Border Patrol

''Battleship Hope, this is Omega-312, come in, over <ssccchhkk>''

Jon-Shiar waits a moment for a reply, looking out the window of his small one-man fighter. The surface of Taris looms above him, a bitter memory of brighter days and the destruction the Sith are capable of.

''Odd...I don't think we're out of transmitter range...T24, check the transmitter for me, if you would. And particularly the inverse-flux conduit, it's a common issue in these new fighter models.'' The droid chimes in confirmation.

''Battleship Hope, repeat, this is Omega-312, sector 25 mark 35 is clear, come in, over <sscchhhk>''......

"Unknown hostile forces have entered the ship! Unknown hostile force have entered the ship! Unknown hostile forces have entered the ship!"

The breach alarm echoed in the corridors of Battleship Hope. Someone had fired upon the Battleship and now boarding pods had breached the ships hull and hostile soldiers entered a few levels below Xantos. Imperial loyalists were Xantos guess, but it could also be brave criminals trying to score a Republic Battleship. Many different thoughts went through his head while he tried to analyze the situation and keep track of the other soldiers who ran beside him. They came to the elevators and squeezed in, five in each lift. Three elevators went down parallel to the engine room where enemy forces had boarded.

The elevator was crowded, Xantos checked his weapons and so that his grenades were in place, he heard another soldier loading his weapon behind him.

Captain's voice was heard on the radio "I want you out of the lifts fast and aggressively. We do not know the enemy we face, or where they are. Xuan, Bqmae and Atnar throw stun grenades the minute the doors open. If the enemy is outside the doors, I want to see them neutralized on the ground even before the grenade goes off, then rapid dissemination of the room soldiers... " The captain continued to speak, only half listening Xantos tried to consentrate on his task. He felt the pulse rise as he responded "Yes sir" on the radio.

The doors open.

When the alarms went of, Master Shon-Tel was in his meditation room. Instead of immediately rushing to the breach, Shon-Tel focused and stretched out with his mind. Then, he spotted someone who was strong with the force amongst the enemy boarders. He stood up and reached to the comlink.
'Where is Jon-Shiar?'

''T7, give me the current location of Battleship Hope.'' The droid chimes, and coördinates appear on the computer screen. Jon-Shiar scratches his chin.
''Right where I left it. I wo-...'' His sentence is cut-short as a ripple of the force hits him like a mallet. Such a disturbance in the force...something is very wrong. Immediatly he powers up his engines, ajusting his course.
''T7, prepare a hyperspace jump for the Hope. The moment we get out of hyperspace raise shields and arm lasers. I have a feeling we're in for a nasty homecoming...''

Shon-Tel slowly moves a few decks down, at all time being mindful of the enemy presence he felt earlier. Suddenly a lone enemy soldier stands in front of him. A man in armour without any marks, aiming his blaster at the Jedi Master. Shon-Tel hesitates no moment and raises his hand at him, causing him to be knocked back a small distance against the wall. Then, with the force increasing his speed, Shon-Tel draws his lightsaber and cuts the blaster in half, and then holds it against the enemy's throat.

'Who sent you?'

"Room secure!" was heard shouted over the radio. Another voice said, "Six hostiles neutralized, three of our own is down." One of the soldiers bent down to look at one of the fallen enemies. "I have no idea what this is, but they have high standard equipment. Looks like parts of a sabotage team. Probably Imperial Black Ops." Even though you could not see the Captain's face under the helmet, one could easily say that he was grimacing disgusted. "Bqmae take Xuan and Atnar with you and continue forward, to power generators and secure that area! Qorbin, Cahob, Moraes and Vytuia after me. We are moving towards the engines. The rest of you, look after the wounded, put up a defence perimeter, dig in and wait for reinforcements. Move out soldiers."

Xantos put a fresh power cell in his rifle while stacking up behind Bqmae infront of the door leading to the power generators.

