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(7.21) Transitions
(7.21) Transitions
Cheel's Record Studios
The Kingdom of Lorta
Mid-Rim World of Lorta
7th September, 1938
Welcome to Cheel's Records. One of the largest labels on Lorta and well known for finding some of the hottest stars and starlets across the region. Here dreams are made or lost at the slide of the controls. With some of the finest furniture shipped in from across the galaxy lining the large five story building, many would easily mistake the studio's humble beginnings. It was Tedn Cheel who founded the record label to help young new stars to break in to the industry. With the ear of a master businessman, Mr. Cheel has been able to spot some of the best talent out there. With his business model in mind, Mr. Cheel had been known to take risks that has cost him fortunes in the past. However, from these risks he has been able to find silver, gold and platinum. In the industry across the region, the name Tedn Cheel has been known as the Dream Maker. The walls of his studios bare witness to the hard work of the performers under his label. Large silver, golden and platinum disks lined these walls and told the story of this producer's brilliance as a media master mind. Like most days, the studio is a buzz with activity as artists of all walks of life work hard day in and day out to hone their skills and master their dreams. All of them, hold stars in their eyes as they reach ever higher for that golden dream that is called Stardom. Each filled with hope, promise and excitement over the simple fact that here they are. Working side by side with the man known as the Dream Maker.
Though not all upcoming stars here have the same level of excitement. In studio 3A, five members sit at their stations puring their hearts in to their music as two young Twi'leks blind their voices together in near prefect harmony. The male Twi'lek names Ar'stel held his eyes closed as he felt through each note, each move of the song. Never missing a single beat of the music, this was his chance and he was not about to loss it. The female Twi'lek however, her heart was not in the song. Her eyes half opened, her thoughts focused on the moment instead of the song. Her heart seemed to be lost somewhere between her dream and the moment. Within the eyes of the musical artiest, the frustration over Dia's lack of focus was clearly seen. Their disappointment in Dia's performance didn't help Dia's ability to focus on the song. The song was the problem. It was not one her of own and was not the style that she wanted to sing. Even though she attempted to put her heart in to the song that didn't seem to fit who she was. Dia turned to face the large window that divided the studio she was singing in and the engineer's control room where they were actually working through the recording of the song. It was not that she liked or disliked the song, it just was not her. This is what was causing Dia the most disappointment within this recording. Beyond the glass, watching her was Mr. Cheel. His large black eyes and milky white skin was common for his Bith race. He shook his head once more as it was clear that Dia was not giving her full to the song.
Still Dia was not happy over the events of the last week. The performance was one of the ages. Dia put her heart and soul in to it and felt like it was her best ever. Sure the stage act was far from what she had hoped for, but that was not her fault. It was after all the lack of help from the stage manager which is the reason why her stage act was not on par with her singing. But her singing however, was by far the one of the best of the night's performances. One would have thought that based off of her performance on stage that the Managers and Producers would have beaten a path to Dia's door. In fact, Dia had already had her dreams of stardom filling her eyes before the night was over. She couldn't even sleep that night as she waited for the reviews and the calls for interviews. Surely this was her moment. That night she laid out the songs for her first album, that she would dedicate to her Father. She even wrote a new song in honor of this moment. She even worked on her acceptance of her first contract. This was surely her moment in history and she was ready to take full opportunity of it.
The reality of the situation was much more painfully different than what Dia had expect. In fact, the morning paper didn't even hold a single image of Dia or a review of her performance the night before. Dia's despair almost got the best of her when she saw that the headlines of all of the news papers were of Lut Sha's arrest by bounty hunters. Somehow the story had leaked out and now was headlining across Lorta. Not one paper that Dia could find was not running the story on the front page. There were pictures of her in her Palace Uniform talking of how much of a great job Sha had done in such a short time. The stories of how now she was to be taken off world to face charges on some obscure world across the galaxy. The rest of the front pages spoke of Sha's performance as Head of Security within the Palace Guards and the professional work that she had done in undermining the RAH activities on Lorta. The stories of how Sha had saved the Reich singer Alizee were filled with grandstanding and luster that was common with Sha. There were opinion pieces written about the outspoken and brave Tess'Shar, calling her the next Joff of Lorta. It was of no sense of comfort to Dia that her name was only mentioned on page sixteen as a reference to an upcoming star who performed the night before. Worse yet, they spelled her name wrong!
