Narska never realized that waiting in a deactivated starfighter for half an hour was so boring! Space was so....boring...when you're not blowing something up. Once the Rogues got here, though, he was sure that business would pick up.

He sighed. This was the hardest thing that he'd ever had to do in his life. Sure he had heard Antilles and Celchu say those horrible things, but still..........he wasn't sure that he had made the right decision....

There was a bright flash ahead of him and nine X-wings and a Lambda shuttle emerged from hyperspace. Rogue Squadron.

It was too late to go back on his decision......he would just have to see it out to the end and hope for the best.

"This is Commander Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron, to unmarked X-wing. Narska, is that you?"

Narska took a deep breath. "Yeah........it's me.........."

"Stang, Plo'kre, where the hell have you been? What happened to you?"

"......later, Commander.....my life support is running out." Which wasn't true, his X-wing was in prime condition, better than the Rogues probably. But the fighter he was in was also equipped with a device that simulated computer failures. While his systems weren't really failing, the Rogues had no way of knowing that.

"Of course.......the Lambda shuttle coming at you is going to open it's bottom hatch. You need to suit up and float inside."

`"Roger that, Lead," he said. But instead of suiting up he powered up his weapons systems. The Rogues wouldn't be able to detect the energy spike, though, the device installed in the X-wing cloaked such spikes. And his sensors said that none of the ships ahead of him had their shields up. They weren't expecting an attack........

As the Lambda shuttle edged closer Narska switched over to proton torpedoes and set it to duel fire. Lasers wouldn't do the job quick enough. After one shot the shuttle would have it's shields up and Narska would have wasted his opportunity. Two torps, however, would light up that shuttle in one attack.

Narska Plo'kre's hands were trembling as he rested them on the firing stud. This was it.......time to prove his loyalty to his squadron.......

Without so much as another thought he firmly pressed down the firing stud, sending two proton torpedoes lancing out towards an unsuspecting Lambda shuttle. The shuttle, with it's shields down, exploded in a brilliant ball of fire.

Now I'm committed to the path I've chose.......there is not turning back........

"Hah!" Seven erupted. "That's it, bet's over. Narska attacked the Rogues. Now Jen, if you could just deliver the Whyren's to my quarters ASAP then I'll..."

"Hold it, kid," she growled back. "He did not kill anyone from Rogue Squadron. He destroyed a support shuttle....big difference. The bet is still on."

Seven glanced at Reno for judgment. Reno nodded in Jen's favor and turned his attention back towards the upcoming dogfight. Seven frowned and looked away. On the view screen the Rogues had gone evasive and were trying desperately to gather their wits. Reno smiled. This should prove to be entertaining.

"Plo'kre, what the hell are you doing!" Narska Plo'kre had never heard Wedge Antilles so angry in all the time he'd known him. Seconds after the shuttle had exploded Rogue Squadron had gone evasive. Narska, however, had not. He powered up his engines and chased after the closest Rogue to him, which his computer identified as Rogue Eight -- Avan Beruss.

"I'm doing what should have been done long ago!" he yelled back. "I'm doing this to bring glory to the Bothan name."

"What are you talking a-" Narska cut the comm switch. He didn't need to hear Wedge Antilles crying in his ear, he had enough things to worry about.

Turning his attention back to Beruss, Narska let out a sigh. He had never liked Avan Beruss...the man had always gotten on his nerves. This was actually something he had wanted to do since the first time that he had met the human. Narska carefully put Beruss's snubfighter in the middle of his crosshairs. Suddenly the HUD went green............Narska hesitated. Not because he had any reservations about blowing up the X-wing in front of him, but he just needed to find somethi....ah, there it was. Smiling, Narska squeezed his fingers down and sent scarlet laser bolts through the back of Beruss's starfighter. The X-wing erupted, leaving bits of debris scattered in space.

Reno smiled. "Well, well, well," he sarcastically muttered. "It appears that our Bothan friend is loyal. And it appears that you, JeniViolet, owe us all some Whyren's. But that can wait. In my opinion Narska has proven his loyalty, but I don't want to leave any doubt in anyone's mind. So, should I send the signal or should I let him stay out there some more?"

