Jace Sidrona pulled the lever and the Psi-class shuttle dropped out of hyperspace and into the unnamed system. Checking his nav computer Jace confirmed that the distress signal had indeed come from these coordinates.
Approximately two days ago Jace had been on the bridge of the SSD when the comm officer picked up an S.O.S. coming in from a relay drone the Siths set up near the Cron Drift. The message had been from Nuprin Karnes, the squadron quartermaster. In the message Nuprin said that he had been injured, and that Reno, Vanicus, and Gimmer had all vanished. He also warned Jace to be careful of the Terrors of Space...whatever that is. While that had been horrible news, it also gave Jace a sense of hope.
Over two weeks ago Baron Reno and Lord Pilot Thunder had been attacked by a vessel that matched the SSD in both mass and firepower. The ship released a squadron or two of fighters and proceeded their attack on the outnumbered and outgunned duo of Sith pilots. In all fairness to Reno and Thunder, they had fought valiantly, but the numbers had just been too great in the end.. Reno had ordered Thunder to withdraw, an order that she had reluctantly followed. During the escape Reno's TIE Defender had been hit with an ion blast from the large vessel, which Thunder's targeting computer identified as the T.O.S. Thunder had made the jump to hyperspace just as Reno was tractored into the T.O.S.
A few days later, while the Siths had all been out searching for their missing leader, a distress signal came in to the SSD. The only ones present at the time were Captain Vanicus, Nuprin, and the squadron mechanic Gimmer. Not wanting to waste the opportunity to save Reno, the trio took a shuttle and went out to save him. They hadn't been heard of since.
For the two weeks that followed, Lord Pilot Thunder had assumed command of Sith Squadron in Reno's absence, but within the last few days Jace had actually taken over. Thunder had been doing an adequate job of command, but she didn't seem to enjoy it too much. Not that leading a squadron was a particularly fun job, but it took a certain type of person to do it, and at this point in her life Thunder just wasn't that person. She was, however, perfectly suited to be an Executive Officer.
So when Jace left the SSD he recorded a holo message and put JeniViolet, the next most experienced in the squad, in charge until he returned, which should be three days from now. That was assuming everything went according to plan, though. Which wasn't to say that Jace had a great plan, or even a good plan mapped out. Essentially he was going to jump in system, do a little scouting, and see what needed to be done. If it was possible for him to save Reno and the others then he would, if not...the best possible course of action would probably be to return to the SSD and bring back some reinforcements. But that would take a minimum of four days, and by then the chance to save his missing Master would be gone. Which was why he couldn't afford to fail his mission.
The second Jace's Psi-class shuttle reverted to real space he reached over and flipped the "stealth" switch. There was a slight humming as the cloaking device activated. The Psi-class stealth shuttle was a new bit of technology the Siths had recently constructed. It wasn't perfected yet, though. The shuttle that Jace was flying was only a prototype. The final version was probably another cycle or two from being produced.
His long range scanners detected no ships in system, which Jace took as both a good and bad sign. If the system was littered with ships, a large behemoth ID'd as the T.O.S. especially, then Reno was probably still here. But if that were the case then Jace would have to fight to get Reno, and against enormous numbers at that. On the other hand, if no one is here than it means either Reno was never here, or else he was but he's gone now. Best to head down planet side and see if he can find something...
"...nyone there?" the static filled voice asked. "Closing in on Nuprin...power cells on blaster running low...last longer, Nuprin won't!"
Jace wasn't going to respond when he remembered his cloaking device. Obviously SOMEONE was here...sending an outgoing message would give away his position. Instead he just pushed the throttle as fast as it could go and dropped his shuttle planet side.
As Jace got closer to Nuprin's position his head shot up in alarm. Somewhere down on that unknown planet was someone strong in the Force. An unmistakable presence. If possible Jace pushed his Psi-class shuttle even harder.
"It's HIM, Master, just as I thought it would be."
"Are you sure," his Master asked him over the comlink. "There are many Siths in Reno's squadron...it could be anyone of them."