Despite this, Dia held her hopes high and waited for those calls that she knew were coming to come. And on day two, just one of those calls finally did come. She was visited by a manager who claimed to make Dia a star over night. He talked a very good game but Dia saw right through his behavior and understood that he could not deliver on his promises. She might be young but she wasn't stupid. Perfectly as her father had taught her, Dia was polite and listened to the man. Once he was done with his pitch, Dia politely asked the guards to escort him out. There were a few tense moments but Dia was never concerned for her safety as Makaw's orders still stood and her guards ensured that she was safe at all times. By day four, Dia felt her heart sank she started to feel like she had made a mistake in this endeavor. It was growing harder for her to hold on to that dream, but she still did hold on. She would do what ever it takes to make hers a reality. There was nothing that was going to stop her from achieving her goals. Her hopes and patiences were rewarded late in the evening of day four. She got a phone call from a Mr. Cheel asking her to come down to his studio to meet with him and talk about a possible contract. He gave her a time and warned her of being late. Dia would make sure that she would be there over an hour early.
They talked some and he seemed pleasant enough though Dia could sense that this guy was the kind of man that didn't take any crap from anyone. It was clear that he wouldn't take crap even from his own performers. He asked her to sing a few songs for him and she felt that she sang rather well, though she could not tell if he was impressed or not. He had to have enjoyed what he heard, because he offered her a contract. The terms were pretty complex but what Dia could understand, the over all value of the contact would be seven million credits. With a half buy out clause prior to the end of the second year of the five year contract. Dia would receive five percent from record sales, twenty percent from live performances. He would agree to produce six full albums and a unlisted number of singles on her behalf. What Dia didn't like within the contact was the fact that the record label would own all music that Dia would preform while under their label. She was more unsettled by the fact that the contract didn't mention anything about buying her songs back from the record label once she was no longer under them. She did like the idea that the record label would advertise her name and get her music out to the masses. Heading back to her room in the Palace, she felt almost as if she had been beaten in to submission during the negotiations. However, if this is what it would take to break in to this industry, Dia would take it. After all, she had her own music and her and her father's message would get out. Funny how fate had other plans for young Dia.
The very next day, a pair of women showed up at the Palace to meet with Dia regarding her first single. It was a bit faster than Dia had expected but this was the nature of the business, Dia thought. Dia greeted them with a pleasant manner and a broad smile on her face. This was it, her first single and her first real move in to the music industry. However, Dia felt like someone had slammed their fist right in to her gut as they handed her the song that she was to sing. For the first time in Dia's life, she actually felt like she had sold her soul to the Dark Lord of the Music Industry. This song was not her own work. Someone else had written it and she was being asked to sing it. It took all of Dia's willpower to keep the smile on her face till they left. Dia set down and read the song's lyrics. She couldn't deny that they were good and that over all the song was well written. It just wasn't her song and more importantly it wasn't who she was. The song was very up beat, the words were near comical as Dia read them. The real question was, could Dia stomach singing such a song. This might actually be her breaking point. She had two days to master the song and be ready to record it back at the studios.
The night passed uneventful for Dia as she set out on her balcony thinking of this horrible song. The set back actually had her in tears as she thought of her own music. She couldn't help but consider why her own music was not good enough for them. Why they had chosen this one song to be her first mass produced song. She had hoped to be more than just an entertainer. She wanted to bring deep thought to the masses through her songs. She wanted to be a lighthouse during these dark times. She wanted to be that messenger that her father kept saying she was going to be. The end of the first day, she had a visit from Mr. Cheel who was not pleased that Dia had not bothered to study her song. At first the conversation was more cordial however the more Dia dug her heels in, the more negative the tone turned. Mr. Cheel laid it out for Dia, that he was taking a chance on her. That this was not the only song that she could produce with him. However, it will be the first or none at all. He left her faced with this choice. Be ready tomorrow or not at all. Dia once more felt that fist in the gut and she retreated to her balcony once more. She was forced to consider her future and her career. Dia felt as if she let her beloved father down and was convinced that she had in fact sold her soul. Still, Dia would be ready to record the song, even if it meant breaking her own heart. At least she would try to sing it.
The speaker in the room kicked on once more as the music came to a stop. “Dia” Mr. Cheel said softy, “Where is the passion that I heard a few nights ago. I want to be able to hear this same passion in your voice as you sing this song.”
