Open Terrain

"... thirteen ... fourteen ... fifteen!" *Plu counted softly to himself, soon reaching the indicated door farther along the underground passageway.* "Take your time, I will inspect the training weapons while you wait." *He nodded, then turned and opened the door, and entered the training room. He had brought a few weapons of his own, carefully chosen as non-lethal, or rendered harmless by the addition of padding, but depending on the size of the room, there might be more appropriate choices among Ben's own collection.*

*The room Plu enters is a large 500 sq. ft. with a medbay in the back for serious injuries along the wall to the left of the door is every training weapon concivable along the right wall are 4 suits of armor identical to the one Ben wears. Training in the room, both in pairs and small groups, are troops in the midst of a dozen of these war harded men is a young boy evidently kicking the tar out of all twelve of them using only a padded staff and them with training blasters. directly next to the door is a control panel and display that controls the gravity of the room and various holodroids hand from the celing to be used in training programs.*

*meanwhile, in another part of the base, Ben has a conversation with his alter ego where he finds that Cronus is hiding something but has to wait till later to figure out what till then Ben locks down the small corner cronus takes to keep Ben out and he walks quickly toward the training room he sent Plu to*

*Plu stood near the entrance for a good five minutes, simply taking in the lay of the land and watching the other combatants closely. This was a great window into the planet whose allegiance he hoped to win, and into the sort of people who lived here. His own archives were very sketchy on Nirauan, telling only of its Empire of the Hand history and its native species. The later Imperial colonization was a blank canvass. The boy, in particular, who seemed to be unusually talented (force sensitive, perhaps? or just a natural agility and grace), was of interest. After making a mental note of the location of the control panel and the med bay, the old Mando'ad turned his attention to the communal weapons that were available, inspecting them closely. He had rendered his customary sword harmless with a specially designed, padded wrap, but there might be something more useful among the local collection.*

*Ben enters and says as he walks over toward the other suits* "do you like my selection?" *upon finising the sentance he triggers the release and steps out and alows it to close up then he mutters to the other suits while leaving his sword around the waits of the armor* "keep watch my Brothers." *then he turns and approches the wall of weapons and picks out a wighted practice sword and a metal pole about the length of a lightsaber with barbs on it and the groups stop training and move off to the sides of the room or to the med bay thus leaving the whole floor open and one of the trropers takes a training blaster vest and places it on Ben so no matter the weapon Plu chooses Ben is ready to begin*

*Plu had nearly finished examining the wall of weapons when Ben returned. The old Mandalorian grinned beneath his helmet (not that anyone could see it) as he replied.* "Yes. It's a pretty large collection. I'm impressed by the variety."*He glanced back across the room at the boy training, then turned to Ben, loosening his own sword from his belt.*

"However, if it's all the same to you, I brought my own sword." *And the Mando produced his sword, nearly four feet long, with each edge of the blade encased in a thick padded covering, and a big ball of padding around the tip, while only the flat was visible. The Mando whacked both edges of the sword hard against his own armored leg several times, then held it up for inspection. If the blade had posed any danger, it almost certainly would have made a noise when contacting Plu's beskargam, or severed the padding visibly. Neither had happened. Plu had taken extra care during his flight to make the implement safe. His practiced hands would be happiest when fighting with his accustomed weapon and it's familiar weight. But if the King said otherwise, Plu had seen about eight other weapons he could use.*

*Ben nods and floats out a true training sword and sand that goes in the hole in the hilt that goes all the way through almost to the tip and says* "if you wish you may use these to modify the weight of the sword so that it is just like yours after all we cant have the padding slipping and hurting anyone now can we? and if you would be so kind as to remove your armor you can place it beside my own."

