SWRP-II Chapter One

The year is 3667 BBY, some 14 long years after the Battle of Korriban, in the heat of the Great Galactic War. The Sith Empire has returned, and the Republic is quickly losing ground throughout the galaxy. The Jedi, despite being not Warriors but Peacekeepers, have been supporting the Republic against their ancient enemy with all their might. But with the might of an Empire founded on a deep-rooted hatred of the Jedi and the Republic, and forged in the fires of malice over countless centuries, will it be enough..?

Ghullk sat in a cantina on Alderaan with a cigarra hanging from his mouth, awaiting for his target to enter. The man he was to kill was a rich human of sorts. Ghullk hadn't really gotten the details on this job. Though that wasn't the only thing he was waiting for, he was also expecting someone from either the Sith empire, or the Republic to come in and hire him to fight for them.

JRepublic... so lax in their defenses...

I lay there in the air vent, waiting for the Officer to take stage. They were relying on the Jedi far too much, putting faith in them to root out assassins with the force.

I was a Jedi Hunter. I could mask my presence from the force. It was almost too easy sometimes.

As the officer takes stage, I flip my rifle's scope outwards, and move the crosshair to his head, activating the sound uplink as I did.

I had to make a statement, wait until he says that the Sith couldn't touch them or something to that effect, and kill him.

Kriffing trade laws...and Jedi. Two of my biggest problems right now

Come on...so lied a bit. Is that so wrong.

Jedi: Not in this case, Captain...

Especially Jedi...

How was I supposed to know they were Sith artifacts? I'm just freighter pilot, not a kriffing archaeologist.

Jedi: Being as that may...Your ship is under our custody until we secure the artifact our possession. You're being kept here until that happens, Captain.

=I groan, and look to the soldiers beside me=

Kriffing Jedi...It always comes back to the kriffing Jedi

"...and with the war against the sith at such a crucial stage, the Republic wants you to know that we should not give up, that even their agents cannot reach us in these havens..."

I pulled the trigger, and watched him fall. I would've watched the confusion, but I didn't want to have to slaughter an army of Republic soldiers during my escape, fun as it may be.

I crept backwards through the vent, dropping out from the wall and activating my stealth field.

Apprentice: I feel a lot of aggression...and its coming soon.

=As we continue forward, I hear a something hit the base=

Well...looks like the war saved my backside, once again

Jedi: We need to get out of here, and fast...

Well...it just so happens that I have the fastest ship in the entire sector.

Jedi: (To his apprentice) Get out of here on his ship, this is not your fight, but mine.

=The apprentice nods weakly, clearly wanting to stay with her master. We make it to the hangar as soon as a swarm of ships appear outside the station=

Awww fierfek...

=I then look at two lit red lightsabers as I get slammed into the wall=

Jedi: Get out of here! NOW!

=I get up and the apprentice follows me, followed by a trooper, firing at any droids that tried to cut us off=

Now...let's get the heck out of here

I managed to sneak out easily enough, although a damned trooper had walked into me. He was dead, hidden hastily around a corner.

I'd gotten to 'my' ship easily though, hidden in the cargo bay while it left the planet.

The target walked in, tall for a human, but short compared to Ghullk. Ghullk got up from where he was sitting, and approached the human, who was now sitting at the bar looking a bit twitchy, or suspicious, as if he was expecting an assassin to come for him.
He must have many enemies.
The human male looked back at the large alien that was walking towards him, then turned his head forward, he mumbled something and put his head down on the bar with his fingers in his ears.
Ghullk wore a puzzled face for a moment then caught on. But by then he already heard a rapid beeping coming from the wall. Followed by a large explosion.

=Vera was walking quickly down a long corridor at the republic base on Alderaan with the commander of a trooper squad he was working closely with. His mask, covering his entire face, made it almost impossible to tell his race, as there was no other exposed skin anywhere on his body. He had by now gotten used to wearing the mask though, so his voice was hardly dampened, as he had learned to compensate=

V- Patience, commander. If the Sith are moving north, we will be able to catch them before they reach their command post, and from there, launch an attack of our own. Tell your soldiers to rally. We depart in half an hour.

C- Yes, sir.

=Nicci was suiting up with the rest of Havoc squad. It was just a half hour ago when Jace Malcolm, the leader of Havoc squad, interrupted their brief rest with news that the Jedi knight Vera had called on Havoc to launch an attack on a Sith unit heading North, towards their command post. This was Nicci's first time working with Havoc, and she was excited to finally be doing a large-scale mission. Up until this point in her career, Nicci had only done small ops up until now. She'd spent a lot of time on Ord Mantell, fighting seperatists, but nothing on this kind of scale. It would be one of her first times working with a Jedi. She saw the doors of the outpost open, and a ship waiting for them outside.=

Good hunting....

