Chapter 5: Empire of the Hand
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Suggested Music: Star Wars Episode I Soundtrack - The Trip to the Naboo Temple and the Audience with Boss Nass
7 Elona, 25 ABY - Yavin IV, Gordian Reach, Outer Rim
The familiar planetscape of Yavin IV filled the cockpit viewport. Akea proceeded to guide the Leviathan to the ancient temples that housed the Jedi Praxeum. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker would likely be awaiting their arrival.
As the site approached, the ancient temples were visible just over the treeline. There was no sign of a landing platform; and as Renora looked out the viewport, she wondered where exactly they were going to land. At a small opening in the trees, Akea guided the Leviathan down toward a tranquil pond. "Fasten your seatbelt," he cautioned. His fins flipped several switches on the dash, cutting power to the repulsorlift engines. Gravity took hold and the Leviathan plunged into the water at a 45-degree angle. The splash was quite audible from within the cockpit but the impact was less than Renora expected. After all, the Leviathan was designed to do this sort of thing.
The front lights kicked on and the aquatic engines propelled the ship deeper. A small tunnel was visible ahead, not much wider than the ship itself. Akea guided the ship carefully through the tunnel for a few hundred meters. The tunnel gradually ascended into an opening that was sized specifically for the Leviathan. Akea brought the ship to the surface and killed the engines. The ship rocked slightly as it floated in place.
They were in a small cavern inside one of the temples; it was a dimly lit room, lit only by a 4 torches, one on each wall. Akea had this entrance constructed specifically for the Leviathan, though the original intention was an emergency exit. After the Shadow Academy's attack a few years ago, more secret tunnels and escape routes were installed, including this little garage for the Leviathan.
The whistles of an R2 unit echoed through the room, as the famous R2-D2 unit spun his head around excitedly. An older human male, one of the older Jedi trainees and one of the most recent to become a Jedi Knight, stood by the droid, waiting for the group to disembark.
Kirkland 16:33, 11 January 2010 (EST)
The top hatch of the Leviathan opened, and Allanar Onsai climbed out first. He then assisted the two Chiss out of the hatch. Vayra's arms were cuffed behind her back, and she looked less than thrilled to be there. As the three stood atop the floating ship, a young human teenager ran into the room and toward the trio and offered them a hand and a welcoming smile as they stepped across the water and onto the stone floor. "Master Onsai, I am Brance Maddox," the kid introduced himself and bowed formally.
Must be Greer's new apprentice... Allanar gathered. The teen's personality seemed to be the polar opposite of his master's. Greer Lachlan remained standing at the entrance, as stern as ever. While the two hadn't interacted much, they certainly knew each other. Greer had never been fond of Allanar, or any Jedi that had dabbled in the dark side, for that matter. And he didn't look thrilled to see Allanar and a Sith standing before him in the Jedi temple.
Akea Oahu emerged from the water just in time to listen as Greer spoke.
His tone was unwelcoming, but that was just his personality, "It's good to see you again. Master Skywalker wishes to meet with you immediately. My apprentice, Brance, and I can take the prisoners to their... quarters." Greer struggled to find the correct word, as the Jedi Praxeum had no prison cells to speak of, it was simply a make-shift room they had prepared when they heard that Akea and Allanar would be bringing along extra company.
Kirkland 14:46, 13 January 2010 (EST)
Akea and Allanar parted ways with Greer, Brance, and the two Chiss. Akea and Allanar both assured Renora they would be back to talk with her after their conversation with Luke. The pair of Jedi followed R2-D2 through the familiar Jedi temple to the top level, where they were told Luke was waiting for them.
((Wookieepedia: Great Temple has some good descriptions and layout diagrams of the building.))
R2 led them to one of the more grandiose hallways in the temple, where Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker met them at the top of the stairs. Luke, dressed in traditional jedi robes, flashed a quick smile. "Allanar, Akea, it's good to see you." His expression turned more serious as he continued, "I heard about the events surrounding the Bastion treaty talks. Your response to the incident was extraordinary given the circumstances." The four began to walk down the hallway, toward a training room at the end of the hall.
Luke continued, "Unfortunately, as you may very well suspect, this is not an isolated incident. This is a discussion we should have had a long time ago, and it is my fault that it has not taken place. Come, let me show you." There was a short silence as the group entered the empty training hall, a silence broken only by R2-D2's wheels as he rolled toward a control panel on the side of the wall. He plugged in his SCOMP link.
