"

"I need to think, give me an hour and we'll decide then, slow to quater sublight speed, drop shields from around the Valkyrie and transfer all our shield to between is and tham" He said as walked off to the Hajats office.

Tal did as commanded, the ship slowed quickly, the dread in his stomach like a knot. The next hour felt like 12, the 2 on the bridge hardly spoke, Tails didn't move from tals side, but continued to flash from his normal blue, to light blue then dark blue repeatedly, something was happening on that ship, the mystical powers ifvthe force were being used by both parties but Tal didn't know for what reason, were they fighting each other? Or just using it to survive? Again, he couldn't say.

The swish ofvthe Hajats office door opened, a different Fay Lesh appeared, harder, more focused "I know what I have to do…!" He said as he stood in front of a console tapping away.

"Tal, get on that console" Fay Lesh Ocara ordered The reply from Knight Commander Zan all but confirmed their theory "Hard to port" He said and Tal did as ordered.

The ship banked, groaning under the stress of the bucky cables. Ocara was watching the systems to make sure ship could cope with what he was asking of it, as it banked a full 180° he said. "New course Full power to the sunlight engines, heading 359 mark 6."

The Tiphays Claw lurched forward again, nose slowly rising a few degrees and tal asked "Fay Lesh, that's an unmapped system, we have no idea what's out there!"

""Neither do they Tal, and that's the point… other than the first planet thats uninhabited, tbey should be safe there."

The inevitable message from the Valkyrie would come very soon demanding to know what was going on, but he had no idea how he'd answer it.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Corridor Outside Zan's quarters //

With success, Duran sliced off the arm of the droid. However, it was still using its other arm to continuously fire its rifle.  Duran's attempt to do the same to the other arm was unsuccessful, simply because the droid was holding it in a different angle that made it impossible for the Sith to cut through the joint. Instead the blade of the saber bounced off the beskar like armor.

The droid didn't move when Duran attempted to force push it towards the open lift shaft. It had indeed locked itself to the floor and now attempted to hit Duran with the sparking stump of its severed arm.

Duran had a choice, he could stay and try destroy the droid or simply run for the lift shaft and escape..

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

The way the Arvacc leader responded to her answer wasn't convincing. She could sense he wasn't telling the truth but before she could respond herself they cut the line. "This doesn't make sense!" She said out loud and returned to her chair. "Why would they lie about the clone wars?" She asked as she sat down and ran her hand through her black and white hair. "Sounds familiar? And yet they have no idea about the battle of Yavin or any other events.. they are all linked… it was a chain reaction created by Palpatine!" She continued speaking.

Others on the bridge listened, they agreed but none dared to share their thoughts. Their commaner knew history, she had lived through the clone wars after all, she had served several Empires.

Resting her hands on the armrest, she tapped her finger. Vanadís' mind was busy, trying to think of reasons these people would put on charades. Was it to buy time? But time for what?

"Commander?" And officer finally broke the silence. Vanadís looked up, waiting for their report. "They've slowed down.. and no longer shield us" they said. Zan's eyes widened, now she knew for sure that these people were up to something. "Shall I hail them?" The officer asked. "No" was Zan's reply, "They are buying time for something, but also means they are giving us time to continue our repairs… for now we do nothing, keep focussing on trying to repair our shields and engines." She replied.

~\*~

Nothing changed until approximately an hour later. They felt a strong jerk on the cables, making everyone on the bridge lose balance for  a moment. "Commander! They just chanced course" the officer replied. Zan, who has also felt the jolt got up "I know, I felt it" instantly her anger sparked again, "what are they up to!" She asked through gritted teeth as they felt another jerk when the Tiphay's Claw picked speed.

"HAIL THEM!" She yelled and waited for the channel to open. "What is the meaning of this? Why have we changed course?"

\*\*\*\*\*

(Valkyrie lift shaft)

As much as Duran was having fun,he knew he could beat it, but this driod and its adaptive programming was tough, so he ran at it as it swung its sparking arm he dropped to the floor again and slid past. Into the shaft. As he dropped he extinguished his sabers and caught the ladder, stopping with a jolt, he climbed up 1 floor and out onto the level that housed the escape pods.

Half running and half limping, he got to the pods, the first ones were out of commission, but he did hear the familier voices of the

foating driod and the pretty woman whose species never seen before.

"Afternoon?" He said with a smile as he stuck his head into the pod to see them sitting there, he couldn’t read the features of the driod, but the feline woman he could,you could tell she had wanted to leave, her force presence gave that away,  even though she looked calm and composed. Climbing in he said "Ready when you are!" He said as he hit then button to close the pod door, "Here, take this?" He held out his hand, it held one of his sabers "I know red isn't necessarily your colour, but I was limited on my options!" He laughed while waiting for the droid or her to launch…

"See you soon master!" He said through the force, saying nothing would have been his best option, and just leaving, but he couldn't help antagonising her knowing she was already upto her neck in trouble, it might even help the other ship that was out there, the one he'd glimpsed above them a viewport..

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

As the demand for answers came from the Valkyrie, he knew it would, but it was sooner than even he expected. He'd already had an idea of what he was going to say, but not everything.

"Knight Commander Vandis Zan, I'm not going to insult your integrity, as I know your not as stupid as most, you may wish to recieve what I have to say in private, but that's upto you, I'll give you a few minutes to decide before I continue…" He muted the comm temporarily.

"I know what you're going to say Fay Lesh" Tal said, "Are you sure it's wise?"

No Tal, I'm not sure, it's better they no sooner because what I have in mind they'll want to stop getting they're ship ready for a fight, but get it ready for survival…"

"You're the boss" Tal said, still concerned.

Not knowing if Zan had moved to somewhere private or not, he unmuted the comm.

"You must have figured out by now things out there are different. Also you must have figured we know nothing of the events you described to us. It is our belief that somehow, you've travelled back in time through that Skyrip… Rift… I think it is in your tongue, does the name  Darth Rivan mean anything to you, she is becoming a problem for the galaxy in our time. if you search the name, it will give you a time on how far you've travelled back, hen e why i asked you the year… but, what to do with you? That is the question" He k ew he should really take them home for study, but hed left out the part in his report to command that the ship was still here, he knew what would happen if they got their hands on future tech, he also knew what would happen if they got the ship functional and were let lose on the Galaxy… what was to come …. wouldn't.

"I should Destroy you and that ship of yours while i can, so tpu dont pollute the timeline and change events to come… So I've decided … we're going to take tou to one of our former colonies from the old times, there is no technology there a few buildings, but not much else, well help you land your ship so you have shelter. There is food in abundance, but everything there will want to kill you animals, birds, plants, insects… your shields will save you from intruders, so I'd recommend you focus on getting them up as soon as you can" He signed off leving he to contemplate what he'd said, opening another channel, this time to his fighters, "Fighter 1, use lasers to destroy their engine housing, do not damage the main power core … donyoh understand!"

