Chapter Nine

The Onslaught

Six Weeks Later…

On the Outer Rim planet of Jebble, tensions were very high. Everyone, it seemed, kept looking over their shoulder, expecting to see a Mandalorian solider bearing down on their dreaded war droids. There were no more smiling faces, no more happy times, the real Mandalorian War had finally started and everyone knew it. Especially the citizens of Jebble, who were very close to the breakout.

With every war that breaks out, there are those who will seek to profit from it. Everytime. Jedi Knight Aaryn Karsa, investigating the cause of the war, watched silently at the setting sun, its blue haze giving warmth the ice-world before its retreat. A cold wind blew across, causing him to shiver. The ice crunched under his boots, his eyes followed a pair of Duros that walked into the adjacent building.

“This is crazy, Aaryn.” Jove’s voice was almost a soft whisper. Aaryn glanced over at her, giving a smirk.

“I’m serious. Onderon has fallen, and we just saw on the holo-net that the Mandies have finally sprung their attack. Taris is under siege, and they’ve attacked Vanquo. They embarrassed the Republic Fleet. They are probably on their way to take this planet right now.” Jove put an edge into her voice.

“As soon as Maverick is finished, we’ll leave. I promise.” Aaryn looked back at the setting sun. A light snow began to fall on the capital city of Jebble. Not many people had faith that the Republic would save the planet from the inevitable invasion of the Mandalorians, so they packed up and left. In many ways, it reminded Aaryn of some sort of ghost city. There were some who decided to stay, hunker down, and hope for the best…but there wasn’t many. After a string of investigations, they had finally been lead to the ice-world. Maverick knew some contacts in the area that may be able to give some information.

“We can’t trust Maverick; we don’t know anything about him.” Jove folded her arms across her chest, gazing at the building across from the pair. The ‘Ice Cavern’ where Maverick had gone to talk with his supposed contact.

“I also don’t know much about you,” Aaryn muttered, glancing at her. She didn’t say anything in response, her eyes glazing over a bit as if she were remembering her past. “Look, I don’t trust Maverick that much either. I know he isn’t doing this for the Republic War Effort. No, he is doing this for himself. For some reason, it seems to be personal for him. He’ll come through.”

“Well, I don’t like it. I have a bad feeling about this, Aaryn. We need to leave this planet as soon as we can.” Jove shivered.

“We will as soon as we can, Jove. You knew what you were getting yourself into when you decided to come along, you can still leave you know.” Aaryn reminded her.

“I’m going back to the ship; it’s too cold out here.” She said, turning towards the ports. Aaryn sighed as he watched her walk away, every time he tried bringing up the question of why she decided to come along she avoided it. He turned back towards the open sky, the sun now gone, its last rays of light painting a beautiful and yet haunting picture in the sky. Jove was right; they needed to leave this place as soon as they could.

He looked back at the building Maverick was in, wishing he would hurry.

***

“You cheat!” Ta’sa exclaimed, standing up in frustration. Belo wiggled his trunk in a humorous gesture, a sign of laughter for the Ortolan.

“Calm down, Ta’sa, he isn’t cheating.” Vanuy snickered. The young Caamasi folded his arms across his chest, leaning back in his own chair. Ta’sa shook his head back and forth. Over the last few weeks, Belo had become the ship’s reigning champion in holo-chess.

“Whatever. Fine, you win, Belo. Are you happy?! I hope you are, because I’m never playing this game with you again.” Ta’sa shook his head and disgust. Belo laughed, holding his belly. Vanuy also joined in the laughter. Jove walked in, still brushing the last bit of snow from her jacket.

“They finished?” Ta’sa asked, a hint of frustration still coming through his voice.

“Not yet. But Aaryn said they should be done soon.” Jove shrugged, sitting across from them. “This is crazy. The Mandalorians are going to show up any second now, and that pitiful excuse for a taskforce above us won’t be able to stop them. The Republic just sent them to say they tried defending the planet.”

“Well, aren’t we just all sunshine and flowers today? Bleak, much?” Ta’sa frowned.

“I’m sorry,” She muttered. “I’m just not a big fan of the cold and stupid ideas.”

“I’ll agree on that one, this has definitely been one our least shining moments in brilliance.” Ta’sa commented.

“We’ve trusted Aaryn this far, I don’t believe he’d put us in harm’s way on purpose. He’ll lead us in the right direction, I’m sure of it.” Vanuy folded his arms, nodding his head.

***

The stars shined brightly down on Aaryn as he continued to rub his arms for warmth. He watched his breath trail out in the cold air, getting a sense of impending doom about this planet. Jove wasn’t Force sensitive, and she even felt the approaching danger. Aaryn could actually feel it in the Force now, like a building dread. Suddenly, his comlink beeped.

“Yeah?” Aaryn brought it up to his mouth.

“We’re all clear, and you might want to come in here for this.” Maverick said.

