The Wound In The Stars

(month 6, Year 33 BBY)

Two months after the pirate purge, I had prepared for the greatest heist of all time. Well the greatest we have done so far.

It is divided into three groups. The first group will be me, HK and Vanzii accompanied by 50 19STs. Our target old Palpies little base in a remote corner of the planet. The second group led by Subail and accompanied by Doth and Janak, will go to Aeten 2. Their goal steal as many stygium shipments as possible. They will also be accompanied by 19STs. And lastly group three lead by ZEM and his group of 19STs, will go to Gromas 16. Their mission to steal as much phrik shipments as possible.

On the fourth month, after information gathering, groups two and three left for their areas of operation.

The basics of the plan was, infiltrating the mining facilities and setting the stage for the heist. They had to locate the goods first, then make sure all of its congregated in one area. And when the mission is launched, they will have to do a fast and silent capture of the storage areas, security centers and nearby docs. Load the captured shipments onto waiting freighters, who by then will land at the nearby docs, they will load the goods and then make their escape after destroying all evidence. Well that's the basic overview of the plan atleast.

For this mission Kyr'am and her sister ships along with a few squadrons of droid fang fighters will see action, along with full compliments of droidekas and skytroopers. The freighter will arrive in their respective destinations in two hours. And the operations will launch in fifteen minutes.

You might be asking, why I am taking the risk. Well my scouts found the star forge. It's been moved to a system, a jump away from Eldith. This system is very resource rich and will help build up our fleets and infrastructure.

Since I found the star forge, I made a few changes to the initial plan. The star forge was tasked with producing the majority of the ships and droid troops.

The first directive I gave was to make the Eldith and star forge system insurmountably fortresses. They will be our primary military strongholds. Other than the star forge I plan for the construction of extensive ship yards that can rival Kuat in both systems. Other systems may have smaller shipyards. Now that I had the means, I will protect it.

The second directive was to expand and fortify into the unknown region system by system. They were to capture, fortify and integrate every system in a systematic way. This will increase the amount of resources available.

There was already an operation to deploy small stealthed holo buoys throughout the galaxy and in the unknown regions, the induction if the star forge has expedited this project. This project would have taken more than a decade, but with the star forge the time has been cut down to a quarter of that. Once completed it will give us a secure shadow holo net network untainted by other factions.

I also sent out scouts this time searching for the planet Zonama Sekot. One reason is that it will be the future home/prison of the Vongs and the other is the existence of an experimental device created by the Rakatans. It was supposed to be located in a system near Sekot. This device could move an entire section of space, from one place to another, only catch is that an entire system must be sacrificed.

All of this expedited production and expansion capability has given rise to another idea. To start the production of my super dreadnaught. And these materials which we are going to steal will help in its and its support fleets construction. With the star forge taking the major load of Eldith's construction facilities, construction of this ship can be prioritized there.

(Group One- Over Mustafar)

We are fully stealthed and ECMs are running overclocked. After a few passes we found the target base. Me, HK and Vanzii are gathered around a projection of the base. There are only two main points of entry, that is the landing pad and the front entrance.

"Here is the plan. The Kyr'am will drop Me, HK and 30 19STs, 1 Kilometer from the base. We will come in cloaked and infiltrate the base from the front and any other vents we can find. Vanzii you and the rest will drop on the landing pad and take control of it while simultaneously infiltrating your way in from there. I want this done quietly. It's ȧssumed there are atleast a few Sith apprentices in the facility. If we are lucky, they would be off on missions. The Kyr'am will stay stealthed nearby, jam and intercept any and all transmission to and from the base. I don't want them calling for help. And when we go loud drop the entire compliment of Skytroopers and droidekas. We leave no evidence behind. Data mine the servers take all they have, then blow this place sky high." I stated the plan. "Any questions?"

"What happen if we run into Sith acolytes or worse Sith lords?" asked Vanzii.

"We use the practiced anti force user tactics. Spread out as much as possible. Put them under continuous fire from two or more sides. Then use the plasma flame throwers any other weapon in your arsenal to bring them down. In such cases, there is no such thing as overkill. Always move in 5-man squads. Vanzii your squad alone will comprise of, you and 10 19STs. Your objective is their medical and other research facilities. They will have some cutting-edge stuff. Take everything data, their medical and research droids, even their research material. The other 19STs will spread out in teams and clear out the base" I stated.

