Admiral... sometimes, I think my life is just a never ending series of events that are designed to horrify, terrify and amaze me. Just... two hours ago, I was telling you about us meeting up with the crew of the Iridium Rose at the main gantry of that abandoned Imperial mine and I was going to see if I could send Val a little 'Jedi Hello.'

Well. It was the Iridium Rose. Only, Val wasn't there. DeLorik... Darth Stygoss was there. He promptly did the brain squeeze thing on me as he had the Rose fire on us, demanding our surrender. I was in shock. It was definitely the Iridium Rose and Stygoss had captured it.... and that meant, the crew of the Rose as well.

It was a tough battle. We really didn't want to harm the Rose, but quickly figured out it was do or die. Yahnna, the Force bless pilot that she is, and Decker, the Force bless gunner that he is, managed to out run, out pilot and out shoot Stygoss. He had to peel out. Yahnna then hid us behind an asteroid and ordered me off the bridge for 10-15 minutes to calm down and clean up. During Stygoss' Force attack, I had gotten a bloody nose and was half out of my mind.

Jela'han gave me something to calm me down and I went to clean up. I'm really tired of bleeding on myself. As I calmed and centered myself, I heard a voice in my head. It was Val. He was calling my name... and I knew where he was. The main gantry.

I headed back to the bridge, a lot calmer, and told Yahnna what had happened. That I had heard Val's voice. That he was on the main gantry. She asked me what I thought we should do. I wanted to go save Val and crew of the Rose. They had save us, me, in particular, several times. I tried to quip something brave and daring like "Do you want to live forever?" Yahnna really surprised me. She said, "I don't know about you, but I got family to think about." I really didn't expect that from her.

As we were discussing this and vaguely thinking of a foolhardy plan to go and save the crew of the Rose, but who should come screaming into the system? Yep. Our old pal, Admiral Zaraith and the Relentless. Zaraith was on the comm, angrily demanding the return of his grandson from Stygoss. Talk about a shock. We knew they had been working together, but Stygoss had the guts to double cross Zaraith? At this point, the Star Chaser just got really small and really quiet, watching.

The system become crowded, very quickly. The Malevolent and the Imperium showed up with an Interdictor. Suddenly, there was a fight between a bunch of Stygoss' frigates and one the Star Destroyers and more frigates and the Interdictor. That's when we realized that Zaraith was pulling in the entire Task Force from the Praek VII mission.

We thought Zaraith was going to open up on the gantry, so Jela'han did one of his amazing voice impersonations, screaming that there were civilians on board. Earlier, we had counted about 200 life forms. At this point, there only about 30 left. A good 100 people had died when the Relentless rammed... ran over... one of frigates Stygoss sent out to stop Zaraith.

At that point, Zaraith sent over 3 Lambda shuttles. Yahnna figured if we were going to do this crazy stunt and try to save the crew of the Rose, now was the time to do it. She got us to the side of the gantry where we latched on and sent over an umbilical. Decker and Geehan were going to set explosives in the reactor core as insurance and to cover our escape. Jela'han, Dev and I were to hunt out the crew of the Rose and bring them back.

Jela'han tried to cut through the side of the gantry but it was impossible. That was when I decided it was about time I test myself. Mere minutes before we had contacted the Rose, I had finished putting together my lightsaber. No, Admiral, I'm not kidding. It is a real, honest to God, lightsaber. Well, I ended up cutting through the side of that gantry. It wasn't easy. I didn't realize that the lightsaber would have an internal gyro-scope to make wielding it easier - once you got the hang of it.

It cut through 2 -meters- of titanium steel.

Oh, man! What a rush! And, yes, there was a rush - of pressure. Knocked me for a loop for a couple of minutes.

Things got really impossible from here. Like they aren't impossible already.... *soft laugh* But, you know what? When the Force is on your side, the impossible IS possible.

OK. So, Decker and Geehan headed about 11 kilometers down to the reactor, while the rest of us headed about 5 kilometers up. The bulk of the people were on the Administrative level of the gantry. As we reached the level they were on, I felt the Force again... from two places. One... Val... was on the same level. One... Stygoss... was descending towards, and then past, us. I tried to warn everyone but all I got was static. I didn't find out until later that Stygoss had gone after Yahnna and the Star Chaser.