Kea was runing fast towards the Bridge of the Battleship Hope. ''Always while am sleeping'' she mumbled under her breath. Sudenldly as she was turning around a corner, she stod face to face with three sith blasters. ''Umm, you guys don't want to talk about this? do ya?'' she said trying to distract them long enough to force push them to the ground and finish them off with her lightsaber. It worked, at least long enough to get one of them too the ground and stab him trough the chest with the lightsaber. the other two started shooting at her, but Kea was quick enough to block them. ''I don't have time for this'' she mumbled and started to run away towards the bridge, whille blocking the incomming bolts.

Blaster bolts are flying over the soldiers heads, they have fought their way through the Thranta-class ship and reached the generator area. There a team of hostile soldiers were trying to cut through the blast doors leading to the actual generator.

"Throwing stun grenade!" a bang and a flash of light, then a moment of calm. It is just enough for the three soldiers to take down half of the enemy team. "Bqmae, give us covering fire!" Xantos yells out. Bqmae unleashes a hail of blaster bolts forcing the unknow soldiers to dive for cover. Xantos and Atnar moves up. A recovering enemy fires his weapon and hits Atnar in the chest. He falls like a rock and slams, hard, into the ground, Xantos grabs Atnar's lifeless arm and pulls him to safety. Xantos gives his fallen soldier a quick look to confirm his friend is dead. He feels a short moment of sadness. Then a moment feeling helpless. Then comes the well know fury. All emotions rush through him in three seconds. By now he has learned to control it, many of his friends have died in battle over the years.

The fire fight continues for a few minutes. A group of around ten new Republic troops join in and the enemies are soon defeated. "Setup a perimeter here. Secure the area!" Bqmae yells out orders to the Republic troops that joined the fight. Xantos takes a moment to contact the Captain "Generator room Secure Captain! Twelve hostiles down. One of our own down." It takes a while before the Captian replays, Xantos can hear blaster fire in the bakground "<ssccchhkk>... Clear out <scchhkk> hostile forces! We <sscck> regroup with you shortly!" Bqmae points at a group soldiers "You five. On our tail we are moving out."

The soldiers keep pressing forward without encountering any resistance. The doors open to a relativly large room, in the room they see Jedi master Shon-Tel holding one of the hostile troopers against the wall with the lightsaber against his throat. They run in and possition themselves around the Jedi, while hearing Hope's turbolaser batteries thundering in the bakground..

When the troopers position around him, Shon-Tel, knocks out his prisoner by slamming his head against the wall. He quickly peers at the troops, and then focuses the force to give them the energy they need to keep going.
'Troopers, what's the status?'

''In the name of-...!''. Immediatly after dropping from hyperspace Jon-Shiar is forced to take heavy evasive manoeuvres through the debree of a destroyed republic cruiser, part of the fleet surrounding the Hope, damaging the craft he is flying in the process. An alarm rings in the cockpit.
''Damn it! The power cells are leaking! T7, seal it shut or we won't even have power for life support! Take a-...'' Jon-Shiar pauses as he sees almost a fleet of Sith battleships surrounding the Vanguard fleet. An explosion, and another republic escort cruiser shifts course to plummet towards the surface of a nearby planet.
''Wait a minute...All that firepower, they're not even targeting vital sy-...They're not trying to kill us, they're trying to capture us!''

''Beep vort beep beep.'' Energy loss has been stabilized, but the batteries are dangerously low. Not hesitating a moment Jon-Shiar heads for the hangar of the Hope, laser blasts coming from all sides, the shields barely holding the barrage.
''T7, can you override the hangar doors from here?!'' The droid shows a chance of success percentage on the screen. Jon-Shiar frowns.
''...Do it. It's our only chance.''

The Jedi increases the speed of his craft. Warning sounds chime around him. ''Warning, warning, collision in 17 seconds''
''Come on...'' Jon-Shiar grunts, ''Come on, T7 you can do this!'' The doors of the hangar come dangerously close.
''Impact in 5....4...3...2...'' The hangar opens ''Collision averted.'' With dazzling speed Jon-Shiar flies into the hangar. The gravity breaks hiss and hum in a sick sound to soften the unavoidable crash in the wall.