"Yes Fay Lesh" came the reply, he didn't understand, but he'd follow orders, he swung round and fired his lasers at the engins, several small explosions, but he couldn't see how much damage was done…

"Your move Zan!" He said aloud, not to anyone he didn't like the idea of abandoning them on a deserted planet, but he limed the idea if setting them lose on the Galaxy in an operational ship even less…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

The com channel was cut once more before she could even respond. By now her calm facade was gone, there was fire in her eyes. Vanadís knew that these people were about to turn against them despite offering to help first. She turned her attention to those that were on the bridge "reports on the shields?"

"We've been working non stop Commander. But the damage was to severe to repair" the officer replied with a trembling voice. "So we have no shields? AT ALL?!?!" Vanadís screamed in frustration. The anxious officer swallowed and then answered "eh… we have a shield but it's very weak. It… it will probably not even hold…" Vanadís balled her fist, she wanted to strangle someone but had to restrain herself "what about Engines?" She asked. "Thrusters are in working order.. sublight engines will be, but we need more time" another officer reported.

"KRIFF!!!! WEAPONS?!" Vanadís punched the railing of the observation platform, deforming it entirely.. "main cannons only Commander." "Bring it online… and be ready to raise that shield on my command?!" She replied and walked over to the Cannon controls just before the com channel was unmuted again.

"Oh I've noticed that you were lying" she replied calmly while the Arvacc commander continued speaking.

"Rivan?" It was a familiar sounding name but it was obviously before her time. At once she signaled to the others to look it up as she wasn't going to break her focus. Using the Force she attempted to sense what these people were up to but one thing she knew for sure, it wasn't anything good.

"You are willing to declare war on the Regime!?!?!" She asked, but once more they cut the comms. "Darth Rivan was a Sith Lord During the New Sith wars, he died during the Ruusan Reformations" the officer reported back… "Ruusan? That's over 1100 years ago?!" Vanadís replied in shock but kept her focus on the enemy. The darkness grew stronger, as did her focus.

"Fighter is has a lock on our engines." An officer replied. "Raise shields NOW!" Zan ordered them and just on time. They fired but hit the shield. Just as the bridge officer had explained, the shield was weak and instantly blew, but their engine was safe, for now. Meanwhile, Zan opened fire on the fighter, destroying it instantly. "HAIL THEM!!" She said and turned the cannon to wards the other fighter..

"You just declared war on the Regime Commander" she growled and locked on to the fighter. "Do you think we are the only ones that came through that rift?... the entire fleet came through!! And they will look for the others, they will know what you have done!!" She threatened still locking on to the other fighter. "Do you want more of your people to die, for nothing?!"

~\*~

[MEANWHILE]

// Valkyrie - lower levels //

The Droid missed as Duran successfully dodged by dropping down and sliding towards the open lift shaft. But the droid didn't give up, it turned and followed his target down the lift shaft.

It followed Duran as he made his way to the escape pod and grabbed hold of the hatch before it could close.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra sat at the controls when Duran hopped in. By now she looked anxious, they had felt the explosions and knew that it was now or never. "Just sit your ass down" she snapped at him, ignoring the Saber as she was more focused on launching the pod. However, the hatch didn't shut completely.

She turned and saw the droid holding the hatch with one hand, trying to force it open. "Ooh kark!" She exclaimed In panic.

~\*~

IC: Bob

Bob knew that shooting or using a saber inside the escape pod would be to dangerous. "Don't wait for me.. I'll handle this…" he said and before either of them could respond he moved to the hatch. The droid outside was strong and managed to force the hatch open far enough for Bob to get through. As fast as he could he launched himself at the droid, wrapping his tentacles around it and pushing it away from the hatch.

Instantly the hatch closed behind him, allowing Lyra to launch the pod.

~\*~

IC: Lyra Bathori

Without an explanation, Lyra knew what Bob was going to do. But it all happened to fast for her to respond. "NO!!" The hatch closed and locked in place. Through the small window they could see how the squid like droid wrapped around the large combat droid..

For a moment she wanted to open that hatch again but she knew they couldn't waste more time. "You better get out.." she said out loud and pushed the launcher button.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Corridors //

Bob successfully incapacitated the combat droid long enough for the escape pod to launch. The pod was ejected, automatically the thrusters gave a big burst moving the pod away from the Valkyrie

Meanwhile, the combat droid was struggling to get free. Bob could feel its strength as his tentacle-like arms couldn't hold it any longer..

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Vanadís could hear her Apprentice's taunts but was far to busy to do anything about it. She was aiming the cannon at the fighter waiting for the Arvacc to respond.

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

"WE DIDNT DECLARE WAR… THAT WAS YOU…. YOU FIRED THE FIRST SHOTS" He shouted into the comm, once he'd regained  his composure he continued "so you're very much mistaken Knight Commander,  about your precious Regime, by now you must have figured out it doesn't exist yet, not for many years" Ocara said into the comm to the Valkyrie "I was happy to take you to the known Galaxy, but then we discovered the truth, you are to dangerous and to powerful to be let lose, its with a heavy heart I take this course of action."

It was several hours before this message was sent, the Fay Lesh wanted to make sure the planet was in view, he wanted the crew of the Valkyrie to know where they were going, so they could see for themselves that he wasn't joking.

"Well be breaking orbit within the next hour, so you might want to prepare yourself for atmospheric entry and have power to be able to lower your landing struts"

Changing comm channels, he said to his 1 remaining fighter, "Stay below the traverse angle of their heavy cannons, and lock onto their engines, but only fire again if you're fired on, fire on, we've done enough damage to that ship."

The craft took wide angle, a high arch so the Valkyrie was going to have trouble tracking the smaller and faster ship, as it git to the rear of the ship it held position, ready to fire if necessary.

"It's a dangerous game Fay Lesh" Tal said "Leaving them alive"

"Yes it is, but they didn't ask to come here and I won't kill them in cold blood, we have to give them a chance at survival"

"She'd kill us without hesitation" Tal snapped back.

"True, but that's one of the Reasons that the sith empires don't last that long… to hasty, I do joke I don't live to regret this decision!"

"So do I, but I still think it's a mist….. " Tal didn't get to finish his sentence as the system started beeping at them.

"Sir, we have an escape pod launch from the Valkyrie…" the other officer said

"Grab it wit a tractor beam, get it to the topside docking bay and behind our shields quickly!" Ocara said

"It could be a trap sir, a way for them to board the ship!" Tal said worriedly.

"That's what you're here for Tal, lucky you're in your armour" the Fay Lesh jested, but the lack of humor was evident.

With a big sigh Tal shook his head, he opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it, sighing again he headed off to the docking port, he was going via the armoury, his Tridend and laser whip weren't going to be enough, the laser crossbow he favored would definitely help.

Being 8ft helped a lot, it meant he could wield a bigger weapon, his crossbow was nearly 5tf long, and really packed a punch, the Wookies liked them to, but there's were a smaller version.