"He's good," Thunder said. "A shuttle and an X-wing proves it to me."

"I trust your judgment in the matter, Master," Jace uttered. "If you say he is loyal, then he is loyal."

"I didn't even think this was necessary in the first place," Seven pointed out. "Get him back in here before he gets killed."

"I don't know....." Palin commented uncertainly. "I don't remember anyone doing a life scan on that snubbie. Could've been an automated drone ship or something."

Reno nodded. "Good point." Reno reached over and typed in a command on the terminal to his right. That terminal connected to the holocorder that was feeding them images of the dogfight. The machine could tell him whether or not the X-wings out there had humans aboard or if they were drones. He waited for several seconds while the computer analyzed the ships. Finally it gave a response. "According the my readings there is life aboard those ships, Palin. Narska vaped his own squad member."

Palin shook her head. "He vaped his old squad member. Bring him in, he's one of us now."

Reno smiled, then turned to JeniViolet. "Need I ask where you stand on the matter?"

Jen just looked at him sourly. Words weren't needed, he got the message quite clearly.

"Five on one, it seems. We win again. Captain Vanicus, send Narska the signal and tell him to get out of there."

"Of course, Lord Baron." Vanicus turned to his computer terminal and hit several buttons. The message would actually be send out to the holocorder, which would then be relayed to Narska's snubfighter. It should reach him almost instantaneously, though.

So it was really a big surprise when a minute later Narska Plo'kre's fighter was still in system, and still hot on the tail of another member of Rogue Squadron.

"What's wrong, Captain, why hasn't he hyped out yet? Didn't he get the signal?"

The captain nodded. "He recieved it, sir......he's just ignoring it."

Reno looked at the surprised faces of Sith Squadron. They now watched on with renewed admiration...maybe even respect. If that was the effect that Plo'kre was shooting for then he succeeded admirably. If he was just being stupid then....well, then he succeeded in that too. Either way he was most likely going to get himself killed.

Making the decision to not leave the battle zone had been one that had taken an extreme amount of guts. Most sane people in the galaxy would've hit lightspeed the second they got that signal. Narska had other plans, however. It occurred to him that one kill might not convince some of the Siths that he truly was on their side. It was best he stay and kill some more.

The next fighter he found had been identified as Rogue Four, a Tunroth by the name of Xarcce Huwla. Xarcce had actually been one of his better friends during his brief time with the Rogues. Her compassion and even temper kept him in control during times when he felt out of control. It was such a shame that her X-wing had a little red X on it's S-Foil servo actuator. Lining up his shot he quickly pressed the firing stud and sent the fighter into oblivion.

Two down. Still not enough.

He searched around and found two X-wings trying to bank behind him. One of the X-wings split to port while the other went to starboard. Which one to pick? Hmmm.....starboard. He put his crosshairs between the next X-wing, even though the fighter was out of firing range. Narska just wanted to get an ID check. His targeting computer identified his next target at Rogue Five........Wes Janson.

"Oh no he is not!" Jen erupted, while jumping up from her seat. She casually tossed Tyros aside and strode towards the view screen, as if her getting closer could actually have an effect on it. "If he vapes Janson I swear to Sadow I'll......."

"You'll do nothing," Reno finished flatly for her. "Now take a seat and take a drink. Just watch." Jen frowned then took her seat next to Tyros.

"That's much better."

Suffice to say that Wes Janson was much harder to shoot down than the other two. He had a lot more experience than either Xarcce or Beruss. But he was still going to go down, of that Narska was sure.

It was somewhat of an odd scene out there in space. You had Wes Janson's X-wing, which was being chased by Narska Plo'kre's X-wing, which in turn was being chased by the other six remaining X-wings in Rogue Squadron. Were Narska not being chased by half of Rogue Squadron he probably would've laughed at the situation. As it was he just kept a grim look of determination on his face and tried his best to take down at least one more member of Rogue Squadron.

