Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Republic Assault Ship Leveler

Staging area Sigma near Coruscant

Captain Gilad Pellaeon disembarked from the shuttle which brought him back to his ship and headed for the bridge. He had to suppress the overwhelming d.e.s.i.r.e to strangle Lieutenant Meriones, his so called aide. The blond man had a splendid day until he was awoken by the insistent beeping of his comm unit. The painfully familiar voice of his aide had crashed his cheerful mood when the man informed him that he had to return ASAP. Pellaeon had looked with regret at the sleeping form of his dark skinned lover who was cuddled around a pillow. The exquisite outline of her b.a.r.e back was barely visible under the silk sheet she was hogging. He was supposed to have at least few more days until his next deployment, damn it! Kriffing war!

He had said good bye to a sleepy Hellena and made his way to a nearby Republic military base from where he took a shuttle to his ship. If this was not important he swore that Meriones was a dead man. There had to be some suicide mission for which he could volunteer the Lieutenant. That man was a waste of space anyway.

When he reached his bridge, Pellaeon found his aide talking with a man who was mostly hidden by a black cloak. They had their backs turned to the entrance so neither of them saw him made his way up to them.

"The rest of Crimson company should be on board within the hour, sir." said Gilad's aide.

"That should be soon enough. We do not have any time to waste. This operation is time s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e. The fighter squadrons are up to strength, is that right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ahem." the captain cleared his throat.

The men turned around and Meriones gave him a textbook salute. The other man was wearing a black robe under which Pellaeon could make the distinct form of a heavy armor. The stranger was also wearing a Mandalorian styled helmet which hid his face. But what received his undivided attention was the rank insignia which was on the left side of the man's c.h.e.s.t. It was that of a general.

"Ah. Captain Pellaeon. I'm general Delkatar Veil. It's great you managed arrive so soon. I am sorry for interrupting your shore leave but I need you and your ship for a mission."

"Sir!" the Captain gave a crisp salute which was immediately returned.

"If you lead us to a conference room I'll brief you on our assignment." The general suggested.

Few minutes later, Gilad was glaring at the general.

"Let me see if I got this right, sir. I and my ship are to provide transport and security for a deal with a kriffing pirates!?"

"I am not thrilled either, Captain. I would prefer to land ground troops, secure the outlaws camp and retrieve Dooku if he is actually there. But we have our orders. I and couple of Jedi are to make sure that the Count is really in the hands of the pirates and alive. Then we'll be waiting for the transport with the payment to arrive. I requested your ship as an insurance."

At that Pellaeon raised an eyebrow.

"If the pirates decide to play games I want you to..."

When he heard the plan, Gilad was smiling. Not only Veil looked like he knew what he was doing but he was receptive of suggestions from his subordinates. The general had no issues with accepting Pellaeon's additions to the contingency planning.

=RK=

Three hours later Leveler broke orbit over Coruscant and headed for a clear lane from where she could make a safe jump to hyperspace. When the ship entered FTL I made my way to a conference room near the bridge where I was to meet with the Captain, his aide, Piett, the Jedi and the commander of the ground troops on board. Ahsoka had spent two hours in bacta and after a shower she was mostly all right. She'd need a day or two more until her leg was up to full strength but otherwise she was fine.

We gathered around a round table which had terminal built in in front of each seat. Once again I marveled at Pellaeon.

What was with competent naval officers in this universe?

Both the captain and Piett were on the short side. Was it that Napoleon complex or something? Granted, it was unlikely. He was from another universe all together. But it was strange to see both of them being on the short side of one seventy centimeters of height. A lot of the good navy people I knew in the Empire were quite short too...

After brief introductions which gave me the name of the clone commanding the ground pounders – commander TK 75 "Trek", we got down to business.

"While the politicians may believe that this will be a straight deal, we know better. We are dealing with bloody pirates. The question is not if they will try to back-stab us but how they will do it. Thanks to our friends in Republic Intelligence we have some information on their leader."

I used telekinesis to activate the holographic projector build in the middle of the table. We saw the face of the pirate leader suspended in mid-air. In all his ugly glory.