Dragging the Valkyrie was  tough enough to do at slow speeds, but at full sublight the Manipulation of the thrusters to keep the Tiphays Claw level was a constant battle throughout all the conversations since the ships were joined, Tal and Ocara were constantly tapping and hitting buttons, sometimes both of them, sometimes just one of them, and the other officer even took over at some points, but now, the grappling hook housing on the ship were starting to suffer, the alarms were going, the computer was telling them of structural failure on 2 of them, and the other 2, well, they weren't far behind.

With a thud, the escape pod landed on the ships deck, and the bay doors closed, Tal stood there ready unsure what to do with who or what came out the pod..

~☆~

(Escape Pod)

"Suit yourself" Duran said as he sat back clipping his sabres onto his belt. What he didn't expect was the driod to stop the hatch closing. Duran was about to force push the blockage out the way when squidbrain shot past him knocking the droid away and following him out the door as it closed and the were jettisoned from the Valkyrie, they'd only got about 100m from the ship before they stopped dead, and started moving up. Duran picked him up from the floor and said, "I'm sure he'll be fine, Zans far to busy to worry about him" as he spoke he was looking at her, "I'm Duran…. Oh look, a planet!" He said seeing out the corner of his eye through the viewport, I can't say i know this system." He moved to the command console and hit the thrusters the pod turned and he could see the shipbtbey were heading to, "I have no idea what class that ship is, but its big" He said changing the subject off her friend "You have any clue as to who our new friends are?" He was definitely worried, "out of the frying pann and into the fire .." his people used to say. But saying that, anybody wjod willingly take on a Sith cruiser, no matter how badly damaged it was, had the potential to be a big alli, the pod hit the deck as it went through the mag field, it would have been harder had Duran not used the thrusters for stability … as the pod opened he'd know… a giant blue figure stood there waiting…

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Still locked on to the remaining fighter, she held her hands on the controls of the main cannon. She was ready to destroy it if she had to but also knew if she'd fire first their main vessel would open fire. And without their shields they didn't stand a chance. Vanadís used the Force, to enhance her senses, in an attempt to stay one step ahead of them. At the same time she listened to their leader.

"You are wrong.." she hissed through gritted teeth. "The Regime began to exist here when we arrived through that portal… our entire fleet was pulled in, I saw it with my own eyes. They are our there somewhere as is the Je'daii fleet. Stopping us won't do anything, your timeline is already contaminated, and you've just made an enemy of the Regime… they will find out…" she said in a threatening tone.

When they finally cut the comms, Vanadís didn't move from her station. She focused on that fighter behind them. "What will we do Commander?" The first officer asked. "Prepare for landing" she answered to everyone's surprise. "Landing?" The officer repeated in shock. "Yes, they probably believe our engines are destroyed beyond repair, better keep it that way. Once we landed we will continue the repairs and we'll send out a distress call.. someone from the Regime will find us."

Vanadís hated this plan, but it was the best they got. They had to keep the ship in one piece or they would never be able to leave.

~\*~

Meanwhile…

// Valkyrie - corridors //

The one armed droid was struggling with Bob, who had restrained it with his tentacles. Bob's droid body was strong, but despite the damage of the Dark Trooper Droid, it was even more strong than Bob. It extended its arms, forcing Bob's tentacles loose. Then with his only hand it grabbed hold of one of the tentacle and began to pull on it, swinging Bob against the wall…

\*\*\*\*\*

// Escape Pod //

IC: Lyra Bathori

Lyra said nothing, she couldn't stop thinking about Bob. She knew he was more than capable of handling himself, but still she worried. Unlike Duran, she knew what happened, she knew that the moment they traveled through that wormhole they left everything and everyone they knew behind. Without Bob, Lyra would be alone. Then suddenly it hit her, she would never see her family again, she would never see Crado again.

Her eyes began to water and she didn't even hear what Duran said. Only when he moved next to her and engaged the thrusters did she snap out of it. Her eyes glistened as she gazed through the small porthole. She shook her head "I have no idea, but I'll guess we'll find out soon enough" she said softly with an obvious sadness in her voice. "they got a lock on us with their tractor beam" she added.

~\*~

Meanwhile..

// Valkyrie - corridors

IC: Bob

With a pound bang, Bob crashed into the wall. Luckily his brain was well protected. Still, Bob realized he had to get away before real damage would be done.

One of his tentacle arms was equipped with a laser cutter. He switched it on and aimed it at the droid's wrist joint.. attempting to cut himself free. Once he succeeded he quickly moved away and then used the laser to cut through its knee joints, attempting to cripple it.

If successful he would then move to the airlock, trying to force it open and escape the Valkyrie..

~\*~

// Tiphay's Claw - Escape Pod //

IC: Lyra Bathori

When Duran wasn't looking, Lyra used the sleeve of her hazmat suit to wipe away the tears that had welled up on her colorful eyes. She took a deep breath and turned towards the hatch. As it opened she raised her hands up, showing she was no threat.

"We surrender" she said, not really knowing what else she could say at this point..

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Hanger)

Duran could sense she was upset but said nothing, now wasn't the time for getting all fluffy and sweet. Explanations could wait.

"Well, that was putting the fight to them!" Duran said with a smile, while the woman was busy surrendering, Duran put his arms behind his back and slipped one of his lightsabers into its holder in his prosthetic arm, as it silently clicked bavk into place, he put the other on his belt in plane view, he'd just escaped a cage, looks like he was heading for another one, but he wasn't overly bothered about that, an opportunity to escape would present itself, so he reamained calm and focused. Duran could see the little blue monkey, it was vibrating and shimmering through different blue colours so quick he couldn't keep up.

"Xhak tan katya" Tal said waving his gun towards the deck.

Duran squeezed past and stepping out the pod Duran caught sight of the creature in front of him forbthe first time, lookup he said "My word, You're a big one" the words slipped out before he could stop them.

"Tallos!" Tal said and pointed to his weapons then the bag on the floor "Tallos!"

As Duran did as indicated, blasters first, then one lightsaber that was clipped on his belt he knew there was no point in fighting… yet… as he didn't know how many of these creatures there were "Do you understand him?" Duran asked the women, "I have no idea what he's saying" the giant blue man was saying the same thing to his fellow prisoner "Xhak tan katya" to get her out onto the deck. Yo Duran. He didn't look like a warrior, he was fair skinned, it looked smooth and unblemished, not like any soldier he'd ever seen, no signs of stress or fatigue, so he changed his tactics "Take… me… to… your…  leader….?" He said slowly and clearly, the blue fellow looked at him like he was an idiot, furrowed his brow and said "jak toe schetras, ya share tem rew!" Came the reply. He was still jesturing to the women to come out.

"Your leader.. Boss… person in charge?" He took 4 steps forward, "who… is… in charge" he carried on speaking, and suddenly, without warning, the monkey flicked its tail out, taking Duran by surprise, the tip sharp and jagged catching Durans cheek, with his quick reflexes he moved his head in time so no real damage was done.