"Do you remember the Caamas Document Crisis?" Luke asked, a clearly rhetorical question as the Jedi obviously remembered this piece of recent galactic history. It was the event that eventually lead to the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty and the end of the Galactic Civil War between the Remnant and the Republic.
"When Mara and I were on Nirauan retrieving the Caamas Document, R2 stumbled upon something else." The holoprojector in the middle of the room flickered to life, displaying at first the hundreds of thousands of star systems that made up the galaxy. It quickly zoomed into a section of the galaxy known as the Unknown Regions, an area, for the most part, not yet explored or documented. Even with all the advancements the New Republic has made over the years, there were many challenges to charting this area of the galaxy; neither Akea nor Allanar knew of any detailed astrogation charts for it.
Rather surprisingly, the display lit up with a plethora of data on star systems. It wasn't up to the standards of a typical astrogation chart of the known galaxy, but it was clear that someone had a very good understanding of what was in these Unknown Regions.
"While we were there, we discovered a group that called themselves the Empire of the Hand. It was a division of the Empire that Grand Admiral Thrawn had completely isolated from the Galactic Empire at the time. Thrawn had a clone of himself stored in a large military complex on Nirauan. Mara and I destroyed the clone, and the facility; perhaps a bit foolishly, thought that was the end."
Mara Jade chimed into the conversation, "When we heard that Chiss were involved in the terrorist attack two days ago, it set off some alarm bells. There are still many questions, but Luke and I feel that the 'Empire of the Hand' might not be entirely dead after all. We're still waiting to see how the Imperial Remnant reacts to all of this; their actions may shed some light on their position in this whole debacle. Right now we don't have enough information to determine if they're victims or the orchestrators. So far they've isolated themselves from any further diplomatic discussions, citing the apparent kidnapping of their leaders. But there has been no indication thus far of the two organizations working together after Thrawn's death. It's thought that any link the Galactic Empire had with the Empire of the Hand was severed when Thrawn was killed."
With more answers came more questions, but all of this information was instrumental for the Jedi if they were going to plan a strategy for investigating this crisis further; and they certainly have plenty of leads.
Kirkland 18:00, 15 January 2010 (EST)
Allanar regarded the young apprentice with a hesitant glance, but allowed him to help with getting the Chiss onto solid ground. Once he had he greeted him kindle, returning the slight bow in greeting.
"A pleasure to meet you Brance. Always refreshing to be welcomed home by familiar faces." Allanar glanced slightly towards Greer when he said it, though he did not necessarily mention anything about the less than warm greeting from Greer. He expected no different given Greers history with dark Jedi, and he mostly didn't blame Greer for his stance.
Allanar was somewhat reluctant to let the prisoners out of sight, but regardless of how Greer felt and despite Brance's inexperience he trusted that they would be well looked after. He was grateful they were led directly to speak with Master Skywalker and Mara Jade, no doubt there was some amount of explaining for them to do as well some answers for them to receive.
"It is good to be back Master Skywalker, our actions were nothing beyond what is expected."
Allanar followed along silently, listening closely as Luke started to explain the events and possible cause of some of the events. While he had never heard of the particular faction of the Empire, it did not surprise him that a small group had found a place to operate in the unknown regions of the galaxy. He had been apart of The Empire long enough to know how easily it could break apart and operate in small groups, it reminded him of terrorist sleeper cells that he had once spent time training to sniff out and eliminate. He had once even been apart of such a small and organized group, when the Imperial Guard regrouped for the re-risen Emperor Palpatine.
"I don't have much personal knowledge of The Empire of the Hand, but what I know of such organizations with the former Empire and what I know of how Thrawn liked to operate I wouldn't doubt that the faction survived and continues to operate. Though along the same lines, without a leader like Thrawn at the helm I doubt Pellaeon would agree to work with them in a way so easily linked back to The Remnant."
Allanar paused for a long moment, along the conversation to continue though he seemed to still be thinking on something in particular. There was much to think over extenisvley, so this was no surprise. He waited until an ideal time in the conversation to chime in with a short comment that obviously occupied some of this thoughts.
"It seems almost impossible, but I've been haunted by clones before... While I fought with the intruder on the bridge of The Amity, I was distinctly reminded of an old friend. I am not entirely sure of the connection, but I am almost certain that she has some link to Brakiss..."
This comment held particular weight with the other three gathered in the room, as they were all well aware of Allanar's training in Echani martial arts which allowed him to read deeply into a person's personality during combat.
--FyreFly 21:34, 21 January 2010 (EST)