Janson's X-wing had a little X on it, that was the first thing that Narska had checked. Janson dropped his snubbie in a tight little spiral that Narska easily imitated. During the maneuver he fired several shots, but none he actually intended to hit Janson with. He just wanted to remind the human that he was still right on his ass.

Janson emerged from the spiral and banked hard to the right. Narska once again copied the move and stayed right on Janson's tail. He fired several snap shots that exploded off of his rear shields. They didn't do any damage to the fighter itself, but it did weaken his ray shields. A couple more blasts and he ought to burn through.

Bam!

Several laser blasts exploded off of his rear shields and his R2 unit squealed at him the plainly obvious.

THERE IS SOMEONE SHOOTING AT YOU.

"I know, I know!" he yelled back. "Take all power away from bow shields and put them into the stern! Also, take away fifty percent from my lasers and pump them into engines." He needed to catch Janson....and he also had to worry about whoever it was behind him.

"R2, get a ID on that joker behind me."

IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED. IFF FREQUENCY INDICATES THE X-WING IS ROGUE LEADER, WEDGE ANTILLES.

"Figures," he muttered to himself. He could hype out right now and no one would think worse of him. Hell, he'd already stayed longer than he had to, but he wasn't done yet. He was not going to hype out of this system until Wes Janson's X-wing was nothing but debris floating dead in space.

The sudden burst of speed put a little distance between him and Antilles, and closed the gap between himself and Janson. Narska throttled forward as he saw red laser blasts shoot by his cockpit. Antilles was trying to scare him, make him juke and move directly into the path of a laser blast. Ain't gonna happen. He pushed the aging X-wing he was in to full throttle and leaned against his chair as the g-forces pushed him back. He had his inertial compensator on full....but it didn't seem to be working correctly.

When the gap between Janson and Narska reached two kilometers he opened fire on the Rogue. This time the shots penetrated the shields and exploded off of the hull of the X-wing. There was a small explosion near the rear of Janson's fighter and the two starboard S-foils blew off. His shot must've hit the actuator itself....the system overloaded and blew off the wings. Wes Janson was sitting dead in space.

Narska flipped the comm switch back to the Rogues channel.

".....eep him off me, Wedge!" he heard Janson yell.

"I can't get there, Wes!" Wedge hopelessly yelled back. "You're just going to have to eject!"

"I can't!" Wes protested. "My systems are fried! I can't even raise my shields!"

Narska switched over to proton torpedoes. Best just to make sure....He put Janson's dead fighter right in between his crosshairs. Narska didn't hesitate to fire when the HUD went green. Two proton torpedoes shot out of Narska's X-wing and with the bright flash Wes Janson's X-wing was sent into oblivion. The fighter blew apart and sent debris in all directions.

"Nooooooo-"

Narska hit the comm switch again and cut off Wedge Antilles anguished scream. That was his cue to leave. If facing an angry Wedge Antilles was considered suicidal, he really didn't want to face an outraged one. Narska was still very new to the Force and doubted he could concentrate enough to use it. Instead he just vectored off, fed the coordinates for the SSD into his nav computer, pulled the lever under his left arm, and sent his fighter hurtling into the safety of hyperspace.

Reno and the rest of the people on the bridge watched in silence as JeniViolet stared at the viewport, which hand long ago erased the image of a battlefield and replaced it with the vastness of space that sat in front of them. Who even knew what Jen was thinking. She had witnessed helplessly as Narska Plo'kre gave Wes Janson two torpedoes up his tailpipe. His fighter had been sitting dead in space.....

Plo'kre would arrive back at the SSD in about twenty minutes, it would take at least that long to get everyone assembled and down at the hanger bay. He would be ordered to dock inside the squadron's personal hanger....he was a member of the squad now.

The only real problem with that was JeniViolet. It seemed for a second that she might've warmed up a little and might eventually trust him. Then he had blown Wes Janson out of the sky and killed all hope of Jen ever accepting him. Hell, if it wasn't for the threat he placed on Tyros's life if Jen harmed the Bothan, then she would kill him the first chance she got. That wasn't going to happen, though, he would make sure of it. But in the meantime......