"Vallox" the man said laughing, he clicked his fingers and the monkey grabbed the handle of the bag, and gave it to Tal, he put it over his shoulder but his weapon, firmly pointed at Durans chest, never moved, not even an inch "No way to dodge that at this distance" Duran thought worry starting to set in….

Tals comm beeped, hisborders came through…

~☆~

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

"Does she really think she's fooling us" Ocara said tonthe one remaining officer on the bridge, "She's in more trouble than she realises, there are no other remnant ships in tbe quadrant, she may get off the planet eventually but won't know where to go to get to known space, even if she did, it may take years before we see them again, they may get lucky and find something on the planet to speed things up, but it will still take time, and command will be able war the Blue Demons of what's going on"

"If you say so Fay Lesh, that's beyond my pay grade" the officer said.

"Tal?" He said over the comm "bring whomever, or whatever is on the pod to the bridge, time to get some answers"

As this conversation was happ, they got closer and closer to the planet, "Bortai, we're about to break orbit."

"Well done" He said, opening a comm channel to the Valkyrie he said "Knight Commander, you might want to brace yourself we're about to break orbit, it might get a bit warm without shields" He risked a smile as he cut the comm, he adjusted the angle of entry  to make things uncomfortable for the crew of the Valkyrie, but nothing to hurt them.

"Over there!" He pointed to a large open space, the planet really was quite beautiful, the tress, lakes, rivers, animals and birds, especially the waterfall huge as it cascaded down the mountain.

"Bortai, they're landing struts are down…well mostly, 1 looks like it's not lovked in properly but I can't be sure"

"We'll put them down anyway, hopefully for them,  they'll have a manual adjuster of some kind to lock it in and balance the ship"

Ocara put all the external Cameron record, so he could study the images later, none of his people had been here for over 200 years, so anything he captured could be useful.

"Landing in 10..9..8..7…" the planet was close enough to touch,the  where we're birds in the sky, all sizes,giant ones he couldn't names small ones he could and 100's in between.

"6… 5… 4… 3…" both ships were below the canopy if the largest trees now, "2… 1…." The Valkyrie was down, the only way they could tell was the bucky cables slackening off.

"Full stop, release and retract the cables, and deactivate the tractor beam" they both did their relevant bits on their consols. Ocara hit the thrusters and the Tiphays Claw began to rise. Hitting the comm he sent one last message to the Valkyrie "Good luck Knight Commander, you're going to need it!" The Valkyrie was out of view now, and space was ahead, prepare for lightspeed, a few moments later, he hit a button and they were gone, heading for home….

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Airlock lower decks //

Several minutes before the Valkyrie broke into Orbit, Bob successfully freed himself from the grasp of the dark trooper droid by cutting through its wrist. However his attempt to cut the knee joints didn't work.

Even without hands the droid didn't stop trying to get the Squidlike droid. It moved forward and attempted to hit Bob with its sparking stump.

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Bob

Bob was faster then the damaged droid that tried to hit him. He dodged and the incoming hits by moving backwards, until his back touched the wall of the corridor.

Despite knowing that the droid would attempt to hit again, Bob Didn't move, he had a plan. He positioned himself in front of a light panel. The moment the droid's sparking stump came in he dodged once more, hoping he would break through the light panel and either get stuck or cause an explosion due to a power overload.

If successful he would then quickly move to the airlock, force if open and escape.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM: update

// Valkyrie - Airlock lower decks //

[Dice roll, escape plan.

1 = unsuccessful - droid unharmed

2 = successful - Droids arm stuck

3 = successful - power overload, destroying droid

4 = unsuccessful - power overload, explosion knocks Bob out.

Result: 1 ]

Bob's plan didn't work, the dark trooper droid hit the light panel but didn't get stuck or cause an explosion. It turned towards Bob again and move towards him, blocked the way to the airlock.

Meanwhile…

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Vanadís walked back to her Captains chair and plonked down with a sigh of frustration. Through the transparasteel window they could see the planet that they were the Valkyrie was being brought to. The voice of the alien leader echoed through the comms on the bridge telling them to brace themselves. "We are ready" she replied through gritted teeth and dug he nails into the armrest. Her anger had only grown stronger and she wanted to unleash it but couldn't.

The moment they entered orbit the entire ship  began to tremble. The trembling only got worse and worse as they broke through the first layers of the atmosphere. Everyone, including Zan grabbed hold of something.

~\*~

Several minutes later, when they were safe on the ground, Vanadís jumped up from her chair.. "shut main power down!" She ordered the crew. She heard the voice of the alien leader again, mocking them, but she chose to ignore it and focus on more important things. She began to order teams to head down to assess the damage and began repairs to the most vital areas of the ship; Engines, Shields & communication systems.. she also ordered a team to use the scanners to scan the area for anything they could use…

\*\*\*\*\*

IC: Lyra Bathori

// Tiphays Claw - Hanger bay //

Keeping her hands up, in plain view, hoping that whomever this person was would see she was no threat. Unlike the Sith, Lyra was unarmed and not dressed like a soldier plus she was covered in bruises from the interrogation she had endured.

Slowly she stepped outside the pod and next Duran who had already dropped 'some' of his weapons. "I'm not familiar with this language" she replied to the Sith, who was now speaking more slowly and loud in an attempt to make this person understand.

She couldn't help but smirk when the odd little monkey smacked the Sith across the cheek. There was no damage but the message was clear. Unlike him, Lyra hadn't moved and had kept her hands up all this time. But now she took a step forward "I need to speak to your leader. I have important information" she said calmly and attempted to tap into the force to send out good vibes, showing she was one of the good guys.

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

As the Claw prepared for the jump to lightspeed,  Fay Lesh Ocara sent a comm to the returning fighter.

"Cange of plans, head down tonthe planet, stay for 1, maybe 2 rotations to see if we've been duped, then jump home, we'll be waiting.. Ocara out"

"Yes, fay Lesh" The craft did a 180° turn and spring towards the landing zone. It was that moment hey jumped.

He then contacted Tal in the hanger bay over his wrist com, in his Native Tonge he said "Tal, do we have guests?"

"Yes Fay Lesh" Tal replied in Avecc "We have 2, female if unknown origin, speaks basic and says she has information for you, in a hurry to tell it to id say, she seems honest and I think she knows WHEN she is to,  looks normal 1 male, human looking but with a purple patches, speaks basic yo, but I think  there's something wrong with him!" Tal continued. "Tails says she's Jedi, and he's sith, judging by his reaction to them, but he's not like any sith in the archives, not sure what he is if I'm honest, do you want me to bring them to the brig?"

"No, bring them to the Hajats office, we may have allies"

"He has weapons, she doesn't, I'll bring them immediately Bortai"

(Tiphays Claw Hanger)

"Xhak tan" Tal said backing off and gesturing towards the blast doors that he'd just opened by getting close enough. "Dosret yer vittel!" He pointed.