"No, it's Sidrona all right. My sensors haven't picked up anything, but I can FEEL him, Master. Believe me, I know the mark he leaves on the Force. It's him, Master, and I'm going to capture him, and then I'm going to kill him."
He could almost see his Master's grim smile. "Of course, I would not deny you the chance for vengeance, my young Apprentice. Just be wary, you remember what happened the last time you tangled with Jace Sidrona..."
The Sith Apprentice unconsciously ran his gloved hand over his hollowed out eye sockets. A wall of pain rushed at him as cruel memories danced through his head.
"I remember, Master," he said softly, but with enough menace to sound threatening. "I remember all too well..."
The firefight was easy enough to spot once Jace got close enough. There was one point of origin coming from inside a cave where red laser fire was erupting from. The other set of blaster fire came from just inside a grove of trees. Ten of them, actually, all spewing blaster bolts at poor Nuprin.
Jace landed his shuttle in a clearing one hundred meters away from the light fight. He grabbed his black cloak and snatched a blaster from the side wall next to the exit hatch. Wasting no more time he lowered the boarding ramp and dropped into a dead sprint. He had to hurry or else Nuprin wouldn't live!
As Jace got closer to his enemies he immediately recognized them: Trade Federation Battle Droids! Who is Sadow's name still used battle droids? Doesn't matter, Jace thought, Nuprin's life was at stake. Still in a dead sprint Jace ignited his dark blue lightsaber and immediately got to work.
The battle droids came in five pairs of two, which made destroying them a snap. The first pair didn't even see Jace as he gave one long swing and bisected them at their wastes. The third droid noticed Jace, but one quick slice at it's neck silenced it before a warning could be sounded. He downed the fourth droid with a quick stab through the back, which he followed up by raising his saber vertically and cleaving the droid it two.
By now the other five battle droids had been alerted to his presence and broke off their attack on Nuprin.
"New target," the yellow painted droid yelled out. "Destroy!"
"Roger, roger," the other droids responded in unison.
The droids all turned and fired straight at Jace. It was a challenge deflecting the blaster bolts of five droids, but it was doable. Arching the blade back and forth he maneuvered his saber so the deflected shots would bounce back and hit his attacker. Three droids dropped in as many seconds. The remaining two took a few more seconds, but a blast to the chest and one to the other droids head stopped any further attacks.
Swinging his blade in a ceremonious figure-eight formation Jace halted and scanned the area for enemies. None were present. The battle droids had all been defeated. Jace turned his blade off and attached it to his belt.
"Nuprin!" Jace yelled out as he made his way towards the cave Nuprin had apparently holed himself into. "It's me, Jace, you can come out now, the battle droids are gone."
No answer.
Jace walked cautiously into the cavern, his hand gripped tightly on his lightsaber. Over towards the right of the cave Jace spotted a small survival kit, the kind that Nuprin, Gimmer, and Vanicus had all taken with them when they went out to search for Reno. The pack was torn and had dried blood stains on it. Lying next to the pack was a small holo-net communicator...no doubt the one that Nuprin had called for help on. And a little further into the cave sat...
An old Trade Federation repeater rifle mounted on a tripod. Where had Nuprin got this thing from? There was no way he could've dragged this thing here by himself...it was way too heavy. Plus there were no drag marks in the dirt. This thing had been carried here...
Jace turned his head sharply as a blur of movement caught the corner of his eye. A little, yellow blur of movement.
"Nuprin!" he called out again, Jace trotted deeper into the cave, trying to locate the little alien. "Nuprin, you can come out...the danger is over!"
Then he felt it...a tingling sensation in the back of his head that made the hairs on his neck stand on end. That presence...
"No Sidrona..." a voice bellowed throughout the canyon. "The danger is far from over...in fact, it's just begun..."
Jace let out a short bark of laughter, even though inside he felt no joy whatsoever. "Well if it isn't the eyeless wonder," Jace retorted. "I guess this means Nuprin never sent out any distress signal, eh?" That would explain the mounted tripod rifle and why there weren't any drag marks in the dirt...
"How very perceptive of you, Sidrona. We would never have allowed any of your friends the opportunity to send out a distress signal."
...allowed any of them... "You have them..."
