"Hello Melee," One of the droids said. "The doctor left us here in hopes that you and your friends would come looking for the girls." "Where are they taking them now?" Melee asked. "They have all been moved to a lab on the fourth moon of the planet Leelos. It's where the naval force posing as pirates have their base. The lab is hidden in a valley on the southern hemisphere. We have the coordinates in our memory." The other droid turned to face Joshua. "Are you by any chance from Dr Pok's galaxy?" Kirk glanced at Melee for a moment. "Yes." "You have the strange energy field surrounding you that Dr Pok told us about." Joshua was getting ready to ask more questions when Melee jumped up. At that moment the building vibrated, as though something heavy had fallen. Then the door at the end of the hall came crashing down as a droid, or what was left of one, was flung against it by some increible force. "Mulk is in trouble!" Melee cried out. Instantly the two of them were out the door, weapons ready. As they cautiously peered around the jamb, they could see two troopers dragging what was left of Mulk out through the hole that the explosion had created in the wall. Without thinking, the girl was out the door and flinging herself at the troopers. Melee was out the door and across the floor. As she made her way to the first trooper, she saw something that almost made her panic: droidekas! With a spinning kick, Melee sent one man flying into the pipes running up from the floor. She then did a back flip kick, catching another under his chin, breaking his neck, while at the same time she activated the EMP. As Joshua came out the door behind his companion, a trooper dropped down behind her with a vibro knife in his hand. That was when the mask went dead. Jumping on his back and pinning his arms to his body with his legs, Kirk pulled his own knife and thrusts it into the man's throat and into his spine, severing the spinal cord. Pulling off his now useless mask, Joshua stared at the dead men that littered the floor. "It would have been nice to get that information from those droids before we set off the EMP!" Kirk swore as he stood next to Melee who was checking Mulk's body. "I'm sorry Melee," He said as the Stinger landed out side with Seesha and Peenk. "Why?" She said smiling. "He's not dead. Mazuran have their brain in their body, not the head. As long as he doesn't get hit there, he'll be fine. And thanks to the cortosis suit he wears, he's only got a few burns. He can regenerate what he lost." "Oh," Joshua said with a nod. "Well that's a pretty handy talent he has there." The pair spun around as they heard scraping sounds behind them. Melee laughed as the two MU-Sos walked out of the doorway. "I like these two, medical droids, who have part time jobs as battle droids, and are shielded from an EMP blast," She than examined the Droidekas where the two had destroyed them with some kind of shield penetrating weapon. "My shielding was inadiquate it would seem," one said, dragging a malfunctioning leg. "What are these things?" Kirk asked as he inspected the droidekas. "Damn those things look deadly." "They're droidekas," Melee said. "But it's not the blasters that make them deadly. They have shields. Kind of hard to take them out with a blaster." "An EMP, or a lightsaber can do it." Kinna said as she walked in through the hole in the wall. "But of course, the drawback of taking one out with a lightsaber is that you have to be right on top of them. Another way was to knock them over. When the droid falls on it's side, the shields come in contact with the ground, and that would quickly overload them," Kinna looked down at mulk's mangled body and shook her head. "Looks like he lost his head on this mission. And an arm, a leg, and a hand." Seesha walked in, handing what was left of Mulk's lightsaber to Kinna. "Lele is not going to be happy about this." "Kinna?" Melee said. "When Mulk was out here fighting, I felt something wrong with him." "Yes, I felt it as well," The Cerinian said. "He's danced close to the dark side in this fight. The Mazuran are known for the ability to use the dark side without letting it control them. But Mulk went too far," Pointing at a body with it's throat torn out. "So is there anything we can use in those two droids?" Seesha asked. "The location of the lab they've taken all the girls to," Josua said. "Let's get out of here before anyone else shows up. There were more of them than we thought." "Let's go then." Seesha touched Kinna's arm. "Could you fly the Stubby back? I've never flown it. I'll take the Banshee." "Sure. Let's get him into the bacta tank as quickly as possible." With those words, Joshua threw the green body over his shoulder and they all headed out. After the Stinger and Stubby were clear, Seesha Dava fired the Banshee's starboard rack of concussion misslies into the base, destroying everything. Everything except one dying survivor and a trooper who'd fled. As the crew of the Long Distance Runner entered hyper space for the