The Eenzaam screamed down through the atmosphere, flames engulfing the shields as the friction of the air burned against the energy force protecting the vessel. Quo knew that he would have to get low and fast to avoid being detected on the parliamentary warning system. Zooming down towards one of the massive oceans that covered over half the planet he knew that there was little chance of being spotted this far from the capital, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The locals didn’t take kindly to outsiders, and he didn’t want to cause any further problems than he was facing already.

Skimming down towards the surface of the ocean the Tie Oppressor left vapour trails as she dived like a swallow chasing insects. Levelling out with a tortured groan she was a matter of feet from the waves as they broke. Quo reduced his speed, no need to announce his arrival any more than he had done already. At least coming in from this far out should stop him being sighted by any viewers, or more than a couple at most from any ships or boats in the area. None were showing up on his scanners, so either there were none, or they were very small.

His course would take him over the holiday resorts if he went directly to the capital, so he had planned his route to avoid the recreational areas around the coral reef islands, instead going a round about route, a couple of hundred kilometres west of them. His approach to the capital itself would be easily done. He’d set down approximately five kilometres away from the city, and cover the last part on foot. He was glad he only had Marcus to rescue, there wasn’t enough room to carry more than one passenger on the Eenzaam.

The communication console in his accommodation had bleeped into life late last night, interrupting his meditations. Annoyed, he had gone over to the machine intending to turn it off and resume, however the flashing yellow alert marker had put paid to that thought. An emergency? And encrypted? Sitting before the console he used the retinal scanner, and a drop of blood to verify that it was him, along with a voice recognition logarithm to further secure his identity the system automatically decrypted the message. Marcus Kiriyu was in trouble, he had been undercover for the clan, and his cover had been blown. Sending out an extraction request was a last resort for Marcus, usually he would handle it with military precision and get himself out. Quo sent an encrypted reply, letting Marcus know that he was on his way, set to repeat every three hours.

Now, outside the city Quo had to cover the ground quickly, and find Marcus. He knew his last position from the details of the message to within a half kilometre radius. Kiriyu had been near fun end of the city, close to the marina, the casinos, the seedy bars. Quo tried to imagine Marcus in one of those, but the thought of the six foot plus Epicanthix with his military bearing and smug look didn’t somehow fit. Moving swiftly Quo soon covered the ground towards the edge of the urban sprawl. Working his way down to the harbour area his eyes were scanning every building, every person, every boat as he made his way around the wealthy playboy’s playground. He wasn’t specifically looking for Marcus, although that would make life a lot easier, he was looking for signs. When Marcus sent the extraction call he should also have left a signpost, a clue as to what was happening, if he had followed standard operating procedure.

Then he spotted it. On edge of the pavement there was a series of three nicks in the plascrete. A normal passer by would have missed it, even an experienced operative would have struggled to distinguish those marks from any other set of marks made by a heavy object being dragged across the slabs. These marks weren’t parallel though, gouge marks generally are. Looking up as he continued walking Quo took in the building opposite in a single fleeting glance. So that was where he had been. Whether he was still there was debatable, probably not thought Quo..... however...... there were two of the rooms in that building that had their windows unrefracted against the sunlight. Turning as if he was looking back along the path he had just taken. One of them had a light on, the other lay in darkness. It would be too easy to be spotted from inside the lit room. The dark one would give cover, or there was simply nobody home.

Making his way across the street he passed beneath an awning protecting the foot traffic from the worst of the elements, and protecting him from the view from the darkened room. Using the crowds that were there revelling in the facilities, drinking and eating the finest of foods on the café fronts. Quo rounded the corner of the target building and with a burst of acceleration disappeared around the back, moving faster than any watching eye could keep up with., cloaking himself with the Force to gain entry. Moving slowly and deliberately he made his way to the service elevator, and keyed in the fourth floor, mentally mapping the layout of the building as he went. He had to concentrate, not only to maintain the cloak, but to avoid bumping into any of the workers that were carrying out their day to day jobs.

Approaching the front corridor of the building, making no sound as he went, he held his back to the central wall. Peeking around the corner Quo took it all in in a couple of seconds. Two security force personnel stood either side of the door. So there had been something here. Quo moved from the cover of the corner, approaching the guards with stealth. The door between them was shut, so they were either guarding something, or imprisoning something. Quo had to make a decision. Stretching out with his senses he probed the space behind the door. He could feel something , but couldn’t make out who or what it was.
Quo reached out to the minds of the guards, fogging their minds, slowing their reflexes and causing bewildering confusion. Using this as his cue he struck twice, rendering both of them unconscious. Moving quickly he caught the falling forms in an attempt to prevent whoever was behind the door from being made aware of his presence. Laying them down on the floor Quo approached the door, ear gently skimming the surface as he sought for any sound from within. Silence. Quo looked at the door trying the handle with his left hand. It opened easily, a gentle push opening it fully. Two slugs hit the far wall. Quo rolled into the darkness, another shot grazing his shoulder, passing through the material of his tunic. As his feet found the ground beneath him Quo flipped forwards, arcing high, towards the window, a twist landing him four centimetres away from it, the shooter framed in the light from the corridor.