Dia sighed as she heard the frustration from her support musicians behind her. She brushed off their grumblings, “My passions came from the songs that I wrote” Dia said with disappointment in her voice. “Those songs were my passion. This song is the passion of a Neanderthal.”
“Dia, a Neanderthal might have written that song full of passion. But I can assure you that this song will be on the charts by the end of the month. I can not assure you the same for some of the songs that you sang the other night. Still you have a voice that rings like bells at the cathedral. I know you don't like this song Dia. But this is the song you must sing for now. You have to learn to bring passion in to your work even if you don't like that work.” Mr. Cheel explained hoping to get Dia out of her bratty mood and on track with the recording.
Dia stepped forward towards the large window, “It is hard to have passion when I know that I will not be taken for a serious artist.” She paused to think of what to add and finally found what she was looking for. “I feel like I am insulting my own intelligence by singing these lyrics.”
Dia could easily see the anger on his face, “Dia . Do you know what a Black Star in the music industry is?” he asked and not waiting for a reply. “A Black Star is a singer whom no one is willing to work with because of their unreasonable demands” He said slowing rising out of his chair. “Look around, Dia. That is six thousand credits an hour that we are wasting so you can argue with me about a song you don't like.”
Dia was starting to get upset as she spoke, “Is it so unreasonable to want to sing a song that was written by someone who had reason in their mind.” She paused once more, “Whom ever wrote this nursery rhyme, lacked reason.”
“Lacked reason?” Mr. Cheel asked. She could also hear her own band members sighing once more at the disruption, “Dia, can you answer me something? Tell me love, how many songs have you produced that made it to the top?” He was filled with confidence and was also sure of what this answer would be. He didn't bother to wait for her answer once more. “It is my job to take you to the top. You will do the performances for sure, but you must trust my experience in this.” He set back down, “Dia I can make you a star, if you will let me.” he added.
Dia didn't back away from the window, “You came to me because you saw my performance. Why did you come to me if my music was not good enough for you.” Dia asked demanding an answer.
Mr. Cheel raised his hands, “Your music was fine. Not worthy of praise or condemnation, but fine. It was your voice that I truly was drawn to.” He said in truth. “ Dia you have to play to your audience. They will not like some of your work. Trust me, I was in the crowd that night. I saw the reaction on their faces. Yes in the moment they were filled with your energy. However that kind of energy fades fast on most consumers. You need music that will call to them and beckon them to you.”
Dia's shoulders slumped once more as if she had been told that everything of who she is was not good enough. She turned to face the mic as it stood in the center of the room. The eyes of the band members' were still watching her every move and in that moment Dia let out a sigh of defeat. 'To you, my soul. Dark Lord' she thought in despair of the man just beyond the glass. She walked back to the mic as if she was walking up the steps of the gallows to her pending execution. Her heart sank deeper and deeper with each step as the mic came closer. Her hand reached out for the mic and she noticed it slowly shaking. She was about to betray her own heart once more. Her mind was made up, she would sing this horrible nursery rhyme. In the distance, Dia heard the soft shattering of her heart. The music started once more as her co-singer cued her in to the song. Dia sang this horrible song with best of her ability. With each lyric that slipped passed her lips, she could see the pride on her father's face give way to disappointment in his eyes as he watched her sell out.
After almost two days of attempting to record this one single, finally the song was recorded to a level that Mr. Cheel would approve it. It took them hours of over time which only made the relationship between Dia and her fellow band members that much more strained. Still, the song was finally recorded. The play back for Dia was that of mixed emotions. She hated the song to her core, but she couldn't deny her own success in singing it. She nailed the performance as best as possible. Long after the rest of the band had packed up and left, Mr. Cheel walked up to Dia and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry love, you might not love it. But trust me, they will. I have been in this industry long enough to know a good match when I hear it. You have the voice and this writer has the skill needed. With her songs and your voice, you will be a star in no time.”
