SW Mafia: A Dark Time

Kessel was a barren planet, its warm core long ago retreated to only the deepest parts of the planet's inner workings. Once, eons ago, the planet provided a lush landscape teeming with life; species never seen since once called the world home. But that was long before anyone had hyperspace technology, long before anyone could have seen it. Now, the rock was as dead as the Jedi Order, destroyed 10 years before by a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker.

The man, now called Darth Vader, sought to destroy what little was left of the Jedi who were mostly scattered and in hiding. His methods were working. Very few Jedi Knights remained; many were killed during the first devastating strike against the order, near the end of the Clone Wars, and most others were hunted down in the next couple of years. Those few remaining have usually avoided detection by either being exceptional Jedi Masters, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda, or by having little or no trained ability as a Jedi, making them less vulnerable to detection by Palpatine or Darth Vader.

As a precaution, most force wielders restrain from using the Force and many have even surpressed their powers to avoid detection.

It was odd, thought Kam Solusar, just ten years ago the Jedi upheld the justice of the galaxy and were seen as symbols of good in the galaxy. Now, they hid within the emptiness of space.

Kam had spent his entire life running from Darth Vader, a man he never met, for a crime he never committed. However, the young teen knew better then to trust the false security blanket solitude and elusiveness provided. From what little Kam knew of the nature of the Force he doubted something as menial as distance and remoteness would stop Darth Vader or his dark Jedi from finding Kam. In fact, he knew it to be an eventuality, he didn't know why, he just had a feeling, and his feelings usually tended to be right. He also knew, however, that moving around would delay the inevitable and that thought kept him going.

Kam sat up from his cot. He was on a freighter posing as a cargo ship delivering food stuffs to the planets inhabitants. Kam knew it to be a smuggliing ship for the valueable spice mined from the dead planet that was their destination. Kam cared little for the purpose of the ship; he had been on worse ships, and at least on smuggling ships people didn't ask questions.

The teenager took stock of his possessions. A backpack containing a couple changes of clothes, a small DC-17 Scout blaster he took from an Imperial Stormtrooper that got too close to the truth, and a pair of macrobinocs he bought from Jawa's on Tatooine lay in the corner. His father's lightsaber, disguised as a mining flare dangled from the side of the pack.

He took a breath and hopped down from the top bunk; he knew his destiny lay in the smuggling camp on the far side of the planet, opposite the penal colony, but he feared what his destiny might be. He had taken a risk coming here. He had planned to meet with other force senstive individuals, a few who actually received some training before the temple fell. Some of whom might have known his father.

Although young, however, Kam wasn't naive and he knew the danger of putting so many Force users in one spot. The meeting wasn't supposed to last long, perhaps a week or more, used to preserve the Jedi Order as best as possible.

And Kessel was nearly the perfect spot for such a risky meeting. Far from the Corporate and Core Sectors, where most the heavy Imperial activity lie, only a single Imperial Garrison was station on the rocky, barren planet. And they were occupied with the prisoners captive at the penal colony. Smugglers and Spice traders had set up small, hidden bases of operation. Rough, uncomfortable, and dangerous, these places were easy to get lost in and a haven to those who didn't want their pasts revealed.

The whine of the engines took a higher pitch as the freighter entered the thin atmosphere of Kessel, and Kam felt the sudden shake of turbulence. After a short ride, the engines lowered their pitch and Kam felt, more then heard, a rumbling from outside.

Blast doors, he thought, and approved. The doors would not only protect the establishment from bombardment from outside, but likely also hid the community from many scans. Kam shouldered his bag, checked the energy on his blaster, and walked towards the boarding ramp.

Into the vermin's nest, Kam mused.

8==8O8==8

Darth Vader kneeled reverantly before the flickering holo of the Emperor, his dark master. The life-sized image looked down upon the kneeling Sith Lord. A burst of interfereance distorted his master's image and voice.

"You will send your most recent captured Jedi to the Kessel system. There is a meeting there of unimportant force adepts. We have no need to fear their meeting, however, I would like to test our new...recruits." His voice dripped with contempt and malice. "Either they succeed in killing the Jedi, or die at their hands, either way, we will have known their worth. They will.. erve thei... ur...ose."

Vader was on a secret installation within the Maw Cluster, a grouping of Black holes and other gravatational giants near the Kessel system. Little was known about the phenominon and nobody had dared to ever fully investigate. That was, until his master had the insight to expend some resources to the undertaking. The center of the cluster, only reached through a deadly and dangerous path between the giants where one miscalculation meant an upleasant death at the hands of the black holes, was relativily stable. The new space station, called the Maw Installation, was the center of most of the top secret plans the Empire had in development. Of particular note was the Death Star, a battlestation so powerful it could destroy an entire planet. The seclusion was perfect for such a thing, but it made holocommunication shaky at best.

"As you wish, my master," replied the dark jedi, between the mechanical sounds of his resperation system in his suit of armor.

Vader rose as the image flickered out of existance, and, without delay, began gathering his new...pupils.

8==8O8==8

It was another nightmare, borne from the Force. It was always the same, an ancient temple in a forgotten jungle. The level top provided an excellent view of teh destruction below. A dark man, power crackling in his eyes, storms of energy swirling around him cackled gleefully as he killed the millions he had enslaved to build him these temples of power. His body was being buned away from the power welling in and around him, power directly of the dark side.

The entire race was dying, and the man, now aglow with purple flame looked upwards and mentally projected an ultimatum to enternity.

"The Sith will have their revenge. I wait on a moon of Yavin, and I corrupt the souls of Jedi, all across the galaxy. My power exceeds that of any other, as I have followers even after my body is destroyed."

The anger-filled laughter echoed long after the nightmare ended.