Watching the shadow Quo saw him roll his body to the left, attempting to train his weapon on the Dark Jedi to make a killing shot. The room illuminated as the ‘Snap, hiss, whum’ of the ignition was followed by a shallow arc, taking the shooter in the mid part of his arm, a crescent of blood lit by the crimson glow of the blade. Leaping for the door Quo activated the lock, and set the opacity of the windows to their highest setting before lighting the glow globe.

“And that is what you call stealth is it?” Marcus chided. Quo approached him, removing the binders from his wrists and ankles that were securing him to the bolted down workstation.

“It worked didn’t it?” Quo quipped, “and you call yourself an under cover operative do you?”

“I was double crossed, the First Order had got here before me, and they knew I was coming. We have to get back and let them know. We can’t even be sure that our encryption is secure any more. Locke will have some tough decisions to make”
Picking up his gear, he checked the room. Reaching down he twisted the head of the groaning gun man on the floor, a ‘crack , crunch’ stopped the groaning. “They’ll be needing a new head of security,” said Marcus before heading for the door, Quo following closely behind.

“Don’t you think I should lead?” Quo asked, “seeing as how only I know where I parked?” A slight lean of Kiriyu’s head assented.

Within the hour they were stowing their gear into the Eenzaam, it would be a tight squeeze, but at least they would be on their way home. Quo retraced his entry route, no point in attracting anyone’s attention to their departure. The severity of the climb giving Marcus a chance to comment upon Quo’s piloting skills as well, likening the whole experience to a journey through a Rankor’s alimentary tract. Neither of them commented on the First Order, the security breech, or the possibility of there being a traitor. That could wait until they were safely back in the Orion system. That’s when the real discomfort would begin.

Yavin IV. A place infamous throughout history. Steeped in the Lore of the Galaxy. With the remnants of the first Death Star scattered in the orbit of the planet, the skies above glinted with parts of the massive space station revolving above the atmosphere, the occasional piece descending through the atmosphere in a halo of fire, shooting stars marking their death knoll.

Quo stood near the ruins of an ancient temple, once the home of the Rebellion fighter base. Overgrown with tendrils and boughs of massive trees, the jungle reclaiming its own as the years progressed. Hard to believe that nearly forty years ago this had been the site of one of the most influential battles in Galactic history.

“Readings?” He said to his squad leader, Captain Relg. The tall, human soldier was staring intently at the information screen on his portable scanner.

“Nothing out there as far as I can tell from these readings. Are we confident that this is where they were?” He turned to Quo sharply, aware suddenly that he had questioned the Sith’s judgement. His body tensed, expecting to have his wind pipe crushed, or some other part of his anatomy. A look from Quo sent a shiver down his spine. He instinctively averted his gaze, suddenly very interested in the information coming from the machine he held in his hands.

Quo strode forward, his mind doing its own scanning through the Force. There was something out there. He could feel it. Dark, cold, and used to hiding. He admired this thing, it was a hunter, a stealthy one. “This is the area, and there is something here, I have felt its presence.”

Following him, Relg double checked his scope, still nothing. “It’s not showing on my scanner Sir, not yet anyway. OK everyone, ready status.” The rest of the squad checked their weapons, a plethora of clicks and snaps as their weapons were cocked and readied. ”Move out, squad formation Victor two seven.”

Falling into position around the Zabrak and their commander, the circle of the five other troopers formed a chevron. “Check your arcs, and zero comms chatter,” Relg ordered.

Making their way through the dense forest every one of them was on high alert, even Quo who was fingering the pommel on his lightsaber. Some three clicks from their muster position they finally came in sight of the entrance to the towering edifice of the temple like structure. From their vantage point some eighty meters from the entrance Quo could see the devastation in the clearing outside. Several battle speeders were reduced to twisted masses of metal and plexiglass, bodies and body parts strewn around the plaza before the huge entrance doors.

“Still nothing, Sir,” Relg reported, ”but what the hell could have done that?”

“I don’t know, but our job is to find out, and that’s what we’ll do.” The Zabrak was scanning the plaza for any sign of movement through a set of viewers. There are no blast patterns he though to himself. The scene was one of utter destruction, as if a divine wind had swept across the surface. Everything down there was crushed, twisted, mangled, and deposited in piles of debris, as if a giant hand had simply crushed them into pulp, even the personnel unlucky enough to be in its path.

“Spread out,” Relg ordered his small group, “watch and shoot, watch and shoot”

“Let’s move down, without attracting any unwanted attention,” Quo said to the Captain, “we need to get closer. But stay in cover”

The closer they got the eerier it got. No birds sang. The whole area was blanketed in a dome of silence, the animal sounds coming from far in the distance. Quo and Relg both knew that there had once been a squadron of fifty men, with two battle tanks, and a handful of speeder bikes here. Nothing recognisable remained of the hardware. It looked as if it had been dropped from a great height, much akin to a aircraft accident. Parts of disassembled machine lay in a debris field that stretched away to the edge of the clearing. The team sat at the perimeter, their faces a mask of disbelief at the scene that confronted them.