two day trip to Leelos IV, four Imperial II class Stardestroyers were pulling away from what was left of the moon. The atmosphere was burned away, and it's surface molten. Admiral Vond Morss stood at the head of the bridge staring out as the stars flickered, then elongated as his ships entered hyperspace. He did not like this, he thought to himself. Doing what they were to those girls was bad enough, but to then kill them all when it became an embarassment? He had three daughters their age. He could imagine the anguish the families were going through with the kidnapping of their girls. Those families that were not dead. And now to never know their fate? No more. I've had enough. It was time he left the Empire. Of course the bridge crew only saw a man standing confidently on his bridge, smirking at the universe. Only the communications officer knew what he was really feeling. For Admiral Morss' daughters were his sisters. With a press of a key, Lt Jay Morss sent his latest coded message to the Republic out with the mass of other Imperial dispatches. The Republic boys are going to have a field day with what he had for them. With a last glance at the monitor still showing the glowing moon, Jay shut it off. "Well," Moff Veru Panaka asked as he stared questioningly at Capt Vitch. "What have you found at the attack site?" "First of all, this was the work of the Collector, sir." "What?" The Moff came to attention at the mention of that name. "How do you know this?" "Two living witnesses, as well as a fragment of video. What it shows is a figure wearing the same featureless mask that her only living victim described. And she now has help. The video, it was about five seconds, showed another was with her. A short Male of unknown age. And a Force user." "How do you know that?" "Here's the video," Vitch said. His data pad flashed with the scene from the mess hall at the base. Panaka watched as a black clad figure of a male human jumped twenty feet across the room and killed five men with two vibro knives. All in about four seconds. "No Human should be able to move like that." "And some of the other bodies show lightsaber wounds." "And what of the two survivors?" "One died about two hours after we arrived. He was scared to death. I've seen his record. This man was not the kind to scare easily. The other said he ran when he saw what was happening. So he was executed for cowardice. But at least they didn't get anything in the raid. All the equipment had already been taken to Leelos. Oh, and the ship that was to pick up the Troopers has disappeared. A witness at the scene says they came out of hyperspace and then left again about twenty minutes later. I think they've deserted, sir." "Very good. But we don't have to worry about the attacks on the labs anymore. Moff Seergah had the last one closed. This part of the project has ended. That is all. I'll read your report when you are done with it." "Yes sir." Marc Vitch, his real name Mek Merisun, left the room. He'd left out some interesting things in his report about the incident. Things like a clip showing the two humans without their masks. As well as three non-humans, one of whom was dead. And they had the two droids. So we have all the information we need now. And Mek knew that the crew of the freighter had deserted. In fact, he'd already talked to his brother and welcomed him to the Republic. MU-SO 1 activated the sensor package that was afixed to Mulk's chest. "Master Mulk will now be able to hear everything you say, as well as communicate with you. I'll next hook him to the ship's computer. That will allow him to take part in what is happening on the bridge. I really think you should reconsider this trip to Leelos IV. The sooner Master Mulk gets put into a proper Bacta tank in a hospital, the quicker his recovery will be." "We know MU-SO 1," Kinna said. "But we need to find this lab now. The Republic has ships on their way to Leelos now, but we'll get there faster. We can scout things out and report what we find to them. In case the Imperials have a large presence there." "I'm not in any hurry," Mulk said over the ships intercom. "I'll just hang out here and soak." At that moment the door slid open and Joshua stood in the hatchway. "Peenk says we'll arrive in the Leelos system in one hour. We need to get the Stubby prepped for it's scouting run to the planet's moon. Hey, Mulk. How's it hanging? Oh, that's right!" Joshua said mockingly. "Your equipment don't hang!" With a grin he walked back to the bridge. "I like that kid more everyday," Kerrish said. "I think I'll adopt him." Kirk popped his head back in. "Melee, have you been using the replicator to make hats?" "Yep." "Well that thing you have on your head is hideous. I love it." With a laugh, everyone got up and headed to either the bridge or the hanger bay. "Kinna," Mulk said. "Hold up a minute. I have something to ask you." "Sure what is it? If it's that, I'll get Lele back in here," Kinna joked. "This is serious, Mistress Kinna." "Mulk, I haven't been