FIRST STORY- Feel free to contribute. ANYONE MAY PLAY

Three Dark Jedi patrolled the administrative buildings. The starry night glittered with unusually close stars. But a closer look revealed they were not stars, but battle ships. The streets were empty now. An eerie emptiness, fear was in the air. New Gard was now a city under martial law. The Dark Jedi used all their Force senses to discover this Jedi presence their Master had felt a few days ago.

As they wandered into the alleys, queeq decided to leave his calling card for the one who was training these men. This disruption might unsettle balance in the control of these battleships and a Jedi or republic retaliation force could gain the advantage.

queeq slipped out of the niche were he was hiding and stood in the middle of the alley, right behind the Dark Jedi. He waited an instant. The Dark Jedi turned around when the alley lit up by a purple light, igniting in a flash their red sabres. There they saw a dark figure holding two sabres.

It was all over in a matter of seconds, when the head of the last Dark Jedi rolled down the alley and came to a standstill in one of the gutters. queeq reinserted his two sabres in the holsters under his arms while standing over the smoking corpses of these mysterious Jedi. He bowed down when he saw an identification key slipping out of one of the warrior's garments. He picked it up, looked at it and put it in his pocket. In a flash his sabres ignited and cut deep into the side of the dead body where the card had been. Any card would have melted to pulp when struck like that.

queeq placed back his sabre and disappeared into the shadows of New Gard, which was as empty as it was before...

Uashgarak was pakcing his things, The Council had wanted to talk to Gundark longer than they wanted to talk to him.

So, he was going back... well, it seemed to be his destiny. This time, he would go in better prepared.

First problem was transport. Queeq's ship was already flying back to New Gard, presumably on queeq's orders. Gundark and Ushgarak's ships were still at the planet. They could get official transport, but thst wouldn't be a great idea in the circumstances.

No matter. Ushgarak had a dozen Corellian contacts who had offices on Coruscant who could help... he could talk to them while Gundark was still busy.

Trying to gain his footing he placed his hand on the burnished steel surface of the wall before him. This just wasn't quite right. As he looked around the room it all seemed to hold a sense of familiarity, but still wasn't right for the here and now. Blood on his hands, looking down at himself and his attire he soon realised it was his own. coughing as he stumbled across the apartment he muttered to himself.
'God that explains the pain'Taking in the whole surroundings he noticed that it was sp****ly decorated with little to note except the corpse laying in front of him. Crouching down he rolled the body over to see if there was anything special about him, but it didn't seem so. Carrying himself over to a mirror he looked at contempt at the image before him. Unshaven and covered in muck and a combination of different forms of blood spattered all over his robe. He seemed to be carrying a lightsaber on his belt wish was puzzling as he had already had been holding one in his hand as he had gotten up. Perculier they were very different. On the one on his belt there were strange markings on engraved upon the hilt. No matter at this juncture it mattered little to him. Taking the Robe and shirt from the corpse as well as the blaster from the corpses arm that seemed to have been seperated from him. Probably an unfortunate circumstance, he moved to the door, only to find just a corridor. At the end of which however there seemed to be a lift of some kind. As he edged down the corridor to the lift he looked out at the view ports along it to see what seemed like endless city. No this still didn't seem right, not at all...

(It censored spar-sely... oh, something has to be done...)

By the end of the day, Ushgarak had acquired a ship (nothing special, but good enough) and clearance to return to Marakith as a 'private' citizen, accompanied by Gundark. There was a LOT of business to catch up on there. Ushgarak finished packing his things before leaving the Temple once more. As he left, he saw a note left by Imorthorn.

"Shareth, my apprentice... let her go."

Taking the note thoughtfully, Ushgarak left for the launch pad.

Finti planned his next move, but first the betrayal of Sareth the hutt had to be dealt with he knew about her sanctuary and it was time for payback.
Finti was also informed by Ah-wen-gah about the latest development in the jedi temple. He was warned about a, close to a rouge, jedi named Queeq who was on the loose on Gard.
"Queeq is on the verge of a dark jedi, his recklessness might come in handy for us, maybe we can turn him, if not he`ll die." The transmition with Ah-wen-gah was perfect Finti noticed with a smile as A-wen-gah continued."He is kind of a loner at least thats the word around the jedi temple."
"Well" Finti said " loners are often the worst kind, they always think the world of themselves and listens to nobody but themselves." "Anyways I have to deal with a Hutt, then I can look for this loner jedi.

[ April 20, 2001: Message edited by: finti ]

Gundark had left the Jedi council chamber with mixed emotions. She walked slowly to Ushgarak's quarters, turning the last of the conversation with the council over in her mind.

"You truly feel this prescence on Gom is Sith. That much is clear," stated Windu. "You and Ushgarak are to take whatever steps necessary to control the situation. But you understand we don't want a war on our hands." Gundark nodded. Yoda finally spoke. "Faith we have in you, Gundark. But control the path of queeq we cannot," Yoda's voice dropped an octave. "Waits to claim him, the dark side does." Gundark bit her lip, knowing what Yoda was going to tell her. "Use you, the dark side will, to take him." "Master, I cannot..." Gundark began. "Bring queeq to the good side you will," Yoda told her. His voice was final and she knew better than to protest. "Yes, Master," she answered. "You will join Ushgarak on the return trip to Gard," Windu ordered. "May the Force be with you." Gundark knew the conversation was at an end. She bowed respectfully and left the chamber.