*Ben sets down the sword and turns when a soldier taps him on the shoulder and he turns and links his wrist comlink to the secure system and he hears what has transpired in orbit and he turns back to Plu and says* Pardon me please there is an urgent matter i must see to that may make this dual unneeded you may follow if you wish just request a fully fuctioning weapon from the quartermaster next door just tell him "omega'" he'll see you get what you need. *Then he turns and hangs up the training weapons and opens and climbs into his armor and straps on his sword belt and hooks his lightsaber on and walks out the dooor with soldiers follow and the young boy puts away his gear and heads off in the opposite direction to gather the rest of the royal family and take them deep underground. Once Ben is in the hallway he turns to Johnson and says* Bring Cronus' project to me now. *Johnson takes off for the lower levels to get Phurie and bring him to Ben*

*At the knock Phurie gets up and moves to the door and once he opens he finds Johnson there once he hears him out he follows him to Ben with his weapons on him*

*once Ben sees Phurie he says* Kennington? Is that you? Nevermind your to lead the ground forces if they make it this far and above all else protect my family. *Then he reaches the landing pad and opening the launch doors he climbs into his Stealthx and heads for space in cloaked mode*

*Meanwhile, down on the planet, the royal family were gathered in a small room deep in the base and they fall in to a battle-meld and help the fighters and fleet do what is needed*

*Plu nodded, and accepted the training sword.* *He thought the man's sense of safety to be ridiculous, but he was done arguing the matters. He would follow all the rules and roadblocks, and still Plu believed he would be the better fighter. And his show of supremacy would carry more weight when it came on Ben's terms.* *He unbuckled his own sword and scabbard and was about to lay it aside when a soldier tapped Ben on the shoulder.*

*The Aliit'alor listened in some perplexity to Ben's hasty instructions.* *What was going on? Some sort of attack? Then as he watched Ben arm himself once more, the comlink inside his helmet lit up with , and he understood.*

"I'll see what I can do, Ben." *Plu said smoothly, smiling.* "I do have some troops of my own available."

*It all smelled horribly of a trap, and his danger senses in the force were prickling, but he would play along for now and allow Jinn to prove himself. He was vulnerable, alone and inside like this. Once he got outside, he'd be back within the parameters of the original mission. And later, he would have strong words with Ambassador Walker for mistaking the location of the duel as an outdoor event.*

*Ben had gone, and Plu attempted to contact his captain for more information, but was met with nothing but static.* *They were being jammed.* *Breaking into a run as he exited the training center, Plu passed the quartermaster without stopping. Instead, he retraced his steps from memory until he was outside the entrance once more. The most imprtant thing was to find out what had happened, and then do something about it.*

*There were no further communications from Ben, but after a short walk, Plu found himself back in the clearing where he had left Walker, his ceremonial guardsmen, and the Lambda-class shuttle. They confirmed to him that system-wide jamming was in effect, and not just local. There would be no contacting the fleet, short of flying within line-of-sight communication. And given the unknown but apparent attack on the system, that was out of the question. The shuttle would never survive alone in a firefight. It was better to go to ground somewhere, and wait. But where?*

*There was only one logical choice, Plu realized. The Hand of Thrawn was the reason they were here in the first place. They might as well finish their original task while they waited.* "Come," *Plu motioned to his men as he boarded the shuttle.* "We're going to the Hand, and let's hope we get there first. We have a job to do, and that's probably the safest place on the planet if a bombardment breaks out."



"He's a gifted commander, and he knows our mission parameters. We can't help him, and he can't contact us, so he's on his own. Come on. Let's get this bird in the air." *As the last of the red-armored guardsmen boarded the shuttle, Plu triggered the hatch, and the boarding ramp slammed shut.*

*Twenty seconds later, the Or'dinii pilots had them airborne, cruising at twenty meters at three-quarters power across the rocky terrain toward the ancient fortress for which the planet had become famous.*

*It was a pleasant area, with an air of unbroken tranquility. The weather was mild today, and this had encouraged the the five who were sitting at the portable table to break out a deck of cards.

But to think that they had simply come all this way simply for a holiday retreat was unlikely.

The first one was Durb'rom'olaefis, Commander of the Armored Calvary, whose temperament and build was similar to the weapons he commanded - large and in charge. He held a three 10s and a pair of Jacks. However, Stid'imi'taefis had already snuck a peak at Bromo's hand and folded before he could be goaded into anything by the tanker. He was fiercely intelligent and he had a shining career ahead of him in the special operations division. Although this put him at odds with Refs'kye'saefis who was a blue-blooded naval officer, dedicated to a fault and honorable, perhaps to his own disadvantage - who although being dealt an ace, could not do a lot with it. Mirk'laus'saefis simply had no idea what was going on, and had instead begun to daydream - until the rest had punted him out of the game, leaving him to sulk, watching. But he had a friend in Durf'lack'kaefis who was passing cards on to him, waiting for the next round to bring something better, which was typical of the versatile infantryman.