"Where … are … we … going" Duran said  in his slow precise Basic he was level with the Avecc soldier now, the massive humanoid went down on one knee, there heads where almost level, Duran could also tell this blue soldier was on alert, his demeanor calm, but he was hyper alert. He pointed to a huge turbo lift and then gently pushed him with the end of his crossbow "Xhak tan" (Go There) He said softly, but there was no mistaking it was an order, as Duran was guided forward a slight 'ding' of metal on metal as the crossbow hit the metal ring on the top of his prosthetic arm where it joins his body, the blue man reached out and grabbed that arm raising it, his superior strength evident, tilting his head he huffed and let go as he stood up, Duran started to walk forward, Taails just hissed at Duran everytime their eyes met, his tail tip shaking as if to strike, the blue man then  looked at the strange woman and nodded his head, then he gracefully swept his arm to the side in a gesture for the direction she should go, as you would a dignitary not a prisoner. What they didn't know was Tal understood every word they said, him using Avecc rather than basic was a way to see if they where playing them, for all they knew, this woman could be Knight Commander Zan, he wouldn't polut it past her to try something bold like this, eventually he'd reply to them but for now, he'd look like he didn't understand them.

Out the port holes, you could see the blue haze of stars as they shot past them at lightspeed, Tal had no idea how Ocara would deal with this, the Knight Commander blamed them for starting this skirmish, Ocara had simply followed protocol to scan the ship as they couldn't get through the shields with their main scanners  and the Valkyrie fired… but that was then, this is now, in co trust you the man, Tails was intrigued by the woman, he was not only staying a light blue, he was sniffing her as he jumped past her, he was also using the tip of his long tail to brush her arm and hand, that normally meant she was a friend, Tal shook his head, he normally trusted Tails judgment as he could sense the force, but this was different.

(Planet side in the fighter)

After receiving and confirming his orders, the pilot watched The Tiphays Claw rise out of visual contact, the fighter pilot headed to the planet  and then the craft disappeared off his sensors to, that meant Hyperspace, he was on his own, he flew in the opposite direction at first until he was in atmosphere and below the top canopy level, he didn't know if the Valkyrie had sensors, so he wove his way through the trees, and eventually landed in one on a massive branch overlooking the landing zone, he exited the fighter and found a better position, there was maya fruit In the tree, one of the reasons he chose it, picking some, he ate it as he watched the Valkyrie through his binoculars, the regime soldiers, already doing an inspection of the ship around the gaping hole on its underbelly, but for now he waited …

\*\*\*\*\*

// Valkyrie - corridors //

IC: Bob

The damaged Dark Trooper Droid blocked the way to the airlock, Bob knew he had to get rid of it if he wanted to escape.

Meanwhile he noticed that outside the darkness of space had changed to clear blue skies, they were landing and that wasn't good.

Instead of confronting the Droid that blocked the way, Bob turned around to the darkened corridors. He knew the Droid would follow no matter what and that it probably had thermal vision and could see Bob through walls. But Bob had the advantage of speed and flight, so that, he used.

The Squidlike droid zoomed through the corridors as fast as he could trying to find another way of escape. He remembered the missing escape pods and went to see if maybe those would be easy to open..

~\*~

Meanwhile

// Tiphays Claw -  Hanger //

IC: Lyra Bathori

The golden horned feline observed the tall amphibian male closely as he spoke into the comms, to whom she assumed was his leader. She tried to understand the language but it was like nothing she had heard before. But she had a feeling that they understood what was said.

Lyra rolled her eyes when Duran attempted to speak to the alien and let out a soft sigh. "No need to speak like that" she said to the Sith, "I think he understands but just chooses not to reply in basic" she added and glanced at the alien with squinted eyes to see his reaction, trying to detect any sign that her assumption was right.

Without hesitation, the petite feline followed the order to get into the lift. The odd little monkey kept close to her, she could feel its tail brushing against her arm. Lyra looked down and smiled, she had never seen a creature like this before.

\*\*\*\*\*

GM update

// Valkyrie - Corridors //

Bob was right, the droid followed at once. It was fast but not as fast as the floating squid. Bob's speed gave him a head start but not much.

The lift shaft was still open, he could have tried to escape to another deck and find a way out from there. But instead he tried the airlock hatch of the missing escape pod..

[Dice Roll, escape]

1 = unsuccessful, airlock closed shut

2 = successful, airlock opens

3 = unsuccessful, droid catches up before the airlock is opened.

4 = successful, airlock opens

Result: 2]

By the time Bob reaches the airlock, the Valkyrie has landed and powered down. The airlock seal broke, allowing Bob to pry the hatch open with his tentacle arms.

~\*~

// Valkyrie - Bridge //

Full of anger, Vanadís glares out of the transparisteel window at the view. Meanwhile the teams she had assembled had begun their tasks..

"Commander? An airlock of an escape pod on the lower levels has been breached" an officer suddenly reports.. "Escape pod?" Zan raises an eyebrow. "Sensors don't pick up any life form.. could be just a malfunction. We lost the pod when we entered the wormhole." The officer continued. Zan let's out a sigh "just seal it off, I don't want any uninvited visitors on my ship" "yes commander.." the officer replied.

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw turbolift)

Tal made no indication that he understood the woman, just furrowed his eyebrows as if what she said was nonsense "She's smart this one" He thought to himself, his hunters sense, as his people  called told him she was trustworthy, he couldn’t sense the force and had absolutely no idea how it worked, but he could read her body language, her movements and the tone of her words, she wasn't trying to decide them in anyway, the man though, he was a different pot of jalar. He was all over the place and  harder to read, he didn't seem to be hiding anything but his body language was the opposite and his words made him sound like a village idiot…

As the turbo lift slowed and opened several levels up, Tal pointed and walked the dhort distance yo the blast doors that opened as he got there revealing the bridge, he suspected that the woman would keep the man in line, it was a feeling he had, he turned to see if they'd followed and  pointed in a direction that was behind the wall, the man had.

"I guess we're going this way then?" Duran said to the tall Blue man as he got level with him, he turned 90° and saw another door, this one was completely clear, looked like some sort of plasteal thick and sturdy, another man sat behind the massive desk, typing something into the computer. It looked like lists, names on a report. These people were different in so many ways, but Duran knew yhe beginnings of an after action repot when he saw one.

Looking up from his typing, he shut it down, standing and with a confidence he walked to the door which silently slid open, and he  stood with his hands behind his back. Unlike the armoured soldier, he initially showed no caution, this man was definitely in charge, his uniform was pristine, for a brief moment Duran had an image of the long dead Grand Admiral Thawn, well, actually the not born yet Grand Admiral.

The man spread his arms in front of himself in a genuine gesture.

"Welcome, welcome, friends…"  he said in fluent basic, "Let me introduce myself, my name is Ocara, i'm the Fay Lesh of this ship, i believe you'd call me a commander, i do hope Tal has made you feel welcome" His voice was fluid, almost musical, soft and happy.