Island of Reg'al
Southern Hemisphere
Outer Rim World of Cyout
7th September, 1938
The rain had been falling for six days none stop and Colonel Jaro Bek had just about as much of this shit hole little world than he could take. The tall, strong and intimidating Arkanian was the commander of Ruzz Boyz, one of the finest mercenary battalions within ranks of the Mercenary Star. As his eyes scanned over the small hill top that they had turned in to a defensible position, he couldn't help but take pride in his men for what they had been able to achieve despite the situation at hand. He knew that his unit had a bad reputation for bending many of the rules of warfare. However, that didn't change the fact that the Ruzz Boyz got their work done no matter the cost. When it came to mission success ratios, no one could hold a light to the Ruzz Boyz. 'Not even those damn Vixens were on par with my boyz' he thought as he looked over the fox holes that littered the hill top. They took on the hard missions that no one else wanted. It was these hard missions that gave the Ruzz Boyz their bad reputation. There were the kind of missions that the moral lines between right and wrong were badly grayed. Still, someone had to do these missions. So it was up to units like his to take on these missions and complete them.
It was this reputation that got the Ruzz Boyz the attention of Fas'its with a special operation. It was a two part mission that called to assist in the removal of a unjust world leader, but before that the capture and removal of some rogue Jedi and their slaver allies off of a world that was important to Fas'its. The details were pretty much on par with what the Ruzz Boyz were normally used to. With the contract price nearly fifty percent higher than the premium cost for the Ruzz Boyz, Colonel Bek didn't give the contract a second thought as he signed it. The contract seemed pretty cut and dry and the pit stop on the world of Cyout was not supposed to last longer than a week. Then they were going to be on their way towards Lorta to assist with the removal of the soon to be crowned King. There was nothing that warned Colonel Bek that something was amiss about the contract or the details within it. Still something didn't sit right with Colonel Bek about this shadow company called Fas'its or their interest with Lorta or Cyout. However, it would not be first time that the Ruzz Boyz were hired by a shadow employer. Colonel Bek understood that some employers wanted to remain off the official records. He hoped that this mission would be as cut and dry as the contract. Everything changed once they arrived on world.
Originally this leg of the mission was only to be a simple mop operation of some rogue Jedi and Slavers. Normally Jedi and Slavers avoided direct combat with mercenaries, so Colonel Bek was not expecting much in terms of combat. Fas'its provided Colonel Bek with good detailed information regarding the Jedi encampment and the scope of their area of control on Cyout. Based on the information, Cyout was a extreme primitive world with a limit population on a large continent far from the site of the Jedi encampment. The Jedi Encampment was located on a large tropical island in the southern hemisphere of the world. There were reports of a number of Jedi ships that had been seen operating in the area. However, based on the intelligence these ships should not cause the Ruzz Boyz any problems during the over all operation. According to the contract, Fas'its has mining interests on the world and needed the Jedi captured or driven off the world. The contract demanded that the conflict be limited to the large island of Reg'al to protect the employer's interests elsewhere on the world.
Colonel Bek and his Ruzz Boyz, which were made up of slightly over seven hundred battle harden troops, landed at a secure landing site in the middle of the night. Like the professional army they are, they off loaded their gear and set up a security perimeter. Here, Colonel Bek left one of his combat companies to protect their transport and the three remaining companies would move on the Jedi encampment. Due to the terrain of the island, the unit was forced to leave their heavy armor behind. Colonel Bek decided to use his ten heavy tracked tanks as part of the security perimeter on their transport. After about an hour, the three combat companies were ready to march on the Jedi. Colonel Bek wrote in his journal that he would hope that they would be able to complete their mission here before the coming rains which he noted seeing on the horizon. He led his troops from the front as they marched on the Jedi encampment just over twenty kilometers away. Colonel Bek had planned that they would march all day towards the encampment and arrive just after nightfall and be able to assest the situation before launching their attack on the Jedi. His plan was well thought out and took all the intelligence he had in to account. However, it was what he couldn't have possibly planned for, that would turn this mission on its ear.
There were hit and run raids conducted throughout the day as the unit march through the thick jungle island. Colonel Bek at first thought that these raids were conducted by the Jedi, though as the hours passed, it was starting to become clear that these raids were not carried out by Jedi. As detailed in his journal, these raids were carried out with a level of skill previously witnessed by Jedi or their slaver allies. Not one raid yield a single body from the attackers. They would fire a short round of burst fire, wounding and killing only a few of his troops. Then as suddenly as they would appear, they would vanish back in to the jungle. At first the raids were conducted against his front elements of his column, then as the day grew on, the raids were conducted up and down the full length of his column. By mid day, the raids had push the frustration up so high that one of his scout unit broke ranks with the column to give pursuit of the raiders. It would be the last time the scout unit would be heard from. Something was going terribly wrong and already Colonel Bek was starting to have second thoughts about this mission. These raids were not the likes of criminals, Jedi or otherwise.