Bodies had been shredded. There was not a single recognisable body amongst them. Bits of arms, legs, torsos, and assorted viscera were splattered around the plaza, even up the face of the walls and the magnetic doors that sealed the monolithic structure. They stayed concealed in the shrubbery that skirted the open square, every eye scanning the vision, keeping alert for any indication of whatever had caused all this destruction. Even in the dark the carnage was evident.

“Near the doors, Sir.” Relg gesticulated the object of his interest. About twenty feet from the doors was a pile, resembling an ancient cairn. This was no cairn of stone work however. It was a cairn of human heads, perfectly arranged, the rictus stare of each of them a mask of terror. Every one of them had had any hair that they may have had in life had been removed, they were a statue of grotesquery, both in proportion and subject.

Relg’s squad were nervous. Quo could not only feel their tension through his connection to the Force, but by the tightening of their grips on the weapons they were aiming across the expanse of the open courtyard. Small creaks gave away the soldiers response of pulling their weapons tighter into their shoulders. The atmosphere was almost palpable.

“Drexxy, Millet, move to cover, I want triangulated fire at the middle of that monstrosity. Tergo and Pell, arcs left and right of centre, thirty degrees. Burl, you’re with me.” Relg arranged his troops to cover as much of the area in front of them as possible with his limited team. Travelling light had its advantages at times, but he wished he had some heavy weapons to back them up right now. He scanned his team, ready to go at Quo’s orders. Relg and Burl were crouched, waiting to go on Quo’s orders.

Sensing no immediate threat Quo motioned the team forwards. Relg and Burl moved low and fast over the ground, taking cover behind the debris as they pepper potted towards the obelisk of heads, constantly scanning for attack.

Burl broke cover, only ten meters until he was on top of the dark column of his former comrades, close enough to be able to make out individuals that he knew. The smell was sweet, almost sickly, with the massive stone slabs of the courtyard both slick and sticky from the blood and other fluids that had covered it. From his vantage point Relg covered him. From the middle of the perverted altar came a mist, a dark smoke, rising, curling into the air about a meter above the ground. Within seconds the mist had thickened becoming an opaque shadow that struck out enveloping Burl totally as he approached. The black sheath covered him completely, bulging around the big soldier until he was totally obscured. As suddenly as it had developed it disappeared with a ‘Schlup’ sound, parts of the soldier being dissipated in every direction. Nothing remained of Burl but a splattering of meat ejected from where he had stood. His weapon clattered to the ground a couple of yards away from Relg, twisted and mangled beyond recognition. He never fired a round, nobody had. The dismay was palpable.

“Fall back Relg!” Quo shouted the order towards his Captain. Relg hesitated, glancing left and right, his body pulsing with adrenaline. “Now Relg!!”. The Captain turned, covering the ground towards Quo’s position. Three meters from the cover of the forest a column of smoke snaked out like a black arm, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. Encircling the Captain in a grip of darkness, he was eliminated from view before he could make it to the jungle.

Quo struck out with an outstretched arm, lightning erupting from his fingertips, the whole of his pride and anger flowing into the effort. Sparks danced across the couple of meters to the enveloping fog, illuminating it from the inside. Faintly he could make out Relg, being torn apart, piece by piece. There was no noise, and the oppression of the darkness on Quo’s mental capacity was almost overwhelming. He knew the Dark Side, revelled in it in fact, but this was different, elemental, primeval. It was like a raw animal feeling, feral and lacking in conscience, like a base emotion, but concentrated into a physical force.

It touched Quo’s consciousness, and Quo pushed back, probing for a weakness. His ministrations of the Force seemed to distract the entity, releasing it’s grip on Captain Relg, ejecting it from its sphere of control. Relg landed twenty meters away, with a sickening thud, his head hitting the plascrete surface, smashing like an egg as it impacted the unforgiving surface, his brains escaping in a mush of grey and red.

The entity probed back and Quo could feel its tendrils entering his brain, tasting this interesting thing that was before it. Quo emptied his mind, allowing it freedom to meld with his mind, allowing it access to his very core. He must know the source of this power. He had to find a way to destroy it, or harness it. Yes. Opening his mind fully to it he enveloped it with his own consciousness, feeling the dark power surging through him, like a dark electricity it charged through every synapse in his brain. He fizzed with the glory of it, accepting it as his own, becoming symbiotic with the newly found malevolence. He could feel the raw consciousness joining with his own, fuelling his lust for greatness within him.

Quo was shattered, but ecstatic. It felt like hours since the being had first made contact with him. From the outside there was no difference to behold. The mist had killed their captain, and merely brushed against the Zabrak Sith before dispersing on the breeze. The troopers were still en guarde, however the cloying atmosphere was gone. Even the humans could feel the change.

Pell was still next to him, covering the area, still shocked at Burl and the Captains deaths. “Is it gone, Sir? Did you get destroy it?” The young soldier looked shell shocked, staring at their leader.

“It’s gone from here. Regroup, and we’ll go home.” Quo turned and set off back to the rendezvous point, a twisted smile on his face.