"Him, I guess… the monkey… not so much" Duran replied "I'm Duran Senshi"

"You must be the Sith then, which makes you" He said moving out the room further to ess the woman, the Jedi?" His tone was friendly as was his demeanor, but his eyes where watching everything did. Before they could answer again Tal spoke up

"Hedshi troy werenet soy, bahso dom ractar ne da Fay Lesh!" (Her we can trust, him, I don't know Fay Lesh)

Ocara nodded to tal, "So, are you both from the future?" He said addressing the to visitors "And what did you wish to tell me?"

The Tiphays Claw hurtled through Hyperspace, looking out the viewport at the front of the ship, they could see the beauty of the vortex tunnel, as the Avecc called it, that was the patten the stars made as they flew, the shield would ping and flash different colours as micro meteors of different components hit them, quite beautiful,Tal thought if you like that sort of thing.

The other person on the Bridge was doing her best not to look at the visitors, but her side glances show her curiosity was to great.

"Come friends sit, sit" Ocara said motioning them to a giant 2 person chair in the office, "Wod you like a refreshment?" he offered them a drink of a green liquid that was in a glass decanter, as he removed the stopper, you could smell the sweet aroma "It's quite safe, it's called shenzu, we make it from a fruit only  grown in the mountains and its mixed with a type of nectar, from a flower, its were it gets this intense green colour from!" He explained. Ocara knew he'd get nowhere if he sent them to the cells and used any form of Interrogation, and Tal seems to think the woman is trustworthy, so he'd see how this Tactic went.

~▪☆~

(Planet side fighter)

The pilot looked on as the figures hurried about the Valkyrie, then he noticed a something happening on the starboard side. A strange floating droid appeared out of the of the empty ascape pod ports, he set his camera to record what was happening, he expected the droid to join the other people around the ship… but it didn't, it really didn't do anything… from this distance it looked like it was hovering there, for what reason he knew not, this sort of thinking was above his station, the Fay lesh would know what to do, when everyone crumbled at the first sign of trouble, he stepped up. The pilot never really liked the Fay Lesh before this, a clash of personalities but now he knew the man was who he thought he was, he was a warrior at heart. "In the Fay Lesh I trust!" He whispered to himself and sat back and watched mote of the activities going on around the ship.

\*\*\*\*\*

// Tiphay's claw - turbolift & Bridge //

IC: Lyra Bathori

Quietly, Lyra stood with her back against the wall of the lift cabin. Her furry ears twitched slightly as she kept scanning her surroundings. She didn't feel worried or threatened in any way, she felt quite calm. Inside her hazmat suit, the tip of her tail moved side to side in a relaxed manner.

The trip up, in the lift, didn't take long. It took only moments before it slowed down and the doors slid open. She followed the tall Allen's lead, making her way to what turned out to be the bridge and then to a room were they were greeted by a man speaking fluent basic. The corners of Lyra's lips curled up and glanced at the man that had brought them there. She was right after all, they did know basic as she assumed.

"Je'daii, to be exact" Lyra replied to commander Oscara, or Fat Lesh as he called himself. "My name is Lyra Bathori, Je'daii Journeyer" she then added and glanced at Duran to see what his reaction would be to her surname. "Yes and No" was her first response to Oscara asking if they were from the future, it surprised her that they had figured it out so quickly. She didn't continue her answer until she was seated. "A drink would be nice" she was quite thirsty as she hadn't drank anything for many hours.

"Technically we are both from the future" Lyra finally began her explanation. "However, the ship you encountered and it's crew including mister Senshi here are from approximately 1400 years from now, a different timeline where this encounter never even happened." She spoke calmly. This was the first time Duran would hear what happened, as he had spend time in brig had been completely unaware of the wormhole that took him back in time.

"I myself come from 169 years from now.. I… eh.. I am a descendant of those that arrived today… I know what happened and will happen. What I can tell you is that the Valkyrie isn't the only Regime ship that came through… there are many. Some will rebuild their fleet under a new banner.. others will join the Sith of this time.. the new Je'daii order will try to stop them, try to make sure they won't alter the timeline."

~\*~

// Planet Side //

IC: Bob

Bob zoomed out of the airlock before the droid could catch up. But outside he paused, he had absolutely no idea where he was and Lyra didn't show up on his sensors.

But something else did show up on his advanced sensors. "Another ship" Bob picked up on the fighter, despite it being hidden. He turned in that direction and made his approach. That vessel was his way of the planet and he would do anything to get in It if it meant finding Lyra again.

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Captains office)

Ocara handed the woman, who introduced herself as Lyra a drink, then handed one to the man, from in the decanter… "Be careful, it might be a bit strong for your species!" He laughed, Tal huffed again and crossed his arms. His eyes never strayed from the man, Tails however, didn't seem overly keen on him either, that reassured him, he was hiding something…

"That will pose a problem for the rest of the galaxy if their fleet gets back together, but the good news is that we've stranded their leader and disabled the Valkyrie for the foreseeable future, one problem for another day, my most immediate problem, is you 2, and what to do with you" He went onto say, "I should  turn you over to our Military leaders as the information you have will definitely help us protect our borders, but If my superiors get hold of you and turn you over to the intelligence devision, I can guarantee your treatment won't be pleasant…." He stopped mid sentence, as something occurred to him, addressing lyra he said "The escape pod, does it have any information from the future? When it was brought on board, the computer would register it is made of an unknown substance and automatically notify Command,

"Jetison it and destroy it." Tal said in perfect basic, "Like we should have done to the Valkyrie, That Knight Commander is far to dangerous to be left alive"

"That isn't our way Tal, and you know it!" Ocara said "Just like we can't hand these 2 over to the council, You know what power does to those who aren't worthy?" Ocara was referring to the Old Masters who wiped themselves out through greed and wanting more power than they could handle.

Tal just knew he was right, with a sigh he said "I know, but, these aren't normal circumstances" Tal turned to the man who'd said nothing throughout this conversation and said "What about you, you were full of words earlier, now you say northing, what do you think?"

Duran rubbed his chin, "My name is Duran Senshi, former Sith Knight, the Knight Commander as you called her was my master, and she won't forget what you did, so be wary… as to what I think, it doesn't matter, I'd say let us go, but that isn't an option, I was a prisoner on the Valkyrie, now i'm a prisoner here, you have my weapons, so I don't get a say"

"We have to decide what to do, I don't know how or when the council will comm, but they will." Ocara replied "This is dangerous ground we're on" Changing the subject slightly he said "If the Regime came through… does that mean some Jedi/Je'daii did to?" He said looking at Lyra, she seemed to have more answers than Duran at this point, so addressing her would be the best course if action.

While they waited for her to reply Tal said

"Not all weapons!" Tapping his prosthetic arm with his Trident.

Duran shrugged his shoulders "worth a try" his arm opened and about eject his sabre.