Colonel Bek's fears were confirmed when they reached the bluff that over looked the Jedi encampment. From here, they were to plan the assault on the encampment. However from their advantage, they saw that the encampment had been decimated already. The encampment was the size of a small town with a large five meter metal wall that surrounded the site. Guard towers lined the walls as well as throughout the site. On the far side of the site was a large slave market and training area. They could even make out fields used for growing food and pastors for live stock. A number of small wells provided the encampment with fresh water. There was a small area that could be used for a landing site but it was not reinforced. Colonel Bek knew that his own transport would be too heavy for the soft ground of the landing site. The last thing he wanted was to become trapped on this island while they dug his ship out. The site was just how the intelligence had reported. Everything was right were it was supposed to be. Still, from the bluff they could see the level of death and destruction that littered the encampment.
The encampment had been hit hard by what appeared to be an overwhelming force. Of the Jedi and Slavers at the site, they were all killed. Colonel Bek walked through the encampment searching for answers. The dead had been left where they had fallen during the brutal battle. Normally he would hold no remorse for Jedi and their Slaver allies. However this scene demanded his remorse. Many were murdered in their sleep near the beginning of the battle. What also startled him was that even slaves, children and livestock were all killed. The scene offered a wide range of clues about the attackers without actually identifying them. They were highly organized, equally trained and very motivated to this battle. Their numbers were hard to estimate but it would appear that there were around a hundred or so attackers. Still to take on such a sight, Colonel Bek estimated the actually numbers to be much higher than that. The wounds were a mix between some kind of bladed weapon and ballistic weapons. The attackers wore some kind of powered heavy battle armor which told Colonel Bek that they were at least biped beings. Possibly humans or near humans in race. Based on what he saw, he ruled out Reich Army as the tactics didn't fit the scene. The water supply, as well as the food stores within the encampment were all poisoned. This made them useless for future use. An act that only would make sense much later.
Colonel Bek would record this action in his journal by the statement, “This was no military action, this was nothing short of an eradication of these people.” Judging by the what he was looking at, the attack happened just over a week before the Ruzz Boyz made landfall on world. Even more questions were added to this mystery. With a mountain of evidence, Colonel Bek was surprised that they could not put even a name or organization to who was responsible for this attack. He had his people record everything that they could find. Colonel Bek wanted to make sure that nothing was missed. He knew the importance of a new player on the field and that this was not going to be the last time this unit would be seen. He ordered two of his companies to start to secure the perimeter and get the site secure. The last company would maintain security over watch while the site was being secured. Then company commanders were let their people rest during the night. They would hold here over night and figure out what was going on. By the light of the morning they would decide what to do next.
By the light of the morning, the clouds were starting to darken the skies over head. As the light started bring new clues, scouts reported tracks of possible survivors from the attack. With the site now secured and the guard towers all manned, there was a level of safety felt over the site. Colonel Bek decided to use the site as a base of operations to try and find these survivors and possible learn more about the attackers. The fact that there were survivors of this slaughter was just one more clue for Colonel Bek that he did not over look. Things were really starting to smell bad for him, but he had to find those survivors and confirm his feelings. Not wanting his men to be ambushed and with the site now secured, Colonel Bek sent a company of men to follow the trail. Even though the encampment defensive walls were repaired and the guard towers manned, Colonel Bek moved to add security to the encampment. He was not about to became entrapped by those very walls that now protected them. His scouts were sent out to gather more intelligence on what the hell had happened here. He also gave a call to his transport and advised them to ready for a possible hot evac. He was working on a number of possible plans when those attackers strike again.
He still had a contract to fulfill but he was starting to feel as if the Ruzz Boyz had bitten off more than they could handle. Those survivors were the last of the Jedi and he needed to talk to them if he was to get to the bottom of this. He contacted their employer, Fas'its, and advised them of what his unit had discovered so far. He had informed their employer that they would continue to investigate the situation. Then he took some time to talk to EZ, their fixer. EZ felt the same about the mission as Colonel Bek did, that this mission was starting to turn ugly really fast. EZ agreed to help find a way to get the Ruzz Boyz out of the contract. Colonel Bek was not fond of the idea of breaking his contract but he disliked the idea of dying even more. He gave EZ all of the evidence that they had discovered at this point and agreed that they would report back in twenty four hours or if something changed the situation for them. Colonel Bek was not pleased with all these unanswered questions.
