Sera's eyes widened at what looked like a field of ships before her. It was amazing... with this kind of firepower, there would be no way the Republic could stand against them! She grinned... the bloodshed should be spectacular...

She stiffened as she felt Raz Vena approach her. The thought that perhaps she shouldn't despise the bounty hunter since they were on the same side died away as soon as she thought it. She despised everything and everyone... except for Xarkun, and for once, that was by her own choice. She turned to glare at Raz. Oh, how much she wanted to set her on fire... but Xarkun would not approve, and Raz was pretty good at her job... she had brought her here, hadn't she?

Still, she didn't have to like her.

"My apprentice," Xarkun addressed. "You must go to the Gorgon, and attend the battle at Mon Calamari, two Sith there, while Duo is at Naboo, will make them, perhaps, believe that is where I am also, so no one gets any ideas about my absence. And Raz!"

"Yeah?" Raz asked disrespectfully as she approached Xarkun, he longed to rid himself of her for a while. Xen had been exactly the same why, why did all female bounty hunters have to be so disagreeable?

"Get on the Manticore immediately." Xarkun commanded. "You're going with Duo to Naboo."

"What?!" Raz snapped. "I ain't playing sidekick to some Sith apprentice at a battle that's only accomplishing distraction! Can't I go to Mon Calamari? At least we're accomplishing something there by scratching up the ship yards a little."

"You're going to Naboo." Xarkun stated, his eyes were now completely black on a regular basis, so instead his anger presented itself in the form of the temperature on the bridge dropping several degrees. "That is final, and that is a direct order."

"Raise my pay!"

"I've raised it enough!"

"You're a bastard!"

The temperature plummeted so far that their breaths came out in little wisps of what smoke.

"What did you call me?"

Raz seemed to regret it, but it was already too late. Seconds later she was flying across the room, several floor tiles ripped themselves off of the ground and crumbled to dust, and a few people's hats floated into the air and simple burst into flame. Raz smacked into the wall hard, and slid down slowly.

"You'll go to the Manticore, I'm paying you a considerable amount already! And I've told you that I will teach you more of the Force, that is your reward, and it is your incentive to not say anything incredibly stupid to me!" Xarkun snapped. "Now leave!"

Raz stood up, scowled, and stormed off the bridge, tripping an officer on her way out.

"Now my apprentice, you should take your leave as well, if you run into her along the way... try to be as kind as possible."

Sera merely smiled sweetly at the woman, waving her hand slightly as she passed her.

Raz looked around... it smelled like something was burning. A look behind her showed that it was her hair.

(Okay... I won't put words in her mouth...)

In the time it took to blink an eye, Sera stepped to the side and caught the vibro-sai without turning around. Holding it in her hands, she turned around slowly, glaring full at Raz. As kind as possible, eh? Turning the sai over in her hands, she smirked. "You know, as protective as you are over these weapons, you sure do throw them around a lot..." she said, then, with the Force, she did as Xarkun had earlier, only this time bending the sai so that the blades seemed to curl up. Then, with disgust, she threw the ruined weapon to the ground. "The moment Lord Xarkun decides to get rid of you, I hope he will give me the honors," she said, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Because if he does, you will die very, very slowly." With that, she entered the doors to the hangar bay, got onto the vessel that would take her to the Gorgon, and left the ship.

(I'll write her arriving in a second... give Xarkun time to contact Magus if he's going to, otherwise I'll assume Magus isn't going to kill the person intruding onto his ship, kay?)

XxX

Raz picked up her ruined sai and cursed that Sith very loudly so that several passing onlookers jumped, Raz tossed the hunk of metal at and officer and pulled a new sai out of hidden sheath on her back, always have spares... still that one was a bit better. Raz stormed off to the Manticore, promising herself that one day Sera would slip up, and Xarkunw would be very angry, and when that day came she would toss another sai, and that one would be sticking out of Sera's back!

Which brought to mind a problem she had... she still needed to build a new lightsaber. There would be a little time before they arrived at Mon Calamari, and she could do no good here on the bridge... it was merely her presence on the ship which was needed. Looking back over to Magus, she raised an eyebrow.

"Lord Magus, I seem to be without a lightsaber... would you perhaps lend me the materials to make one?" she asked politely, hoping not to get off on the wrong foot with this Sith. "In the off chance we end up facing the Jedi in a fight, I'd like to be able to kill a few of them," she said, her eyes greedy with anticipation.

(There, Anime... that will solve the lightsaber issue, if you'd be so kind as to give Sera what she needs. Now she can build her own.)

(And now I have to go begin to work... see you laters!)

She smiled. She had those memories back now, though, and never again would she allow herself to become weak for anyone ! With thoughts of killing Jedi swirling in her head, she constructed first one lightsaber, then the other. They were identical, with plain black handles that seemed seemless. Not even the button to turn it on was visible, just a small touch-sensitive panel you had to sense to notice. The shafts were small, to fit her hands, but without hand grips... she knew her hands would grow in time, and wanted these lightsabers to last her a while. No designs, no intricate metal work. To the untrained eye they looked like plain, black tubes.