Jon-Shiar blows the window of the cockpit away. It crashes into the hangar floor. He steps out, igniting his lightsaber.
''Statement: You have nowhere to go, Jedi. Surrender yourself. Your estimated chances of survival are calculated to be below five percent.''
Jon-Shiar counts the droids. Seven. ''HK-droids...Someone didn't cut on the expenses.'' He crouches into a defensive position, carefully moving towards the machines. ''Try me...''

One of the droids suddenly was lifted in the air and its torso crushed together and then flung aside like scrap. Shon-Tel leaped over the droids to stand next to Jon-Shiar.
'Redo your maths, droids.'

With a swing of his Lightsaber Jon-Shiar deftly dismembers one of the HK's.
''What took you so long, master?'' He asks with a grin, deflecting incoming blasterfire with his Jedi reflexes. ''Where's the rest of the crew, are they alright?''...

With a flick of his wrist, Shon Tel sends one of the HK´s flying against the ceiling and then throwing it back on the floor, with its head first.
'There's fighting all across the ship, multiple hull breaches, heavy fighting there and smaller enemy infiltration teams have already gone further into the ship.'
Shon-Tel pauses a moment to dodge incoming blasterfire, and uses the force to lift a crate and throw it at two HK's, not estroying them, but putting them out of the fight for just a few seconds.
'It's an elite sith force. What purpose they have, I do not know, but I detected an inquisitor on the enemy ship...'

Moments earlier:

The Jedi Shon-Tel slammed the prisoners heads against the wall, immediately knocking him unconscious. Instead of being shocked by the Jedi's harsh treatment of the prisoner he nodded to himself while the man collapsed like a rag doll, agreeing that he would have done the same. The Jedi turned around, facing Xantos Xuan. Shon-Tel closed his eyes and suddenly Xantos felt surprisingly alert and re-energized.

Shon-Tel spoke "Troopers, what's the statues?" Xantos removed his helment, reveling his face. He had recived a collection of scars all over his body in the countless battles he had participated in, some were showing on his face. Shon-Tel recogniced him "Good to see you are alive Xuan" he said and smiled. Xantos smiled back and responded "Looks like we have been hit pretty hard by someone. We have encountered alot of resistance between the main elevator schakt on this level and here. We secured the generator room on the way. It's an elite sabotage team with no markings or signs, like him." Xantos pointed at the knocked out soldier on the floor. Shon-Tel looked down and nodded in agreement. "An Imperial Black Operation would be my qualified quess. The Imperials have never liked us patrolling the Ojoster sector, so close to the border." Shon-Tel nodded again. "Have you heard from the bridge, have they identified the attackers ship?" Shon-Tel asked. "No sir, it's been dead silent from the bridge throughout the attack. The enemy is likely jamming our radio signals." Shon-Tel looked distant, "Are you alright?" Xantos asked. ".. I feel our friend is in need of help and I feel something else too.. Something dark.." The Jedi looked worried. "Xantos, take what soldiers you can find and secure the bridge, maybe you can get a better picture of what we are facing as well." with those words said Shon-Tel speeded away and was quickly out of sight.

Xantos pointed at two Republic troopers in the room and orderd them to stay behind with the prisoner untill more reinforcements arrived. Put on his helment covering his face again. Loaded his weapon and gave the order to move out..

Kea enter the bridge, to find it completly deserted. She reached for her com-link. ''anyone there? the bridge is deserted''

Jon-Shiar impales the last of the droids with his Lightsaber. With the sound of servo's it sinks to it's knees.
''Sta-sta-statement: Impo-ssi-...ssible...'' The Jedi deactivates his weapon, buckling it to his belt. He turns to face Shon-Tel.
''An inquisitor..? That complicates things. Hmm...I don't sense a presence of that magnitude on the Hope. If he gets here, though, we shouldn't face him alone if we can. Regardless, we have other issues. Our losses are terrible. We lost two cruisers, the Valiance and one of the councillor class cruisers, we can't sustain any more. We need to rally with the rest of the crew...''