Colonel Bek would have his answers soon enough though. Rather he wanted them or not, he would have them. The company sent to track down the survivors were returning with a good number of both civilian and military prisoners. There were nearly a hundred in total, all suffered from signs of exposure and lack of food and water. Colonel Bek watched the unit march back in to the encampment and could easily see the fear in the eyes of the Jedi, Slavers and civilians alike. He couldn't help but wonder what horrors happened here on that fateful night. He located the leader of the rage tag group, a Togruta female by the name of Vika Laal. He knew the name well. She was a well known Jedi slaver and member of the Jedi Supreme Council till last year. It had fallen under attack last by another underworld criminal organization. Since that attack wiped out most of the Jedi leadership, most like Colonel Bek thought the days of the Jedi were numbered. But they had been holding on by tooth and nail. Now without the larger organization to protect them, former Jedi leaders and their slaver allies, like Laal here were widely hunted by worlds which they had previously once terrorized.
Colonel Bek wasted no time separating Laal from the rest of the prisoners and talking with her. He asked her about the base, the Jedi and what happened here. She told him, that they had been using this base for around ninety years to conduct raids within Varl and Shana'duna space. Colonel Bek knew that the Jedi had to have some degree of space resources here somewhere. Laal confirmed that they did have them before the raid on their encampment. But the night before the attack, their secret hangers on the other side of the island were fire bombed. Their fighters and ships were all destroyed in the attack. She and her people were trapped on this world till help would arrive. What shocked Colonel Bek the most was that Laal said that her group had been driven from the encampment by attackers during the attack. They had been intentionally separated during the attack and forced away from the encampment while others were killed. They were driven to the east by the attackers till they took refuge along a ridge line. Any attempt for them to leave the ridge was met with brutal attack from the unknown attackers. When Colonel Bek's unit arrived and escorted the group back, Laal admitted fear of some attack which never came. The fact that his company was able to locate Laal's group and bring them back here without trouble smelled of trap. Colonel Bak concluded that what ever befell the Jedi was about to fall to his unit as well.
Laal spoke of a vision that she had the night before the attack on her people. She had the vision through her dark magic, which foretold the night of light and the coming of the shadows of the past. She spoke that in that vision several days ago, she she saw Colonel Bek and the light of the night. She warned of horrible monsters that were neither live or dead. From her trance like state, she spoke of death and suffering that had not been seen in the galaxy for two millennia. Even on this dark night high above the island, Bek could still hear her words echoing in his mind, “I am the voice of the past that will always be, Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields, I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace, Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal.” Colonel Bek hated Jedi and their dark magics. Still he didn't know what her words meant nor what her visions told when she spoke of who or what was behind this. “He is of our world, but Master of the shadows of the past. Alive to command death and darkness, yet laid dead by betrayal. How can that which is dead, be stopped?” Colonel Bek might not fully understand the ways of these dark magics, but being a Godly man, understood that it was time to pull the plug. Even though he hated the idea, he was going to violate his contract. He called his transport and ordered them to dust off from the landing area and pick them up from the encampment. Colonel Bek was not about to let his people die the same way the Jedi and their allies died here.
It was not that hard of a decision for Colonel Bek to make. Between Laal's bounty and her high ranked Jedi bounties that were in his custody already, they could break the contract and still make out with a large profit. Just minutes before the transport was to arrive at the encampment, the rainy night's sky light up like the noon day fallowed by the explosion. Colonel Bek knew that their only means to get off of world was gone and with it their only means to communicate off world also. The situation had gone from escape to survival in the matter of moments. Colonel Bek would personally lead a company to the site where his transport had crashed. They had only managed to make it half way before they were locked in a fire fight with the very same attackers that took down the Jedi encampment. The attackers were good and limited their engagement in such a way to keep Colonel Bek from reaching the crash sight. Over the radio he could hear his men calling for help as a second group of attackers were murdering the survivors of the transport. He was powerless to help them and this drove the Colonel mad with guilt. Despite the urgings of his command staff, he ordered his company forward to attempt to help the survivors at the crash site. The order was disastrous for the company as they were mulled down by well planned ambushes and crossing snipper fire.