It was what was inside that counted. Made to survive underwater, in space, and especially around extreme heat, the insides of her lightsabers were uniquely crafted, the way her old lightsaber had been, the way the Wounded Marnock's hyperspace engines were, with the creativity and intricacies only a mechanic could pull off. Simple yet deadly, she used an extra focusing crystal in each one, so that there would be no simple burning from her lightsabers... even glancing blows would cut, barely cauterizing wounds caused by them, as they gave off hardly any heat.

Once she had finished, she closed the handles of both of her lightsabers, using the Force to meld the covers shut, as they would never be re-opened again. Switching both on simultaneously, two thin red beams appeared, seemingly frail to look at... but one downward swipe with the two blades caused both ends of the thick metal table she was working on to be completely, and cleanly, sheared off. Pleased, she switched off the lightsabers and attached them to either side of her utility belt. Curious, she touched each end of the table with her bare hands... they were cool to the touch.

"Captain Kratas, now that Duo's part of the fleet is in Hyperspace we must leave as well if we are to get to Mon Calamari in time." Magus commanded him. A few minutes later they were in Hyperspace as well.

About 30 minutes later Duo's fleet exited Hyperspace and came to Naboo. As soon as they did Duo said, "Aim at the capital city of Theed and open fire. Destroy any of Naboo's defences that try to stop us." A little while later Theed was reduced to a pile of rubble, and several Naboo snub fighters and a few corvets attacked Duo's fleet. Duo quickly annilhated them. "I sure hope the Republic gets here soon......" Duo muttered to himself.

"Leave this one to me," she said to the men. One of them looked her over once, almost laughed, then rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh... Miss... I don't know-" Suddenly, his hands went to his temples, then to his eyes, and as he screamed blood started to run from underneath his hands, where his eyeballs used to be. The other two looked on in horror, then looked back to Sera.

"The name is Darth Sera, and I think you do know," she said sweetly, and the other two nodded in obedience, leading the blinded man to the med bay.

Content to have some privacy in which to work, Sera slipped off her red cloak and looked the engines of the TIE fighter over. Yes, this was all wrong... they had jury-rigged the power supply, how they ever expected this thing to fly without being properly repaired was beyond her. Already she had some ideas for modifications, and all the parts she needed were in the hangar... soon she was engulfed in her work, although in the back of her mind she was still counting off the seconds before they would reach Mon Calamari. Absently, she sensed the beginnings of Magus's Battle Meditation at work... very interesting, she would have to learn this one day. Of course, if her master Xarkun didn't know it, she wouldn't learn it... she knew Lord Xarkun would never willingly let her become more powerful than him. That didn't concern her... she was already more powerful than she had ever been, and knew there was still a long way to go before she reached Lord Xarkun's level. She would be content to learn whatever she could from her Master... and use it against the Jedi and all others who sought to control and weaken her.

When their ships had arrived at Naboo, the planet's surface was all but incinerated by the Imperial fleet. The Republic fleet arrived in three parts, but the Imperials still outnumbered them. Calo embraced each Republic soldier with calmness, clarity and courage. Small Republic fighters spilled out into space, firing at the TIE fighters, as the larger ships fired at each other. TIE after TIE went down, but also Republic fighters were going down...

And then the Imperials destroyed one of the larger ships.

Nothing could break Calo's concentration. In those last moments he was capable of thought, he sent his presence out, to the other Republic soldiers, giving them the last of his courage, the last of his sense of peace.

Then his body froze instantly as half of the room he was in was exposed to deep space, the other blown away by an enemy blast.

(There ya go, Anime, feel free to describe Duo's part as explicitly as possible...)

Duo did the same thing to other ships. Pretty soon the Republic was down to only a few ships, then none. "Now we just have to wait for Xarkun to leave for Coruscant and to join him." Duo said.

And now there was nothing to do but wait to go to Coruscant....

And soon the Republic fleet would be decimated.

She smiled in anticipation. Using a towel to wipe engine grease off her hands and face, she looked over her newly modified TIE Interceptor. It looked like any other TIE Interceptor... but it wasn't. It was hers. It had shields, it had improved weapons... it had a cloaking device... the controls were faster, steering more sensitive, the tiny thing even had a short-range hyperdrive. She had deactivated the targeting systems... those were usually faulty anyways, and were no match for the Force. The communications systems were vastly improved... she could even jam the communications of a Correllian Corvette with this thing, if she wanted to, and send a transmission halfway across the known galaxy, possibly even farther. Longer-lasting power supply, and she had managed to boost the speed quite a bit. And with the special weapons modifications she had made, this little TIE would be more like a deadly mosquito to the Republic fleet.... tiny, impossible to see and catch, and potentially fatal.

And it looked so normal.

She reached for her cloak, then saw one of the mechanics from earlier. Tying the cloak around her neck, she pulled the hood up and approached him. "This TIE Interceptor is mine. If anyone else touches it, kill them," she said, and the mechanic swallowed hard before nodding.

"Y-yes Lady Sera," he replied.

Sera smiled at him, then went to the bridge. She knew Magus was in the middle of his Battle Meditation, and had no intentions of disturbing him. She had a feeling they would be dropping out of hyperspace at Mon Calamari any second now, and she wanted to see the battle when they did.

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