The look of shock came across his face as well as Ocaras, but a split seconds later his Laser Whip was out and wrapped around Durans arm stopping it, and he got into a defensive position just as quickly ready for an attack.

Duran was shocked by this reaction, then he realised why, and laughed "You weren't talking about my saber were you, you were talking about my arm," he laughed again, letting it slide out the palm of his hand instead, he flipped it 180° and catching it so the emitter was facing him, he handed it over to Ocara "Here, take it" He knew full well that he could kill them easily with the force if he needed to, but from the brief interactions they'd had so far and all the interrogations he'd done in the past, he knew this Fay Lesh was being honest, his force president lie either. But Tal, he worried Duran, he was far smarter and more cunning than he'd given him credit, he'd be a great alli if he could persuade Tal he was no threat.

~☆~

(Planet canopy?

The pilot, and now acting recon soldier, sat watching the flurty if activity around the Valkyrie, to him, it looked like that were still at the stage of assessing the damage, even after this many hours, the pilot hadn't realised how lucky they'd been, now it wasbon the ground, he could see the cannons and how thin the armour acting was compared to the Tiphays Claw, of yhis ship was fully functioning, they would have been dead Inside 5 mins, taking out the shields and weapons was a master stroke from the Fay lesh, it meant they had to decide on defense over offence.

While the pilot was in awe after this ship from the future, he failed to notice the squid like droid making a dash for the canopy nearby, thinking himself completely hidden, he'd left the fighters side access door open for a quick escape if he was spotted…

\*\*\*\*\*

// Tiphay's Claw - Captain's Office //

IC: Lyra Bathori

She took the drink and looked at it with a furrowed brow. Lyra was only part Cathar but still many foods or beverages wouldn't agree with her, so she felt slightly worried about drinking. However she didn't want to offend the man in front of her so she took a sip and pretended to like it before continuing their conversation.

"That wasn't their leader.. she was only a Knight. Don't get me wrong, from what I learned during my encounter with her, she's a powerful Sith but there are bigger threats out there. The Mirakula twins, Morla and Falkor. Or the Echani, Bhaal. They are unpredictable and therefore far more dangerous." She explained as she held her drink in one hand.

While the two Arvacc spoke, Lyra stayed silent. Part of her was relieved they destroyed the escape pod. Knowledge and tech from the future could even be dangerous in their hands. The fact that she was telling them information was already risky but at least she could filter out the information they didn't need to know.

Lyra nodded, "everyone who was at Tython would have come through. Some didn't survive the journey though, but I assure you many did." She paused for a moment, she knew the locations of some of the ships but wasn't sure if she should share that information. Before she could continue the man who had escorted them addressed Duran's "hidden" weapon. She shook her head and chuckled when it turned out that the Arvacc weren't referring to the saber.

"There's one thing" Lyra suddenly said. "I.. I didn't come through alone. My partner, Bob.. he is an Icarii male. he was left behind on the Valkyrie. I know him, he will find a way out, but I don't think he could get off the planet." She paused, realizing it was a lot to ask. "It would mean a lot if someone could retrieve him."

~\*~

Meanwhile…..

// Planet side //

IC: Bob

His sensors picked up on the person hiding in the greenery, but Bob ignored him and went straight for the fighter.

The access hatch was wide open so Bob could just slip in. But then he faced a problem, he wasn't familiar with the controls and without a working scomplink he had to fly manually. He could try figuring out the controls with the risk of the pilot being alerted before he could take off. Or he could hide.

Bob chose the second option and slipped out of the cockpit again. He moved to the back of the fighter, to a spot that was out of sight. He attached himself there, his metal body blended in with the hull of vessel and patiently waited for the pilot to return..

\*\*\*\*\*

(Tiphays Claw Captains office)

"Can't say I've ever heard of an Acarii!" Ocara said "It's a good job we have a fighter on the ground then for the next ½ a rotation" He walked to the door and it opened, addressing the other officer he said "Send an encrypted transmission to the pilot of the fighter we left behind, tell him to look out for an Acarii who goes by the name Bob, tell him Lyra sent you, I'll update a description as soon as I have one.' He went back into the room, "Can you give a description to my comm officer and they'll send it" He said to feline woman as he went back in the room. "That's a lot to take in, and worrying, well send a message to my Elders and let them decide on that, but I'm more interested in the bits you're not telling me, the bits that may be dangerous to us and my people?..... And you my friend" He said switching his attention to Duran "Its obvious she's what we call a ligt Demon, or Jedi as you call them, but you, are Sith, Red Demons as we say in our tongue, but something went wrong. Care to share how you ended up here?"

"What makes you think that?" Duran replied

"The mark on your right wrist, shows signs of restraints for a period of time" Ocara said confidently "Her I can understand as a prisoner, but not you?"

Duran hoped he'd kept his reaction neutral, these 2 Arvacc, or whatever they called themselves, were sharp, and didn't miss much lime Lyra, he needed to be careful with what he said, to much Information in yhis case was a bad thing.

"How long have you got?" He said with a smile, taking a sip of the liquor he was handed 'strong, but tasty' he said to himself.

"Before i do. Are you not wortied the Valkyrie will Intercepte, your message?" Duran asked.

"No!: Ocara said quickly, "we did a thorough job destroying their communications."

Duran shrugged his shoulders then went on to say "The important parts are that Vandis Zan was my Master, and she's as cruel as she is cunning and clever, The Sith life was all I knew, I slaughtered everything that got in her way, and at the time, I had no idea that what was doing was wrong, easiest and simplist way is think of it as a massive cult that brain washes its members at an early age" He explained, "it's not exactly accurate, but its close enough for my story, at some point on my journey, I'd started to realise that things weren't as I was told, a d then one day I planned to leave, that day was the battle that brought us here, I tod no one of my plan, but somehow she knew, and I got several stun bolts to the back, and woke up in a cell next to her. It was a shame I couldn't get my armor, it's made of beskar, very expensive, and could have helped us financially, but that's a problem for later"

After listening to Duran Ocara took time to reply, when he did he said "A simplified version indeed" He handed all Durans weapons back to him."You'll need these"

Then was something that surprised Tal, completely un-Ocara-like.

"Bortai?" Was all Tal could muster, he'd really been taken aback by this action.

"Do you think they need weapons to kill us, they have ….. The Force… i think its called, if they wanted us dead, we'd have been dead by now……"

Before he finished his sentence the other officer came ro the door and said "Bortai, priority message from command!"

"Put it through here please"

"Greetings Elder" Ocara said with his right fist clenched and placed over his heart.

"Ocara, aren't you the Fay Lesh,I was expecting to speak with the Hajat?"  He said with a less than impressed attitude. Ocara spent the next while explaining everything that had happened and was going on there much to the displeasure of the Elder, the only part ifvtne report that was fake was the disappearance of the Valkyrie, the Elders reply was as expected, keep the prisoners in custody until their envoy arrived to take them for interrogation. The Elders had sent an informous ship called The Alara…  a freighter used for less than savoury means, if you came into contact with it, it usually meant someone was about to die. But Ocara had other ideas, ideas that were dangerous and borderline Treason…..