“Not good news?” Aaryn already knew the answer.

“Well, good news for the Mandies.” Maverick replied. Aaryn put away his comlink, giving the sky once last look before turning to head into the Ice Cavern tapcafe. Aaryn walked in, peeling away the hood from his head and looked around the dimly lit, and very warm tapcafe. It was not exactly what he was expecting to see here deep in the Outer Rim, but it was a nice change from the grungy, scoundrel filled cantina’s they’d visited in the last six weeks. He looked around, running his gloved hand to brush the hair from his eyes.

He spotted Maverick and a Rodian sitting together in corner of the facility. Aaryn made his way to the back, sitting down at their table. Maverick nodded to him as he sat, his gaze returning to the Rodian.

“Aaryn, this is Scav.” Maverick began.

“Scav,” Aaryn nodded. The bluish green alien nodded back, leaning against his seat.

“He’s an old friend of mine from a couple of jobs I did back on Ord Keel. He says he may know someone who might be able to tell us why the Mandalorians have decided to take a bite out of the Republic.”

“Are we sure this is reliable, Maverick? Our last few leads wound up a dead end.” Aaryn said. Scav said something in his native language, pointing at Aaryn as he did so. Maverick raised his brow as he spoke.

“He promises his own life that this person knows vital information that we’re looking for. He said if he was wrong, I could come back and kill him. I know Scav, and I know he definitely has no love for the Mandalorians…that’s for sure. I could never trust him with anything in my life, but I think he is actually telling the truth this time.”

“Alright, why is he telling us this?” Aaryn asked. “What does he want in return?”

“I already called in a favor he owed me for this one, so it’s free of charge.” Maverick gave a roguish smile.

“Who’s this person that we are supposed to see?”

“His name is Veed Primus, and according to our Rodian friend he is on the planet Taloraan”

“Well, I guess it’s my fault for hoping that the planet would be Telerath.” Aaryn sighed, standing to his feet with Maverick and Scav.

His comlink began to go off once again, a call coming in from an unknown frequency. He glanced over at Maverick and then answered.

“Hello?” He asked quizzically.

“Jedi Knight Aaryn Karsa?” The speaker sounded as if he had an air of authority about him.

“Who is this?”

“Is this Jedi Knight Karsa or not?” The voice asked back frustrated.

“Yes,”

“This is Capitan Harman of the Republic Fleet; we need your help son.”

***

Capitan Harman instructed Aaryn to report to the command station on the ground, titled the ‘Ice Citadel’. Apparently if you have built something on an Ice-planet, you must conveniently put the word ‘Ice’ in front of all of your buildings and establishments. Aaryn and Maverick stood in the almost abandoned command center, along with the last few remaining Republic soldiers. The soldiers seemed very ready to make their way to their ships and get off Jebble as soon as possible.

“They’ve already written this off as a loss,” Maverick said dryly.

“It sure does seem that way,” Aaryn replied, looking around the place. Hurriedly a Republic soldier approached the two.

“Right this way,” He bowed, showing them way to the holo-projecter. As they arrived in front of it, an image of Capitan Harman fizzled into the air before them.

“Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, I know you are on a very important mission for the Council.” Harman began.

“No worries, Capitan. What can I do for you?” Aaryn asked, though he thought he might already know the answer.

“I’m sure you saw on your way to the surface, we only have for Hammer-head class ships above the planet itself. Unfortunately it is not enough to counter the massive Mandalorian fleet heading this way. We believe they will use this planet as a staging theater for future operations. We understand that your ship, the Divinity, is well equipped for any battle that may arise…” Harman said.

“So you’d like use us to help in the battle?”

“Well, just long enough for our retreat from the planet.” Harman said matter-of-factly.

“Wait, you won’t even defend the planet? There are still innocent people down here!” Aaryn yelled. “They need to warned and get off planet!”

“Living this close to the Mandalorians during a time of war is a death-sentence anyway,” Harman said off-handily.

Aaryn didn’t here another word of what Harman said as he buckled over in pain. It was not psychical pain that he suddenly and violently felt, but a deep pain in the Force itself. It felt like a thousand crying voices, slowly dying and fading out. Maverick looked over at Aaryn as he fell to his knees.

“So much death!” Aaryn said, clutching Maverick’s arm. “So…much,”

Harman stopped speaking, an aide stepping in to whisper something in his ear. Judging from Harman’s horrified expression, something very bad has just happened.

“Reports are just coming through the holo-net, the Mandalorians have destroyed Serreco. They’ve…they have used nuclear weapons on every major city…” Harman trailed off.

Aaryn could still feel the dying of millions in the Force. How could it come to this? Alarms both in the Ice Citadel and in the background of Harman’s holo-projection. Harman snapped to attention, calling out orders on his ship. Harman looked back at Aaryn on the ground.

“If you are going to warn anyone, you better do it now Jedi. The Mandalorians are here.”