"All Siths report to the main hanger immediately," he yelled out. JeniViolet turned sharply and glared daggers at him. "All Siths."

She turned around and stalked off the bridge. In a few minutes Narska Plo'kre would revert to realspace and dock in the SSD. It ought to prove interesting to see everyone's response. Especially JeniViolet's. Well, better do it to it.

To Narska's surprise he had very few regrets. None, actually. What had happened to the Rogues they deserved. Three pilots had been lost: Avan Beruss, Xarcce Huwla, and Wes Janson. The loss of Janson would hurt the Rogues more than anything else. Janson had been with the Rogues since almost the beginning, shortly after Yavin. He had always been one of the best pilots in the group, one of the guys you could always count on to be there. And now....he wasn't there.

JeniViolet must be furious.

He was actually quite nervous to dock back on the SSD. If JeniViolet had her way Narska would be shot until he was dead, then she would clone him just so she could kill him again.

As the landing gear on his X-wing locked into position and his fighter touched down on the deck he though, Too late to worry about that now. Let's see what everyone thinks of me now....

Narska was happily surprised as he was met by clapping when he descended down the ladder the techs had pulled up to his fighter. All the members of Sith Squadron were present, even JeniViolet, though she didn't clap. Most of the technical staff was present, as was Tyros, Gimmer, and Nuprin. They were all clapping.

Out of the crowed strode the Lord Baron Reno, his black cape flowing gallantly behind him. The smile on his face evident. Behind him was ThunderingSilence, the squadron's Second-in-Command.

"Congratulations, Narska Plo'kre, you have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt what I knew all along....you are loyal."

"Of course, I told you I was."

"Yes, but now you've proven it to everyone else," Thunder put in, while reaching out her hand. "And you took down three Rogues in the process, including Wes Janson. Very honorable kills."

"Thank you," he said, grasping her hand and shaking it.

"Now, we have many things to go over before you start flying regular missions with us," Reno said, putting his arm around the Bothan's shoulder. "But that can all wait for another time. For now we drink! We drink until we cannot see straight or put together a complete sentence!"

The entire crowed assembled cheered wildly.

"Oh, uh, I don't drink, Lord Baron," Narska said.

That stopped everything. The entire assemblege turned and stared coldly at Narska, looks of astonishment on their faces. Half of them looked like they were about to draw their guns and shoot him dead, the other half ready to draw their lightsabers and hack him into little pieces.

"Just kidding!" he yelled out. Looks of relief washed over everyones faces and Reno smiled and shook his head.

"Plo'kre, you were two seconds away from being beaten to death. If there is one thing we do not joke about here it's drinking. I'll let you off with a warning this time, just don't let it happen again."

"Of course not, sir. Now, where's that bar?"

"Right over here, my friend. C'mon everyone, to the bar!"

Five hours later Narska Plo'kre stumbled down the hallway that led to his quarters. Five straight hours of drinking was new to him, but he was a quick learner. Another time or two and he would not even pass out. Most of the Siths were still at the bar. Lord Baron Reno and Captain Thunder were in the middle of another drinking contest, while Seven still tried to seduce Palin. Jace had retired to the training simulators two hours previous. JeniViolet had not even had the courtesy of showing up.

So it was much to Narska's surprise when he saw the Corellian woman standing outside his door.

For a long second he considered just walking by and finding a corner to sleep in, but then he dismissed it. This was his home now, whether Jen liked it or not. She was just going to have to learn to live with that.

He stumbled up to her and stopped about a meter away from her. "You're in my way, Jen," he pointed out.

"Look here, Bothan," she spat. "You may have fooled Reno and the others, but you haven't fooled me. I don't know what your game is, I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but I'm telling you right here, right now, that you're going to fail. I'll see to it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he stuttered.

"Of course you don't," she muttered sarcastically. "Reno warned me against touching you....but keep in mind that I have other methods...."