Then we finalized the finer details of the plan and got ready to drop.

My group drops in almost a kilometer away from the base. We had to be careful. This damn planet is almost completely Lava. Then we make our way to the front entrance under stealth.

There are a few droids guarding the entrance. "Athena deploy all spectrum jamming; I don't want alerts going out" I ordered over coms.

Then the squads that are meant to be moving in through the front door surrounded the area, while two squads went to breach the facility through the vents.

Once everyone is in position, I initiate the attack by taking out the first droid with my carbine. All the droids guarding the front were scrapped even before they knew what happened. We move to the doors still in stealth.

"HK slice into that door and get it open. Everyone else cover all angles" I ordered.

"These rudimentary obstructions are an insult to my upgraded processing abilities master. We must kill those meatbags who built these" stated HK in his usual eccentric way.

"You just want an excuse to kill more meatbags" is said rolling my eyes. "Vanzii status report" I asked over radio.

"Landing pad secure. Moving into the base now." Said Vanzii over coms.

"Roger that." at that moment HK opened the doors "Moving in our selves" I said.

"Ok everyone five-man teams. Move in clear this facility, room by room. If you run into force users call it out." I said as I take the point and move into the facility followed by HK and the other 19STs.While the other two squads went in through the vents.

We run into a few droids on our way to the security room, they are silenced quietly and their remains hidden. All units are still in stealth and we haven't been detected yet.

Once we reach the security room, we stack up on the door. As soon as it opens, we slowly spread out throughout the control room. I wait a minute for everyone to be in position and use my hidden blades to take down two targets closest to me. The others do the same and take out targets near them.

Soon we have the entire room under control. I point at two 19 STs "You two take control of the system and guide our forces." Then ordered five others to secure and hold this room. After a minute the droids have the entire system under their control.

"Athena drop the strike teams. We have control over the security." I gave her the all clear to launch the skytroopers and droidekas.

"Are there any Sith acolytes on site?" I ask the droids.

"Two, sir. In the training room." Came the reply.

"Good, five of you with me, HK and the rest clean out this facility and take everything that's important and may seem useful to us. Including any and all data you come across. I will go and say hello to the lovely little Sith acolytes" I ordered.

"You have all the fun master. Can I kill the next jedi who is stupid enough to obstructs us." Asked HK

"Very well HK. Very well. You can kill the next jedi I authorize to be terminated" I said.

I make my way to the center of the facility where the training room is. It was a large dreary room. Everything you would expect from a Sith training room.

As I approach, one of those so called Sith wannabes say "I felt something was wrong. But to think an intruder will be brazen enough to not only attack our little base, but also come forth so openly in challenge" for refence let's call him fool 1.

"Well what can I do. Here I am just looking around and suddenly end up finding two younglings, pretending to be Sith, waving around their so called magic glowsticks" I scoffed at them before levelling out a small insult.

"And what do you know about the Sith and the force you weakling. Do you not know the immeasurable power it gives us." Says fool 2.

"Oh, apparently I know more about the force than you two. And apparently you two are just a waste of space and the force." I say mockingly drawing Gra'tua "There is no need to stall for time. No one is coming to help you mongrels"

This makes their façade falter a bit. "We will be greatly rewarded for bringing your head to our master" they said drawing their weapons as well.

They circle me, while I just wait patiently in the middle. My droids wait around the margins ready to jump in, if I need help. Which, I won't. I had already killed trained Jedi. Why would these muppets even be a challenge.

"You are a fool to challenge us, feel my power" shouts fool 1. Force lightning speeds toward me. Everything slows down. I quick draw a pistol and let loose a few rounds at fool 1. His lightning just washes over me, this startles him long enough for my blaster bolts to connect. Two hits, straight between his eyes. He just slumps down on to the floor.

I turn to fool 2, who is now staring at me wide eyed "Well that was anticlimactic, wasn't it?"

"What are you?" he asks, the fear now apparent in his voice. The fool finally realizes it. That I am not an ordinary mercenary. Especially After trying to sense me through the force.