"But of course we do." Jace tried to get a fix on voice, but the echoing made that impossible...he could be anywhere...
"Are they..."
"Alive?" the voice finished for him. "For the moment...but that could change any second."
Jace gritted his teeth. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" the voice echoed, surprise and shock evident in his words. "I WANT...my EYES back! I WANT...my LIFE back! I WANT...everything to DIE! But I guess I'll settle for just YOU, Sidrona..."
Sensing danger and not wanting to duel in the close confines of the cave, Jace ignited his saber once again and quickly backed away towards the entrance to the cave. All around him his danger sense tingled. When Jace finally reached the mouth of the cave he understood why his danger sense had been going haywire...
The entire clearing ahead of him was littered with various types of battle droids, way too much for him to handle by himself. At least seventy regular battle droids, and another ten droidekas in front.
And standing in the middle of the formation was a man. He wore a black robe, much like Jace's, but his clothes were a mix of black and gray. His black hair was worn long down his back. His most noticeable distinction was his eyes, or more appropriately, lack of eyes. Where once two jade green had burned with fire and intensity, now sat just empty sockets from which Jace could not only use to see into the back of his skull, but into the very depths of his soul.
It was the man that Jace had once been friends with, and teamed up with to hunt down Reno and kill him.
It was the man that Jace had once fought against for the right to be Reno's apprentice.
And in the end, it was the man that Jace had blinded out of rage and jealousy.
Xanthis.
"You're outnumbered, Sidrona," Xanthis said mock evident in his rough, harsh voice. "Put down your lightsaber and you won't be harmed."
Whatever, Jace thought to himself, Xanthis already admitted that he wants to kill me...why the hell would I believe him and surrender? "Not a chance, Xanthis."
"You would instead prefer to die? Jace Sidrona, you are a powerful Sith apprentice, I shall grant you that. And you are a damn fine swordsman...but you have over eighty guns pointed at you. You're not that good, Sidrona. Surrender now and you might be able to see your friends before you die."
Jace gave Xanthis a dirty look, even though he knew the blind Sith couldn't see him. He really didn't have any other options open to him besides surrender. Xanthis was right about one thing, if Jace tried to fight his way out he would surely die.
However, if he surrendered to Xanthis they would probably take him to where Reno and the others were being held. He would have a much better chance at rescuing them if he were alive, too. But there was also the chance that his comrades were already dead...or maybe Xanthis never had them at all. He could just be bluffing in order to trick Jace into surrendering...
But Jace didn't sense any duplicity from Xanthis. Hatred, despair, the want, almost need for vengeance...but duplicity, no. If Xanthis said he had Reno than he had Reno, which meant that Jace's only chance for survival and his only chance at seeing Reno and the others alive again lay with his surrendering to his arch-enemy and hoping that a blinded, hate-filled, revenge-driven Sith would keep his promise not to kill him...yet.
Reluctantly, Jace turned off his lightsaber and tossed it forward. Although Jace knew that Xanthis couldn't see him turn off the saber and toss it to the ground, he knew that Xanthis could sense Jace's change in emotions. Jace stared harshly at Xanthis as the blind Sith let out an evil grin.
"I surrender."
Xanthis nodded. "OOM-13, bind him and take him back to the ship."
"Roger, roger."
"And don't forget to return to camp and get the other prisoner. The Master will want to talk to both of them."
"Roger, roger."
As the battle droid binded Jace Sidrona's arms together the young Sith apprentice glared daggers at Xanthis. "So, Jace thought, Xanthis isn't behind all of this. He has a Master, also. But who? Ane, maybe? Possible, but Jace didn't think so. There was something about the situation that said it was more than one of Darth Ane's childish games. Someone else was behind it, but who Jace couldn't figure out. Well, Xanthis had said that the Master wanted to speak with them both...guess Jace was going to find out soon enough.
Also, who was this other prisoner? A native who was snooping around? An enemy? Hopefully Jace would find out soon enough. An enemy of Xanthis's would be a friend of Jace.
And as the small legion of battle droids marched Jace away he was stuck with the thought that where he was going he would need all the friends he could get.