~☆~

(Planetside canopy)

There was a beep that came on his comm, so he set his binoculars to keep recording and went to see the message in the fighter, so he didn't alert the enemy.

"Be on the look out for an Acarii who goes by the name Bob, tell him Lyra sent you" The pilot didn't reply but went back to his post.

"I wonder what you look like?" He mumbled as he went from 1 person to another that was working around the Valkyrie, he'd need to look out for someone trying to get away, not sure how any person could with that level of security… several warriors seemed to be heading out towards the forest, he wasn't sure if it was a scouting party or they'd found something, what he did know was there was plenty of ore for them to use, there was piles of it everywhere under the blanket of plants and mosses, there reports that the planet was unusable was so wrong, he'd inform the Fay Lesh when he returned… but now, sit and wait

\*\*\*\*\*

// Tiphay's claw - Captain's Office//

IC: Lyra Bathori

She smiled thankfully when their leader accepted to extract her partner from the planet. It was relief to her, because she didn't want to be alone in this unfamiliar time and place..

"Well… ehmmm" she got a nervous smile on her face when she realized that that Bob Ofcourse wasn't an ordinary Icarii.. "the Icarii are a humanoid species with the unique ability to survive dismemberment… and I don't mean losing an arm or a leg. They could survive decapitation" she explained, knowing very well it was odd information to share. "I tell you this because Bob is a survivor of cruel experiments, all that is left of him is his brain" she paused again to let them take in the information. "But like the B'omarr, I built him a droid body. You will recognize him easily, he's the only squid shaped droid around." She finally added.

The comm officer noted it down and Lyra turned her attention back to the others. They were now questioning Duran, something she was curious about as well. Her furry ears twitched slightly as she listened to his story, she still didn't fully trust him but she did believe he defected from the regime. Like the Tal, Lyra was surprised that Ocara handed the Sith his weapons back.

~\*~

// Planet Side //

IC: Bob

Still attached to the fighter, Bob overheard the incoming transmission. Although he wasn't familiar with the language that was used he did recognize his own name and that of Lyra.

Bob detached himself and floated over to the pilot. Like a humanoid would do, Bob cleared his throat, or at least that's the sound he produced. "Excuse me" he said politely in basic "I believe you are looking for me.. my name is Bob. I am a friend of Lyra" he continued slowly..

\*\*\*\*\*

(Planetside canopy)

Ad the message from the comm officer came through, the pilot realised he'd seen the the driod/creature thing already, so he sent a short reply "Affirmative Claw, I've seen it already, outside the ship, it disappeared do I'll stay until I find it" He shut off the comm and went back to his binoculars and studying yhe Valkyrie and the crews coming and goings. Totally fixed on his task, hearing the words "Excuse me" he said politely in basic "I believe you are looking for me.. my name is Bob. I am a friend of Lyra" right behind him, made him jump out of his skin, and the only thing stopping him falling out the tree was the fact he was sat down.

"JE TUP HEDRASH MERTULLIS DUE YESH DRAK SHAA BOB…." He said to the droid, switching to basic he translated once his pulse had calmed " By the light of the ancients I curse you Bob"  it took him another min to focus properly, he got up and went to the ship, coming back either a black box, plugging cables into the binoculars and the box he typed something into the keypad, "This will send the data every 2 hours to our people, or u till they find it, come on let's get you to your master and me off this planet" He adjusted the small solar recharger so the glare off it wouldn't alert the Valkyrie crew, this device wasn't designed for this, but it was better than nothing, when  they were on board and flying the same trajectory as he came in, they hit altitude and jumped to Hyperspace, The pilot commed the Ckaw with what hed done and retrieving the bot, then said "8 calars until we reach Tiphays Claw….hours, sorry… so, you in one piece?" He asked, but his thoughts were on home, and the 2 solar cycles left until he could go and bike bread again…

(Tiphays Claw Bridge)

"Bortai" the officer said excitedly "The fighter I'd on its way back, and set up a basic recording device" then she looked at the feline woman and said "Your friend is on board to, it seems he escaped soon after landing, and seems to be intact"

"Thank You" Ocara replied, that was one problem sorted "Now we have to deal with the Alara"

"You mentioned that ship before, and the death that follows her, why's she so special?" Duran asked as they stood on the bridge looking out the viewport.

"Revert to realspace" Ocara said as they suddenly decelerate "let's make them come to us, give us more time!" He said more to himself than anyone "The ship, there's nothing special about her, she's a run of the mill freighter/transport, nothing remarkable in the slightest… but the myth that surrounds her is one my people fear, she's a third the size of the Claw but, to understand the mystery of the ship you need a quick history lesson about us,  my people, the Avecc as we named ourselves were slaves to a master race, they got greedy and wiped themselves out leaving us with what was left, we had no idea about anything, we taught ourselves to read and write and to basically live on our own, the same with building ships, we kept the same design for all classes, except fighters, just bigger or smaller, and a few tweaks here and there, we have a crew of 22 they have a crew of 6, but those 6 people are fiercely loyal to the Elders that run our people, some say obsessively so. We keep to ourselves so have no need of new or different designs of ships… but back to the Alana, everywhere she turns up, someone disappears or dies, so as I just said, she's though as the bringer of death and word gets around, quickly, and as were a long lived race, people remember….so her coming here means that the Elders want you, and more importantly what you know and what technology you may possess, and once they have that, I'd guess they'd have you disappear permanently" He stood there thinking, "You're here by accident. That's fact, but they won't care, we have 1 of your hours before the fighter returns, and 6 before they get here, so we have time to decide what to do"

"Why not hand us over?" Duran said "The sooner we're gone the better for you…"Correct?"

"Yes, that is correct. But…." Started to say.

"But he's not like them" Tal interrupted "There are 2 types of officer in any military, a killing officer and a murdering officer. A killing officer is someone who sends his people out to do the killing, but only if necessary and expects everyone to come back…. A murdering officer is someone who doesn't care who dies or about casualties as long as they complete their objective… Fay Lesh is the former" Tal said loomi g at his commander "these people are the latter!... I for one agree with him, you go to them, you die, we need to get you both away somewhere safe as soon as we can, I have an idea but but i need to fine tune it." He thought for a moment "Fay Lesh, i can't believe I'm saying this, but can you give Duran a crash course in how to pilot our ships, Lyra, you need to come with me, we're going to meet your friend."

"If you're going to do what I think you are, they'll hunt you for as long as it takes to find you." Ocara said.

"I know, but i see no other way, and I'll have to take care of the crew to!" Tal said as he headed off to the hanger, the fighter could be seen In the forward viewport now as it approached the ship, Tal knew he was asking Ocara and the other officer to commit treason, but The Avecc nation couldn't be allowed to get hold of any future tech, this was the price to save his people from themselves, and he'd do it willingly…..

To be continued in Chapter 2