The flight was... uneventful. Until I received a message from Commander Falik.

Falik: You have a new mission, assassin.

He refused to use our names, calling us 'assassin' or someother pre-determined codename.

"Sir?"

Falik: You are to commandeer that ship by any means necessary, and return here at once.

"Understood, sir."

I draw my sword, and step into the ship's hallway.

Debris pinged off of Ghullk's armor as a hole was blown on the side of the cantina. Soldiers came pouring out of the wall, but they didn't look like Sith or Republic, mercenaries most likely. Ghullk pulled out his heavy pistol and shot at one dropping him, then before they fired back he tipped over one of the tables and knelt behind it, keeping his head low.

=I blast my way through with the apprentice and the trooper, making sure my ship was okay=

Good, nobody has touched my baby...

=As I get close to the door of my ship, I beckon the trooper and apprentice aboard my ship=

COME ON, GET IN HERE...NOW!

=The trooper gets the idea, getting on board my ship. The apprentice however, feels the need to help her master, but gets on none the less=

Good greif...she's one of THOSE Jedi...great...

=I motion for them to strap in, and I then get the ship running and gun it out of the bay=

Let's hope it doesn't turn ugly...

Five troopers? Yeah definitely five.
Ghullk listened to them fire at the table he was taking cover behind. Each shot getting closer to melting the table through.
He counted their firing pattern and popped out from the table in a short break of fire. He aimed his pistol at one, quickly fired blasting him in the visor of his helmet. Then turned his pistol and shot down two others. There were still two gunners left, and they were firing at unpredictable times. Ghullk had to think fast. So he holstered his pistol and grabbed the thick leg of the table then bull rushed one of the mercs with it. He released his grasp once within about five feet of the merc, letting it fly into him. He then drew his pistol once more and shot down the other one before he could react.

Ghullk walked to the one that got hit by the table. He was crawling on the floor towards his rifle. Ghullk stepped on it when the merc was within reaching distance of it.
"Ah ah. That's not happening, you've lost."
Ghullk grabbed the helmeted man, and hefted him up then against the wall with his pistol under the merc's jaw.

(Ghullk)
"Who do you work for?!"

(Merc)
"Please don't kill me!"

(Ghullk)
"Then tell me who you work for!?"

(Merc)
"No one!... We're private contractors! Please-"

(Ghullk)
"Who hired you?"

(Merc)
"The human, mister Gouhan. He thought that an assassin may have been after him... Turns out he was right. Now please I told you what you want."

Ghullk was right, just protection mercenaries. He blasted the merc's head off, then turned to look at the room. His target was gone... Guess those mercs worked out for him after all. Ghullk spat out his nearly gone ciggara from his mouth, then started walking to the door when the bartender stopped him.
"Who's gonna pay for this mess, huh!?"
Ghullk shot his blaster towards the bartender, not really aim for him, just a warning shot. Then continued on his way.

=I take the ship out of the hangar and into the skies, a battle raging around us=

Well...so much for a smooth flight

=I push the engines to the max, fighting for every meter of altitude as the engines roared with power=

Come on old girl...you've made it through worse

=As we clear the planet's gravity well, I punch in the coordinates to the navicomputer=

Next stop, anywhere but here...

=I then watch as a Sith ship closes on my vessel and I yell to my passengers=

HOLD ON! THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET REALLY ROUGH!

=I then push the sublight engines to the max, feeling the hull shiver as my ship continued to accelerate, and then ship shook from the cruiser's turbolasers landing a few hits on the sheilds=

LADIES AND GENTELMEN...NEXT STOP, ANYWHERE BUT HERE!

=I then pull the levers down and watch as my ship entered hyperspace=

Ghullk exited the bar from the giant hole in the wall, that the mercs made. He was then approached by a human sized presumably man. He wore a cloak around himself and seemed to be wearing a mask, though Ghullk couldn't really tell because of the hood the shadowy man had above his head. Ghullk just stared at him for a second.
(Ghullk)
"What are you looking at? You selling Deathsticks or something? How much?"

(Shadowy man)
"I am here with a job... One we are willing to pay a large sum for."

Ghullk perked up to the sound of money being promised.

(Ghullk)
"Oh, a customer? What is it you need done?"

(Shadowy man)
"I am here for a high ranking Sith lord who wishes the death upon a traitor. And your particular talents may suit well for this task."