"That, fine example of a cutthroat ladies and gentlemen, is Hondo Ohnaka, the piece of sc.u.m we have to deal with. He is the captain of the so eloquently named Ohnaka band. These days his group makes a living by selling spice and kidnapping people for ransom. Usually they are active around the Tion Hegemony and the Corporate sector where they can run amok unchecked. Intelligence reports that they have at least few Ubrikkian tanks, a lot of speeder bikes and various sh.i.p.s which they had hijacked. We also have confirmation that Ohnaka had managed to grab a Corona class frigate as well as few Flarestar class sh.i.p.s. Even all together they should not be a match for an Acclamator. The gang numbers are estimated to be at least couple of hundred assorted low lives and mercenaries."

"My boys will deal with them." announced Trek. "However we'll need information about their base's defenses."

"It is unlikely that they lack at least rudimentary AA capabilities so a direct air assault will be costly." said Piett.

"Send couple of companies loaded on LAAT's as well as armor on the other side of the planed from their base. Then they can came in flying nap to the ground evading whatever AA the pirates have." I said.

"That way we will have something solid to use against those tanks. They are not particularly good against modern walkers but have substantial light weaponry which can make the life of my infantry hard."

"Four walkers and the AT teams should be enough to deal with that." I said. "I want only two companies deployed when the pirates try to mess with us. Keep the rest as a backup in case the CIS finnds out what happened to Dooku. If he's actually here, that is."

"That won't help us much." grumbled Ahsoka. "Whose idea was anyway that we should go there unarmed?"

The officers looked surprised and not a little angry at that declaration.

"Ohnaka's of course. But I will be armed. After all I am just a 'bounty hunter' according to the pirate leader." I made air quotes while saying what the idiot thought I was. "I'll do my best to keep you in one piece until commander Teck's forces arrive."

"That's not reassuring." muttered Master Ti.

"You're Jedi, are you not? You have the Force so use it when they try to back-stab us." I snorted. "Besides I have not given you any reason to doubt me, have I?"

She shook her head and frowned.

"Back to the topic on hand. The situation in space."

"In space, if the intelligence is right I should be able to deal with anything the pirates could throw at us. If the Sep's come in force then all bets are off." said Pellaeon.

"If that happens I leave it on your discretion to decide if you could hold them off long enough for us to evacuate. If not do what is necessary to ensure the safety of your ship." I ordered.

"Yes, sir." the Captain gave me a small nod of respect.

Ahsoka gave me a dirty look. I shrugged.

"There is no sensed of letting the Leveler be destroyed for no gain in a futile effort to extract us if overwhelming enemy forces arrive in system. In such a case we'll have to do our best on the ground and hope that they won't blast us from orbit."

=RK=

Later that evening I went after Shaak Ti. I wanted to know why here attitude towards me had suddenly became cold and distant after I awoke from my rest following the Battle at Rodia. I walked fast after her when she headed for her assigned quarters.

"Master Ti, a word."

"I'm listening." she said without looking back at me.

She continued walking and I fell in step beside her.

"What is your problem with me?" I decided to be direct.

She gave me sidelong glance.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." she said primly.

"Nope. Not at all. After the battle you've been keeping steel control over your emotions around me and we had not exchanged more than a couple of words unless necessary. Not to mention that you've been avoiding me like the plague. Spill."

She stopped walking and turned to face me. Her eyes were blazing with barely restrained anger.

"I know!" she hissed.

"What?" I asked surprised. However I had a creeping feeling that I knew what she was insinuating. It was not one of my proudest moments.

"The Council found the classified filed about what you did on Shili!"

"Ah. That."

"You tortured four Jedi to death!" she shouted.

I removed my helmet and looked her in the eyes. She flinched and took a step back. For one of a very few time in my life I was gripped by such an anger that I was barely able to restrain myself from lashing out. I knew that at the moment my eyes were blazing yellow stars.

"I did." I said in a tone colder than the abyss between the stars.

Almost visible tendrils of Dark side energies were snapping around my body in response to the fury I felt

She grabbed the hilt of her lightsaber and I knew that she was struggling to decide whether she should be ready to defend herself or attack me outright.