"Like.......wha......wh....." Narska felt his throat tighten and instinctively thrust his hands to his neck. He tried loosening his collar, even though he knew that wasn't the problem. JeniViolet was using telekenesis to tighten his trachea, cutting off the wind flowing through his wind pipe.

"No," he heard JeniViolet say. "I'm not using that old Force choke trick. Y'see, I have a unique gift, something not many Force-strong people have."

Narska dropped to his knees.

"I have almost no telekenesis whatsoever....I couldn't use the Force to close your windpipe if my life depended on it. What I can do, however, is much more interesting. I can project in image into your mind so strongly that you'll believe that it's true."

Narska's eyesight started to blur and he felt dizzy. Were he not already on his hands and knees he wouldn't fallen to the ground.

"For example," she continued. "Right now I'm projecting an image into your head of me using TK to do a Force choke. I'm not actually choking you, but the image is so strong that you believe I really am choking you. An interesting talent, no?"

Narska crawled to her feet, grabbed ahold of her pant leg and tried desperately to pull himself up. "P.....pl..............."

"What?" she asked. "Please let go? Please kill you right now and put you out of your misery? Please expose your treason? You're going to have to be more specific."

"Le........let go......." he managed.

JeniViolet sighed. "Very well," she said, while releasing the image she projected into his mind. Like a flood door to a dam being opened, wind rushed back into his trachea. His vision immediately got a little better, though he was still a bit lightheaded. He crawled over to the wall and propped his back against it. He slowly took several deep breaths, just to make sure he still could.

Above him JeniViolet reached down. She grabbed him by the fur on his head and made him stare directly into her ice cold eyes.

"Don't cross me, Bothan. That is just a sample of what I can do. If you cross us...if you betray us.....you will wish very much that you hadn't. Just a friendly warning, though. You have a good night sleep, now."

Then she turned and walked away, leaving Narska lying in a heap on the ground.

It took him about five minutes to drag himself to his feet and enter his quarters, which were less than a yard away from him. He dragged himself across his quarters and sat down in a chair that sat opposite of the comm station. He flicked a switch and turned the power on, but before sending out a message he took a small device out of his jacket pocket and attached it t the control panel in front of him. The small black box would hide the signal from the SSD's sensors....they wouldn't know there was an outgoing message. He knew that Reno was unaware of its presence, and frankly that as the way he wanted it. Narska turned the box on, then typed in the coordinates to a relay station out in Ord Trasi. He wasn't going to get a visual feed, only audio. But that was all he needed.

"Antilles, do you read?"

Because of the distance and the scrambler he had activated the signal was weak and somewhat distorted. He understood the jist of what the man was saying, though. "...his is Antilles. You....n Plo'kre?"

"I'm in," he confirmed. "Everything okay on your side?"

"....ine over...ere."

"Good, good," Narska said. "I was glad to see the X's on pointers. I didn't think you'd catch my reference to Exxtani."

"I...an't forge...hat....cindent." Extanni was a planet near the Rim that the Rogues had visited recently. It had also been Narska's first mission. It had been long and complicated, but in the end some of the Rogues had hidden in a building and used remote controls to fly their X-wings, while the other half was actually in the air flying. The robot X-wings were marked with red X's that had been painted on the Servo Actuator.

"So I trust everyone is alive and well?"

"Yes......they'r...n hidin.......anson didn....ant to but it wasn....is choice. Let him cry.."

"Yeah, he always was a big baby," Plo'kre laughed.

"Narska...you'r....oing the right...hing.......whatever Reno told y......"

"Don't worry, sir, there isn't any doubts where my loyalties lie. I told Reno that I was loyal, and that was correct. But I'm a Rogue, for now and ever. Nothing can change that, especially not a few fancy words and video evidence."

"I promi....tha.....you succeed I'll giv.....a medal....."

Narska laughed again. "I don't need medals, sir, the notoriety will suffice. But back to business. Phase One is complete, I've infiltrated Sith Squadron. They accept me. Now on to Phase Two."

"And what is that, Mad Bomber?"

Narska grinned and bared his sharp teeth. "My favorite part...........boom."