Occasionally the ship shook when it was hit, sometimes it shook so hard it almost made the troopers fall over each other. Xantos eyes moved rapidly behind the visor. He quickly scanned the rooms and corridors as they continued forward, towards the ship bridge. So many lives lost, there were bodies of crew members, Republic troopers, hostile soldiers and war droids both Mark I and II laying everywhere in what seemed to be endless numbers. This could possibly be the biggest loss the Silver Vanguard ever had and the attack wasn't even over. Xantos tried to block out his thoughts to enter an almost medative state, only focusing on his task. But one thought he couldn't get out of his head. How in the name of the Republic did they end up in an ambush like this? Suddenly, a voice was heard on the radio. "Anyo.. <sscccccchhkk> bridge is deserted!" Bqmae increased his speed. "Go go go, let's speed it up! If the bridge is empty we need take control over it and find someone who can take command as soon as it is only possible or we will be lost for sure!" He yelled out over the radio. Xantos speeded up, as did the rest of the them.

As they got closer to the bridge, gun fire was heard from an intersecting path that lead to the crew quarters. Keeping in mind that there might be friendly lives on stake, perhaps even the bridge crew. Xantos didn't hesitate a moment, "Form up on me." he said and went, half running, into the hallway the blaster fire was heard from.

Not far ahead, in a side room they found a dozen sabotage soldiers and a few war droids Mark I, working on getting a blast door to a supply room open. Xantos signaled halt. He instructed the soldiers using hands signals, then ran into the room and fired his weapon. Just before diving behind some boxes of hygiene items he saw two enemies collapsing. The others turned around in surprise. Two shock grenades were thrown into the room. They flew just over the head of Xantos. The Republic soldiers began pouring in when the grenades, with a bang, went off. The droids were quick to counterattack and hit the first three soldiers who ran in. "Move it! Take cover on the left!" Xantos looked over the boxes and fired a few shots that tore the head off a droid. The damaged circuits and cables crackled as the droid body became lifeless and feel to the ground. "Focus on the droids! Make your shoots count!"

Moment later the fight was over. "All hostiles dead or destroyed" was heard after Bqmae checked all the bodies on the ground. "Area Secure." Bqmae looked up at Xantos, "The droids got many.." Xantos counted soldiers who gathered themselves after the fight. Five remaining, including him and Bqmae. They were ten before they cleared out the room.

The blast doors opened and four blasters were pointed towards Xantos and the other soldiers. "Lower your weapons! It's friendlies!" a gran and four humans all wearing uniforms walked out of the supply room. Xantos recognised the gran as Aak-Orocc, deck commander of the Hope. The gran gripped Xantos hand and shook it hard. "Thank you, brave men. I thought we were done for. Good work." You could see it in his eyes, he was grateful. "Sir, it was our pleasure." Xantos grinned and removed his helmet, "Xantos Xuan, Silver Vanguard Special Forces Operative, at your service. Do you know anything of our current situation commander?" Aak-Orocc crossed his arms and shook his head. "I probobly don't know more then you. We were about to leave the Wayland system, jump to the Xartun system and continue patrolling the systems in the Ojoster sector still controlled by the Republic. We were just awaiting the return of Jedi Jon-Shiar when suddenly two modified Oppressor Battle Cruisers dropped out of hyperspace and immediately opened fire as well as sending out breach pods. It did not take long before the command deck was overrun by war droids and soldiers. We had to run, or we would not have been alive to tell the story.. Now with you here, we need to get back to the bridge!" Aak-Orocc looked serious. Xantos gave the order to move out.

They were just outside the command deck. Bqmae halted the crew outside a large door. They positioned themselves, opened the doors and ran in. A lone person was seen inside, Kea Rin. A young Silver Vanguard Jedi. Aak-Orocc walked up to her, the crew men ran over to different stations and Xantos and the soldiers made a tactical sweep of the room before calling out "Area secure!" Xantos and Bqmae walked up to the gran commander and the Jedi already eagerly discussing..

Shon-Tel was running towards one of the breaches where the fighting was already over. The Jedi Master didn't knew who won there, but it was deserted, except for that one presence.