With the crash site in sight and losses adding up, Colonel Bek was forced to give up the thrust or risk the complete loss of his remaining company. Only a kilometer separated him from the crash site and still they couldn't reach it. With a heavy heart, he ordered the battered remains of his company back to the fortified encampment which had become their only vestige of hope. Surprisingly, the march back to the encampment was uneventful, as the company marched back in to the encampment in defeat. Colonel Bek stormed in to Laal's cell filled with rage demanding answers to the questions about these dark attackers. Once more, all she could answer was in riddles. “Demons of days gone by. Servants of the one Master cloaked in light and shadows. Unleashed on us all, because we are broken.”
Colonel Bek was filled with rage and drew his pistol and demanded a straight answer from her. He beat her over and over again as he demanded to know who these attackers were. Her eyes told him the truth that he was too afraid to accept. Her answer haunted his memory and journal, “Don't you think I would have told you if I knew myself? This is all I see and hear. Echoes and shadows of the past thrusting themselves in to my mind's eye. I don't know anything more than what I have already told you.”
That was almost a week ago and now Colonel Bek and his Ruzz Boyz had been cut down to just under a hundred troops. Their numbers were also made up of some of the Jedi prisoners that they had captured earlier. The encampment was indeed a trap set for them, the Jedi were only the bait. As the hours passed, more and more of his men were killed by unseen snippers. His patrols to eliminate the snippers were ambushed and killed. With food and water running out, they had to conduct a break out from their own fortified base or risk starving to death. The attackers made this easy for them with a massive attack that came in the early hours of day six from when their transport had been destroyed. The attack was everything that Colonel Bek had expected and could do little to stop. His proud battalion fought with all the professionalism that would bring pride to the Mercenary Star. However they were just simply out matched and now out numbered by these unknown attackers. Colonel Bek watched Laal taken down while fighting for her life against three of these attackers. None of her dark magics seemed to help her in this battle with those attackers. They ended her life as easily as they killed off his own men. Colonel Bek ordered the remains of his unit to flee the encampment and meet up at this predetermined site. He prayed that the Lord would not forsake him as Laal's dark Masters had forsaken her.
Colonel Bek looked over his remaining troops once more with a heavy heart. He knew that the attackers were just down the ridge waiting for the right time to strike. It would be the final hour of the Ruzz Boyz. There would be no last minute rescue for them. No one was looking for them and no one knew that they were fighting for their lives. Here on this Outer Rim world, the Ruzz Boyz were going to vanish in to history. Here Colonel Bek and his men as well as the Jedi survivors they had found would meet their end. Across the field this truth was written in the faces of each man and woman. In a large cave nearby, heavily guarded by Slavers and Jedi, were the last remaining civilians and children from the encampment. Colonel Bek no longer cared for bounties or past actions. This was going to be a fight for life and death. Each person who could carry a weapon was given one. The cool rain fell on this tropical island as the dark skies masked the stars above. Far in the distance, Colonel Bek could see the endless reaches of the ocean of this world. Beyond that ocean, the large continents and the populations there. Even with all the technology which they knew existed, the savages of those continents might as well be on another world. They had no means to leave the island or even communicate off of it. Here they were trapped, and here they were going to die.
Colonel Bek turned back to his journal and wrote, “This is our last battle. Still it is our finest and darkest hour. These unknown, unnamed attackers have bested us in combat and strategy at every turn. For this there is no doubt. Since the destruction of our transport, every move we were forced to make was at their design. The encampment was a trap set for us to fall in to. Hind sight has shown me this already. It is my only hope that this journal will act as witness to the death of the Ruzz Boyz. We sit here on this ridge waiting for their last attack which will spell our end. Our fox holes dug. Lines of defense laid. All that we could do to change this fact has been done. Still it is not going to be enough. Their snippers can target us at much greater ranges than my own can stop them. Their armor is like nothing I have ever seen before. Their tactics and strategy seems to have been born in some dark pit of Hell. On this cursed island, here God has forsaken us all. Here, not even God can hear our prayers for salvation. Here, my Ruzz Boyz will be killed by a much better unit than we are. May God have mercy on our Souls.”
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