Now, left with her own thoughts, she began to mentally prepare herself to confront queeq. But Gundark knew she would have to confront the darkness hidden in the back of her mind first. The darkness she had hidden since Gom. She realized she was standing at the door to Ushgarak's quarters and quickly shook off the chill that had settled upon her shoulders. She touched the door control panel to let Ush know she was waiting to see him.

Ushgarak was just opening the door.He was surprised to see Gundark before him.

"Master..." he said. "Good to see you. We can launch immediately... if that is alright with you..."

Was she troubled by something?

"Yes, that's fine, Ushgarak. I'm ready to go," Gundark answered, then realizing her thoughts had leaked out to him, "we'll talk on the way." She grinned at him. "I assume you've secured transport...of some kind ?"

"The Force always provides..." saisd Ushgarak, cheerfully. He wasn't joking; the ship he had acquired was a converted Nubian Star Racer... should make for an interesting trip...

queeq looked out over the city from the top of a hospital building on the south side of Gard. The busy activities of martial law were still going on: military control, fighters and transports flying on and off. Yet, nothing had changed much. He had expected more of a nervous response from this mysterious dark force user inside the administrative buildings. The death of these dark jedi should have raised more response.
"I can work only at stealth now", queeq thought. "Anything more can only get me killed, not that that'd matter, but it wouldn't help thsi situation either."
He pulled out his macrobinoculars and zoomed in on the court inside the administrative building. An interesting meeting took place, and there was a familiar face. Admiral Thraw greeted a man dressed in dark robes, followed by several mysterious people. Some looked exactly like the two gentleman whom he send off to the netherworld earlier. And there was another man he had seen before, the man dressed in yellow. queeq realised the tall man in dark robes was the one in control here.
"Time for another calling card..." queeq reached out with the Force towards this dark figure and then stopped it immediately. Through his macrobinoculars he could see the dark man look up for a moment.
"Hello...", queeq greeted him softly and then climbed down from his look-out point.

Finti monitored the meeting between his own trusted aprentice Eli-Chi and Admiral Thrawn.
Once again Finti was surrounded by darkness, a trembeling in the force made Finti smile. "So my little rouge jedi is close" he said to himself. Finti knew Eli-Chi would sence him too. Finti turned to the 10 dark jedis behind him, "Who are those not accounted for". "Some wanna be jedis" was the quick reply. "They were quite handy with the sword, but the force is not with them."
Finti considered the new fact as he said "Thrawn will have control of this place together with Raiik. When Eli-Chi comes back we are ready for departure." After a couple of minutes Eli-Chi joined the others and together they left Gard in their cloacked ship and soon headed into light speed.
It was now up to Admiral Thrawn and Raiik to control the system and they would use whatever means neccessary to do so. With iron hand the system would be controled.

Ushgarak and Gundark emerged from the shuttle that had deposited them at platform 221 and Gundark raised her eyebrows at the Nubian. "Nice transport," she said with a knowing smile.

'Yeah, I got overtaken by one once near the third moon of Jaglan Beta... smooth mover...looks like a fish, moves like a fish..." Ushgarak scowled. "Steers like a cow..."

"In that case," Gundark laughed, "You're at the controls. I'll enjoy the view."

"Yes, Master,..." said Ushgarak. What WAS it with Masters and never taking the helm of anything?

Ushgarak soon had the ship powered up and ready to launch...

"Coordinates are set for Gard," Gundark said, looking up from the navicomputer. "Lets get going."

From the Temple, Imorthorn watched as the ship left into the depths of space... he closed his eyes, softly.

"You're worried, Imorthorn," said WIndu, approaching from behind.

"You've felt it as well as I," said Imorthorn. Windu nodded. "So why did we not tell him?"

"Yoda advised us not to," said Windu. "He said it would be dangerous."

"Ushgarak could pay with his life," said Imorthorn. "And maybe even Gundark."

"Something boht of them have always been willing to do," said Windu. "Besides, his future there is clouded."

"And hers?"

"Only she can tell that."

"Hmm..." said Imorthorn. Windu turned to leave.

"We may ask for your help, Master Imorthorn," said Windu. "Depending on how things go..."

Gundark was contemplative as the Nubian slipped through hyperspace under Ushgarak's capable control. "I have not seen Imorthorn recently. He is well, I trust ?" she asked.

'He's not been the same since Quio-Gon died,' said Ushgarak, trying to work out how the bloosy navigation system worked on this ship. Stupid Nubians...

'Sometimes I feel he is ready to give up this life... he's acheived so much yet he sees the Republic in disarray all around him. Sometimes I think he only stays around because he thinks... he thinks he may be needed.'

Ushgarak turned to Gundark.

"He still talks highly of YOU, Master."

"We were close, once," Gundark said slowly, closing her eyes and letting her mind drift back to her relationship with Imorthorn, now buried deep in the past. A relationship that had formed out of the ashes of what queeq had left behind for her, the remains of heartache, of sweet pleasures, of brutal death. Their love had been a test, between queeq and herself, always trying to keep up with them, always frowned upon by the council, a infusion of lust and frustration, a combination of human nature and the constant, unforgiving Jedi life that they both were bound to. When that life tore them apart into light and something not quite dark, queeq left. Left her with her faith in the Force and little else. Gundark swallowed hard. She opened her eyes, saw Ushgarak watching her closely. She smiled slightly, knowing he had plainly read her thoughts. "Imorthorn picked up the pieces," she continued. "We had a bond strengthened by the Force. The council didn't know, at first." She hesitated. "Perhaps I shouldn't be telling you this.....now."