And at the head of the table was Brask - who had no honorifics, nor a visible rank. He was a little older, with streaks of grey in his otherwise solid black hair. But there was no mistaking him - and the intense look he had as he laid down the winning hand - a straight flush.

All his officers grumbled and threw in their hands. Brask collected the winnings. It was a friendly game, because they were all in one pot in any case.*

*Brask stood as they randomized the deck for the next round and lit his cigar while he took a moment to admire the vast super-structure of CEDF Providence that lay in this quiet valley. There was a sizable military base too and further a small Chiss colony. This was his empire and it had taken him this long to build it. After so many defeats, he finally had re-established himself and gathered all sorts of Chiss Exiles to him. His House. His Army. And looking up - invisible to the eye - was Csilla. His Csilla.*



And this time - I plan to win..

*The game of cards had continued for a few more rounds when a messenger approached Dimit and passed on a dispatch. He folded his hand and breezed over the details. It was all too good to be true. Although he would need to confirm it with other sources, the preliminary information was good enough to go on with. Standing, he cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone present.*



*Brask held up a hand to stop Dimit from getting too far ahead of himself.* I think, Stid'imi'taefis, that you may be ahead of yourself. What is our current status - Captain Skyes?



*Skyes looked at Bromo balefully as he thought of the enormous risk to the prestige of the navy at risk to this particular ground worm. There was a reason why he was exiled from the Ascendancy and it was certainly not for lack of ability. Perhaps it was exactly for that reason why he was exiled. He tended to border on the viciously thorough with whatever he did. Brask continued his check sheet*

Major Flackk?



Good. I recommend then, that you take Lieutenant Dimit for a walk to see exactly what is happening in our beloved Ascendancy...



*Dimit smiled at the unexpected order. There was no authorized activity that could possibly reveal their intentions to the Ascendancy and as a result, they were forced to rely on third-party information. For the first time, they would get their hands wet, in a long time.*

*It was a few hours before dawn, but it was light enough to see the massed artillery, with their obscene, blackened barrels raised to the heavens. Gunners loaded, rechecked their instruments and otherwise nervously stamped their feet to ward off the cold. With a pair of high-powered macrobinoculars, they could barely see the four dark outlines in orbit.*

*Bromo and Brask were aboard the Providence, watching the readouts. A simultaneous test of both their army and navy. Compared to the Ascendancy their forces amounted to a pitiful handful. But Brask knew that they would be more than enough. He wouldn't beat his enemies at their game - he would reinvent war all over again.*









*There was an artificial sunrise, the volley of hundreds of guns, the thunder of a storm, as men on the ground sought to bring the heavens to its knees. Land-based Megamasers gave a constant steam of fire, perhaps rivaling the total output of Ac'siel destroyers. Surface-to-Orbital missiles streaked out in a dense cloud. It would have been a fiar challenge for point defense systems, until the missiles deployed their secondary munitions. It was a designed to be a single blow to destroy naval superiority..*

Both of them performed well. And now, we will go and prove it to the rest of the galaxy. How long before we can deploy?





I trust that the damage to the ships were negligible?



Excellent. Kraus - pack up, we're leaving.

*The Chiss colony appeared like an ant hill, teeming with soldiers, engineers and vehicles being ferried into orbit. They were urgently moving away as far as possible from the Providence. And the reason became readily apparent when it disappeared in a cloud of dust, obscuring it briefly. The gantries around it collapsed and bounced off its shields. The ground around it seemed to be collapsing, until they realized that it was actually rising. Thousands of repulsors were providing the thrust to raise the 1000 meters behemoth into the skies. The engines engaged and it slowly lumbered forward. It seemed to crawl slowly into the sky, but eventually, it disappeared into the space.*