I walk towards him slowly readying Gra'tua. "I am the worst nightmare for a force user. Especially weaklings and cannon fodder such as yourself. Such a pity more of your foolish Sith wannabes wasn't present. I could have added to my collection of glowsticks" I further mock him.

This rattles him. He knows there is no escape. So, he comes at me with fear fueled rage. Swinging his lightsaber at me. The more I dodge the more frantic he gets.

"This is pathetic." I say. Side stepping him sending the electricity wrapped Gra'tua at his leg. He notices it, but is slow to respond. The blade cuts clean through the leg. He falls to the ground with a scream. I didn't want to waste more time, so I use this time to simply thrust the blade of my spear through his throat. Ending his miserable life.

I pick up the light sabers. The droids then move around and take any kyber crystal or lightsaber they find. Literally anything and everything.

We spent another hour combing through the place and setting demolition charges. After everything was set up, I radio in Kyr'am.

"Athena bring her in on the landing pad. Once we have all the loot onboard, we are blowing this place sky high"

"Coming in for landing" was her reply.

For the next fifteen minutes we load up all our findings onto the Kyr'am.

When we are airborne, I detonate the charges. Huge explosions rock the base and the cliff face around it. Crack form on the structure and surroundings. It starts to shatter and fall into the lava. Soon there will be nothing left.

(Group 2, Aeten 2)

(POV Subail)

I have been on this rock for three months now. Our target is the largest Stygium mine on the planet. We have so far sliced into the mines systems and had them store all their crystals in one location. As far as data collected shows there was tons upon tons of crystal being stored in the warehouses near the landing pads.

Today the waiting and plotting was over. When I signed up with Thrunn I thought we will be out bounty hunting. But this has its own thrill. I know he has big moves planned out.

"Sir, all units are in place and awaiting the signal for mission go" said a droid near me.

Doth and Janak will remain with the skytroopers and droidekas. They are the backup when things go loud.

"Signal all units the mission is a go. Take down their systems. Silence their guards. And tell the 8 freighters waiting in orbit to come down. We have a window of 20 minutes before shit hits the fan. Make it quick," I ordered.

Like clockwork the mining companies' security systems go down. The droids also clear out the security room as well as any guard in the area.

Soon the freighters touch down and the containers are loaded on to it. The truth is that I was a bit jittery looking at the time tick down and the billions of credits worth of crystals being hauled. I don't know what he is going to do with all these crystals but it better be worth it.

As the last cargo containers are loaded and the freighters lift off, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"All units return to the ship. Upload the virus to their security systems and wipe all data which might reveal our presence. Time the demo charges to go off in 20 minutes. We are RTB in 15 minutes." I said over coms. Within 10 minutes all the droids are back at the ship and we lift of fully stealthed.

Just as we take off the sirens start going off and we could see guard ships from different areas flying towards the area we just raided. But it was too late. The freighters were already in FTL and there is no way in hell they are detecting this ship.

Soon enough the demo charges go off, levelling most of the area.

Soon we escape the planets gravity well and enter hyperspace. Well I am sure all the missions went off without a glitch. We will know what Thrunn has got schemed when we get back.

(Two days later Coruscant)

Senator Palpatine's office.

"Breaking news coming in. The galaxies greatest Robberies have taken place. It happened on two planets. The Aeten 2 and Gromas 16. It's not the raid itself that has caused the commotion, but what was stollen. Aeten 2 mines stygium crystals and Gromas 16 refines the largest amount of Phrik. The total amount stollen hasn't been conformed yet but the total losses can be tallied in the billions. After this raid the senators are calling for tighter regulation of all rare resources mined throughout the galaxy. Apparently, there wasn't any proper legislation in place so far for the regulation of such strategic materials. This is Gina Parkers reporting for the GNN."

Suddenly the holo display is cracked by an unknown force. First one of his research facilities gets destroyed. Now this. Whoever it was behind all this will pay for it. The worrying part is that there are no records of what happened left behind and I can't see through the vail in the force.

If anyone walks in, they would see a Palpatine who was going all Sith dark lord on his datapad.

He finally regains his composure as this was only a small set back, as far as he was concerned. He could possibly use these events to his advantage. Maybe he could even use whoever was behind these thefts. They seem highly capable. He gets lost in thought.