Arriving at the breach, Shon-Tel saw him, the sith inquisitor and his two sith warrior guards.
'Ah, Shon-Tel... the mandalorian General and Jedi Master. It's been a while since we met.'
Shon-Tel, looked around, they were alone. Three siths... it was more than enough.
'Darth Rering, the last time we met I sent your forces home packing I believe.'
It was not usual for a jedi to brag, but it was part of the plan.
'You mean you used your coward jedi tricks to save your own sorry hide? Please Jedi.. you are trapped and outnumbered. My forces are tearing your ship apart and you came here, just like I wanted. Never sensed my bodyguard, did you? Maybe you can't sense them, but when they are done with you, noone can sense you either. And so it finally ends, the great Jedi Master Shon-Tel and his rebel forces finally crushed by the might of Darth Rering!... You'll be missed.'
Shon-Tel only smirked and moved his hand to his lightsaber.
'You're not the only one who can play hide and seek. Jon, now!'

A blue beam of energy pierces the ceiling, quickly creating a hole. Jon-Shiar jumps through, immediatly locking lightsabers with one of the Sith accompanying Darth Rering. Blows are exchanged with the speed of lightning. The second Warrior guard enrages, attacking Jon-Shiar. The Jedi dodges, trying to prevent being flanked by either of the Sith. With both lackeys focussing on him, Shon-Tel can focus his energies on the master...

Darth Rering sends forth a powerful wave of force lightning, which is caught by Shon-Tel, his hand palms are just glowing with the force, making them able to catch the lightning.. and throw it back. The inquisitor is just able to avert the energy, being able to send it somewhere else. But as he turns his attention to the Jedi Master again, he is pummelled by a large force push, Darth Rering breaks it and draws his lightsaber, meeting that of the Jedi Master. The two are locked in a duel, just as Jon-Shiar and the sith bodyguard, while the fight elsewhere too rages on...

''Aak-Orocc, can you fly this ting?'' Kea asks the gran. ''Because we need to get out of here before more sith arrives'' the gran looked at Kea and sighed, ''I will try'' he said. ''Good, the rest, come with me, am sure there are more siths around here, we also need to find the bridge crew and master Shon-Tel'' Kea said, while looking at the troopers

Outside the deck window of the warship Hope, turbolaser fire painted the empty space in all possible colors. You could see debris floating around, telling the fate of two of the smaller Silver Vanguard ships. The third and last of the smaller cruisers was heavily engaged with one of the Oppressor Battle Cruisers. The other Oppressor-class cruiser had full focus on the Hope and the Hope returned fire by best possible ability. Fighters from both sides chased each other around. Below you could spot the semi-tropical planet Wayland.

"Is there anything I can to do aid you before we leave sir?" Xantos looked at Aak-Orocc. The gran turned his head towards him and answered "It was along time since I piloted a ship on my own. But me and my crew members here will be able to at lest get the ship in a better position to defend ourselves. If any pilots are still on the ship, find them and send them here.. We will need all the possible help we can get to fully man the command deck! Please leave a few troopers as well, just in case. We need to keep the bridge secure." Xantos nodded "Yes sir." He then turned to Bqmae who had removed his helmet "You will keep the commander safe wont you?" Bqmae grinned and nodded in agreement. "The rest of you stay here as well. I will go with Kea Rin." Kea looked up at Xantos "Sounds good."

While Xantos and the soldiers took a look at how much ammunition and grenades they had left, Kea went over to one of the crew members, "Do you have access to security holograms? Can you see where the enemy is?" The man began to press the buttons on the computer console he had before him. A short time later, he replied "Basically, all hostiles on board has been crushed. I can not find any fighting on board except in the close vicinity of the central hangar. I can see Jedi's in combat." Xantos had gathered all the extra ammunition and grenades he could carry. He stood up and put a fresh power cell in his rifle and said "Done yet Jedi?" Kea looked at Xantos and grinned. They left the bridge together just as an enemy ship blew up right outside the bridge window and one of Hope's pilots flew through the resulting fire cloud..

Shon-Tel hops back and pushes Darth Rering in a pile of crates, buying himself time to speak into his comlink, broadcasting all over the ship.
'This is General Shon-Tel. The enemy is nearly pushed back, secure the breaches and put up forcefields. All available fighters must target the pods on my command.'
The jedi master then focused on his enemy again.