(Ghullk)
"Just give me a name, and I'll track 'em down."

(Sith)
"He is a sith born who betrayed us at a young age. He was weak and-"

Ghullk interrupted the man.
"Listen I don't need his life story, just his name."

(Sith)
"Of course..."

The cloaked figure pulled a data pad from his cloak and handed it to Ghullk, it had the physical description of the target. Along with the amount his payday would be.

(Sith)
"His name is Vera... No body should be necessary."

((Hope this doesn't screw with anything you got going Xaz.))

=Vera stood at the side of a Republic Dropship waiting for Havoc Squad to get their gear together and get out there=

The Sith also gave Ghullk the last known whereabouts of Vera, in a republic base some distance from the.
Though he would probably be gone by the time he got there, Ghullk still tried to find a transport.
Not to mention there would be the trouble of getting in. But he ignored all that for now, his main focus was getting to the base. He found the closest lot of parked speeders, there was often people who sold rides, like a long distance taxi driver.

Sure enough he found one, and as he would have guessed, it was a damned Human.

(Ghullk)
"How much for a ride!?"

He tried using a bit of his intimidating height to get a discount of sorts.

(Taxi driver)
"Depends on where you're going friend."

Ghullk glared at him for a moment after he called him his 'friend'

(Ghullk)
"Republic base, few klicks out."

(Taxi driver)
"I can make that run... Five hundred credits!"

Ghullk snarled at that price.

(Ghullk)
"You are going to take me there for three."

There was another moment of staring, or rather glaring.

(Taxi driver)
"Very well, three hundred it is. Please climb aboard."

And so Ghullk did, and they took off for the base.

=Havoc's ship made it to Vera without incident, and the group unloaded off of the ship promptly. Nicci made her way tot he Jedi, and saluted him.=

"Havoc squad reporting in, sir."

The speeder glided across the plains smoothly. It didn't take long for the Republic base to come into sight.

(Driver)
"There's your stop!"

Ghullk looked at the man with an unsatisfied glare, not caring for the human's obvious statement.
The speeder came to a stop on a small landing pad. Ghullk gave the driver the credits he owed, and began walking for the entrance where two republic guards stood. The speeder and the driver flew off.

(Guard one)
"Halt, we need to check for weapons!"

Ghullk stood menacingly. But then melted down a couple inches into a less threatening stance. He then opened his arms into a mock surrender, his pistol showing.
"Search away soldiers, but I ensure you, I am not carrying any weapons."
He wore a smile on his face. One of the guards pointed to his sidearm.

(Guard two)
"And what do you call that?"

Ghullk looked down and bluffly said.
"Oh! Whoops, clumsy me. Heheh"

Ghullk began to reach for the weapon, and both guards rose their blaster rifles.

(Guard one)
"Hold it right there!"

Ghullk pretended to be shocked, when actually he was hoping they'd do that. He brought his hands up, back into the mocking pose.
"Oh... my apologizes."

Ghullk rose his right hand away from the blaster, allowing one of the guards to disarm him. One of them inched forward with his rifle pointing at Ghullk. He then lowered the rifle and started to go for Ghullk's sidearm. To which Ghullk grabbed the man's arm and pulled him towards himself, also grabbing the human's rifle at the same time. He grabbed the human's neck and hefted up, using him as a shield as the other guard aimed his rifle for Ghullk.

(Guard one)
"Put him down! NOW!"

Ghullk didn't respond to the man, instead he shot him with the other guard's rifle, bringing him down. He then shot and threw the other guard off of the edge, along with the first guard.
"Can't have anyone finding your bodies, the alarms'll be tripped, and I can't have that... Yet."

I withdraw my blade from the Pilot's throat, flicking the blood away, before entering a course for the sith fleet.

=As the ship exits hyperspace, I breathe a sigh of relief=

No Sith to worry about for lightyears...thank the ancestors...

=I then plot in a course for another planet into the navicomputer. Once I finish, I place my feet on the instrument panels and relax=

=I'm then taken out of my reverie by a tap on the shoulder. I look to see it's the Jedi=

What do you want, now?

Jedi: Ummm...why are we stopped?

Why do you think we're stopped, hmm?

=I raise an eyebrow, the Jedi shutting up for the time being=

Unless you have a good idea on where we should go, keep quiet.

=I sigh, my tone coming off more irritated than I intended=

Damn girl...needs to keep to herself...maybe the trooper could be sociable with her

=I then kick my feet back up, just wanting to rest for the time being=