There was a lot of fighting going on and I end up igniting my lightsaber a second time - and I didn't cut off my own leg! I have to tell you, using a lightsaber is a lot harder than it looks. A couple of the stormtroopers panicked when they saw the lightsaber. No. I didn't kill anyone with it. In truth, I abhor the idea - but I realize that I may have to someday and I'll burn that bridge then.

In any case, the fighting suddenly stopped and we all got herded by LOTS of stormtroopers up to the flight deck. I was shocked to see the Star Chaser there, fairly badly damaged with Yahnna yelling at a black clad Imperial guy. When she saw us, she yelled for us to get on the ship. I looked around and didn't think twice. I headed over there. Geehan must have gotten hit a little too hard on the head. He didn't seem to want to listen to Yahnna.

I know Zaraith took an interest in me. I don't know if it was because he recognized me or because I was wearing a lightsaber on my belt. But, I -know- he took a major interest in Decker. *whew* I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Zaraith recognized Decker as one of his elite ex-Imperial Marines. The cold rage from the Admiral was frightening.

Once we were all aboard, Yahnna started yelling at Zaraith. Can you believe it? Yelling at him for the crew of the Rose. He just stayed calm and cool and collected. Then the crew of the Rose appeared and was escorted to their ship. A bunch of them had been hurt. Yahnna connected with them and set up a rendezvous point. The Rose acknowledged and exited the flight deck. We should see them again in three days.

As we were leaving, we saw Stygoss suddenly appear from one of the turbo lifts. He strode over to the Admiral and was yelling in his face, poking him in the chest. Captain Andris got upset and pushed Stygoss away from Zaraith. The last thing I saw was a flash of red and Andris falling in two different directions.

*pause*

I guess he learned the hard way about dealing with the Dark side.

As we left the flight deck from that horrible scene, we were greeted by another horrible scene... SIX Star Destroyers and the Super Star Destroyer. All of them in orbit around the main gantry. I think I aged a few years in the 60 seconds it took us to get to our jump point. I don't think I have ever been so glad to see hyperspace in all my life.

As if that wasn't enough, Yahnna then told us what had happened to the Star Chaser and why we got out of there. Stygoss had come after our ship and Yahnna. Right through the hole we made and then the bulk heads... with no oxygen. Suddenly, that little joke Yahnna and I shared about Stygoss chewing through the hull of our ship to get to us isn't so funny anymore.

In any case, she managed to fly the ship up the flight deck and eject her seat from the Chaser and land safely on the upper flight deck. That woman can fly ANYTHING! After that, she happened upon Zaraith and Andris. They were saying that the trap had gone perfectly but where was the pilot? That's when Yahnna... I swear that woman has more balls than any 10 men... took Zaraith hostage!! No! I'm not kidding!

She bargained for the lives of us and the lives of the Rose crew. It seems that Zaraith is a man of his word. I will have to remember that. In return for his life and Andris'... he promised that both the crew of the Chaser and the Rose could go free. Yahnna accepted that... and Zaraith stood by his word of honor. I really wish he was on our side.

Yahnna also asked about the trap. Why the ruse? Apparently, Admiral... this whole was set up so that Stygoss could capture me. All this manpower. All this planning. The fights between the Interdictor, the Star Destroyers and the frigates were all set ups. All the lives lost. All because Stygoss convinced Zaraith that he had to have me... and I don't know why.

*long pause* *shuffling*

*voice very quiet* There is a very small part of me, Admiral, that is fascinated, arrogant and even a bit prideful about this discovery.... saying, "Look what they did. They did all that for me."

*pause*

Then, there is the sane part of me. The part that is horrified and frightened beyond words that keeps whispering over and over... "Look what they did. They did all that for me."

*pause*

They knew that I would want to save Val. I fell right into their trap. Maybe that's why Val tried to contact me.... to warn me away. I risked myself, my crew and the Rebellion. Was I wrong to want to try to save the crew of the Rose?

I have to say no. I must believe I did the right thing.

Stygoss set a trap for me - that I did fall for - this time. But, in the end, no only did he lose the prize. He lost the bait as well. When you deal with the Dark side... you will always lose. Always.

*pause*

But... by God, look what they did. They did all that... for me.

End Log: 78135.259.23:33

(c) 2000 - Eden Blackthorn