The Special Force Operative Xantos Xuan and the Jedi Knight Kea Rin made their way as fast as possible to the area where the holorecorder had shown their Jedi leaders. The two had agreed on that they were going to help Shon-Tel and Jon-Shiar.

Shon-Tel's voice echoed through out the corridors. Xantos and Kea ran by a group consisting of soldiers, logistics personnel, medical personnel, engineers and different types of freedom fighters trying to clear out debris were a breach pod had entered. All surviving personnel aboard the Hope tried to do their part in defending the ship and staying alive. Another group of mixed crew members ran by, everyone had their arms filled with either medical supplies or repair tools. A voice was heard in the speakers another voice then earlier, this time it was the voice of Aak-Orocc. "This is ship commander Aak-Orocc, the ship is again under our control! But we are still under attack and I urge you to keep on fighting and this battle shall be won!" The ship was hit and careened sharply. "<sccrrkk> ... <ssccchhkk> General, ships have been contacted. They are standing by for your command. Aak-Orocc out."

Xantos and Kea turned around a corner and entered a large supple room, containing spare parts, as well as fuel and ammunition for the star fighters normally onboard the Hope. They saw Jon-Shair alone, trading lightsaber blows with two Sith warriors. Kea lit here lightsaber as Xantos ran forward crying out "For the Republic!" while carefully lining up is weapon at one of the Sith and firing. The first shot hit the Sith's right arm just as he parried a strike from Jon-Shiar. The Sith cried out in pain. Deflected the second shot and used the force to send Xantos flying, before turning his attention to the Jedi again. Xantos flew over the heads of Shon-Tel and the Darth he was facing. The helmet flew off and he dropped his weapon in mid air before landing hard on his back. He heard the crackling sound when lightsaber met lightsaber, then everything turned black..

Xantos woke up by the sound of lightsabers clashing. Had it been seconds, minutes or hours? He did not know. Still dizzy from the impact he sat up, slowly, and looked around him. He was unable to locate his rifle and he could not see either Kea, Jon-Shiar or the two Sith he had fired upon. But he could hear them fighting. His head and back bolted with pain. In front of him he could see a Sith, he could quickly identify this being as a third Sith since the two he attacked wore battle armor. This one wore robes shifting in red, purple and black, the being was clearly a Sith inquisitor. The inquisitor let a twisted laugh leave his lips, he had his back turned against Xantos as if he was focusing on something else. Anger bubbled in the Republic warrior. During both his childhood and his years in the service of Republic, he had closely witnessed the devastation the Sith brought and how far the Sith was able to go when it came to pass their own selfish agenda. He hated the Sith frankly, far more than he hated the Sith Imperial minions and the greedy criminals spread around the galaxy.

Slowly, he stood up on his feet. Xantos did not fear, he knew what he had to do. He started running, gained speed, and rammed the Sith from behind making him drop his lightsaber. The inquisitor was taken completely by surprise when he was tackled to the ground by the soldier. Xantos sat up on the Sith's back, grabbed his head and slammed it into the floor. The Sith screamed in pain, he started bleeding heavily from his forehead. He was able to turn himself around just in time to block Xantos fist and roll over, making himself sit on top. In the corner of his eye Xantos caught a glimpse of his gun, he knew he needed to have hold of it if he wanted to survive against a Sith. The inquisitor tried to stand up and suddenly he had his lasersword in his hands again. Reflexively Xantos kicked the Sith in the stomach which caused him to lose balance. Xantos saw the opportunity and took it. He quickly stood up and ran towards his weapon, he cross-riveted and tore up the weapon from the floor and tried to quickly turn around while he heard an angry roar when the Sith leaped after him with his lightsaber ignited.

The Sith inquisitor landed just infront of Xantos, cutting of the front of the weapon in a millisecond. Xantos did not feel fear, just disapointment that he had not succeeded in killing inquisitor, when the being raised his lightsaber to strike the unarmed soldier down. A green ray of energy blocked the strike, it was Shon-Tel.