a Mistress in years. I'm just your average loose cannon Jedi." "Yeah, right! That's why you have those long talks with Skywalker, Horn and the others. That's why you took on Onyhee as a padawan. You know that the Order needs to be rebuilt. So that's why I need to ask you something." "What's that?" Kinna said cautiously. "Will you take me on as a Padawan?" "What? But you were my master. You were on the Jedi Council for forty years." "But I also have not trained as a Jedi in 353 years. What happened yesterday has shown me that I need to train again. I came very close to the darkside. Too close. And I don't want to go back there." Mulk curled his leg up. "I'm afraid this is as close as I can come to getting down on one knee." he said. "Mistress Banka, will you take me as a Padawan Learner?" Kinna put her hand on the tank. "I will take this responsibility my old friend. I will help you find your way back." "Thank you. I'm afraid I'll need to find new focus crystals for a new lightsaber. My saber was destroyed." "Don't worry about that," Kinna told Mulk. "Seesha found what was left of it. And your crystals are undamaged." "That's good. Now you need to get to the hanger, and get ready. Mistress Kinna." "So you're going to redo the entire living quarters and bridge? How long will this take?" Joshua asked Peenk. "We'll be in port a week. But the actual work will only take five days, at the most. While there we'll pick up Metla from the hospital and we girls will do some major shopping. But first we'll drop Mulk off at a different hospital. The only one on this planet that knows how to treat Mazuran. Marty and Lele will take the boys and see her sister. You sure you want to just hang around the ship? It'll be pretty noisy." "Yeah. I really need some time alone. The last several of months have been rather eventful for me. Let's see," Joshua started counting off what has happened to him. "First, I might have started a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Next, I trap the crew of Excalibur in a galaxy far far away, with no way home for at least five years. Last of all I'm responsible for the deaths of more than three thousand Klingons. And of course you know the rest, So some noise will not hurt me." "Why don't you cry me a handful, little boy," Seesha teased. "I just think you're scared to going shopping with us." "Damn right!" Joshua said with a laugh. "Mulk's told me what shopping with you girls is like. I don't mind shopping back home. But then again, we've never needed battle droids to go with us. Peenk smiled. "He's not too brave when it comes to shopping, but he'll take on five stormtroopers alone with nothing more than a couple of knives. He's an odd boy." "Boy?" Joshua asked, cocking his right eyebrow. "We're getting ready to exit hyperspace." Seesha said from the pilot's console. "Get ready to launch as soon as I give the order." "You got it." Kinna replied from the cockpit of the Stubby. "Exiting now." Seesha, Joshua, and Peenk stood on the bridge looking out the forward view port, stunned. "Jesus christ!" Joshua whispered. "The hanger bay doors are open," Melee said over the intercom. "Ready to launch." "Close the doors!" Peenk told her in a strained voice. "Do what?" "Just shut them. There is nothing there now!" Peenk said with tears of rage streaming down her cheeks. "The Empire has been here already." "No!" Kinna pleaded. "Not a BDZ!" "Yeah." Mulk's mechanical voice sounded throughout the ship. "Damn them!" "Hey Peenk?" Kirk said from the com station. "I'm picking up some homing beacons. Dozens, no, more than a hundred. What ever they are, they're orbiting the moon at varrying distances. I have one about three hundred meters under us. It looks like a container of some kind. But it's small. I don't believe it!" "What is it?" Mulk asked. "They're old style Star Fleet emergency beacons." "Did you hear that Kinna?" "Yes, and Melee is opening the doors now. I'll have it on board in a couple of minutes." "Captain?" Joshua says from the com station. "Admiral Bander of the Republic Navy is wanting to know what the situation is here. He says that they'll be arriving in system in three hours." "Tell them that the Imps did a BDZ. He'll need to inform those higher up about it." Seesha looked at Peenk with a funny look on her face. "Captain?" "Guess I've been drafted," Peenk said weakly, still staring out at the dead moon. A moon that had been home to more than 300,000 farmers in addition to the girls they were after. Peenk slowly lowered herself into a seat, still staring out the port. "I'm back with the beacon," Kinna's voice said over the bridge's speakers. "It contains a holo projector. I'll bring it to the bridge." Peenk couldn't say anything, so Joshua reached over and thumbed the switch. "Go ahead. We'll be waiting." Minutes later the projector was switched on and a scene from some kind of control room filled the bridge. And standing in front of a bank of monitors stood a male humanoid. "Gath Pok." Kinna and Joshua both said as one.