CHAPTER XXXXVI: MATTERS OF FAITH

In the Sacred Temple back in Jeranu Lady Kaliah and Lady Divinia Anwar were teaching Boman Braggs how to clear his mind, relax his body, and focus on the living life force. Boman, now an official Commander of the Amber Commandos and the first trained Jedi Knight, sat motionless with his legs crossed inside the rebuilt Inner Sanctuary with his custom light saber aglow. With eyes closed and mind blank, he was letting go of himself and giving himself to the life force. A strange stirring was felt inside, but then Boman panicked and broke his concentration with the photon blade.

Kali was with him and patiently whispered in his ear, “You must let go, my love. Free you heart and the force will fill it and radiate from within.” Lady Divinia Anwar urged him further, “Release is the key, and trust in the light will guide your path.” All three of them were in deep meditation, when suddenly the Sacred Holochron began to flash.

The Holochron had not acted this way for almost the past two days when news of the Slayer had hit. The dark cloud of Sith hatred had dimmed the Holochron and without the Gathering of Twelve, all efforts had been made to find a military solution to the problem facing the planet with complete mobilization of all available workers and equipment. The Whill Seers were relegated to learning the ways of the new life force and training Commander Braggs.

All hopes were now pinned on RSI Midlund perfecting the Hand of God in time with every resource on the globe active in its construction. Queen Serapha and Imperators Bevins and Davon had not slept in all this time and were frequently updated on the progress of the huge machine which was now in the stages of final assembly and testing at Vonderburg near the Crystal Lake. The former military training camp had been transformed into a huge operations center all concentrating on the Hand of God. This brought the machine closer to the capital and all of its assets such as the R2-A2 unit and Kailen Saro who were working overtime trying to solve the hyper drive mating problem and sequencers. The R2 unit had become an invaluable astro-mech droid and was starting to not be offended by its new task and the challenges it presented. By its side was the BT-LR which had requested to leave the Palace of Light to “look after” the R2 unit. It had actually begged the Queen to go to Vonderburg to keep “the little scoundrel from getting itself into trouble!”

But the Whills were very worried about the Slayer. Evacuations would begin once the monster ship appeared near Elysia, but the Whills had vowed to fight it to the death. In all of their recorded history light had always been the champion over darkness no matter what the cost. This was the supreme test of faith, but the Whills held their belief in ultimate victory.

The Holochron was now flashing more intermittently and both Kali and Lady Divinia had placed their sight recorders on. They were aglow as well. Help was approaching! Neither could image that help, but it was on the way! With great joy, Kali grabbed Boman and contacted the Queen at the Palace. Even as she reported the news to her mother, Ligris was on a com informing Imperator Bevins that the Grynds had released Bassam Omega and that Scaffaw was being escorted by Ligris personally to Jeranu. He requested permission for the great craneship to land at Vonderburg, that no military escort was necessary.

Imperator Bevins was in shocked disbelief and inquired what Bassam’s intentions were. Over an open channel Ligris said with confidence, “the death of the Sith and destruction of the Slayer.” Shouts of joy were heard in the I.A.R. and word quickly leaked to every military and civilian outpost in the city.

But suddenly, planetary sensor stations had picked up another vessel heading out of hyperspace and following close behind Scaffaw. It took but a minute to identify the craft and alarms began sounding as it was discovered to be a Sith heavy cruiser heading directly for Jeranu!

Imperator Davon ordered all of his Blue Diamond Mk.IIs up to meet the threat as Ligris informed Bassam on the fast closing Sith cruiser.

Onboard Defiance, Tirahn had set the course for Elysia deliberately. She had seen a greater vision on TaBora- that her destiny lied with the Whills. Dark Lord Kalore would be angry at not directly attacking Lord Rexor, but Tirahn’s vision was becoming more clear. The Dark Master Lord Rexor had not revealed all and had been baiting them this entire time. Tirahn would not fall for that trap, and had an idea that could help the Whills humiliate the Dark Master, thwarting his great plan for galactic supremacy. But right now, Tirahn was comforting Lord Kalore in their sleep riser when alarms sounded!

Lord Kalore rose to his feet and, grabbing his scarnett robe, raced to the bridge. There before him lay two impossible sights- the world Elysia and, were his eyes deceiving him, the giant Scaffaw heading for the same place! What was the meaning of all this? Why was Defiance NOT on a heading towards Tirahnna for the final confrontation? Lord Kalore was about to shake Tirahn to her feet, but she was already standing behind him and answered all his questions without him having to speak a word. “My Master, Lord Rexor has tricked us and baited us. A trap awaits us above Tirahnna. I have seen that my destiny is intertwined with these Whills and that THEY will help us kill Lord Rexor. They have something I need and I have something they need. We will give it to them and I will help them with the Slayer. You must have faith my love. The vision is accurate.”

Lord Kalore was baffled by these turn of events, but Tirahn had never betrayed him. Looking into her dark eyes he nodded in approval. “But the Whills aren’t going to like our unannounced arrival and I have no shuttle. The bounty hunter’s ship may be wired to explode if we attempt to use that. We will have to put down on the planet.” The Dark Lord then ordered his DP-3 to send out a formal request to enter Elysian airspace with permission to land near Jeranu. Send hypercom transmission, “Secret Mission Most Urgent.” Interlinking with the MD-13, the DP-3 replied: EXECUTED MASTER. As Lord Kalore watched from Defiance’s view screen several Whill star fighters were advancing on his ship in attack positions. Lord Kalore ordered Defiance to remain neutral and to not power up the weapons grid. All com channels remained opened…

Inside the I.A.R., the Queen and her two Imperators were overwhelmed by these two ships fastly approaching. Scaffaw by itself required a huge leap of faith to trust and now a Sith heavy cruiser had appeared as well. From interlinking  with the I.A.R sensors Artoo could see that the Sith ship was constructed along similar lines as the Slayer, but on a vastly reduced scale. She was heavily armored, heavily armed, and was highly automated… which made itself highly suspicious. Artoo advised Imperator Davon to keep his Blue Diamonds aft of her sunken bridge where the armor was the thinnest.

Just then, the Sith request came in and all eyes were on the Queen. She was speechless and baffled by the request. But Boman Braggs, Lady Kaliah, and Lady Anwar had just arrived. They were smiling. Kali knew that the answer to their problems lay with the Sith ship and told her mother to let it land, “extended them our greetings, and send them to Vonderburg as well.” Imperators Bevins and Davon protested loudly, but the Queen was confident that her daughter knew in her heart that these Sith could be trusted. “ Allow them to land at once. We will go out and meet them, find out what all this mystery is about.”

Planetary sensor stations relayed the permission to land and instructed Defiance to follow Scaffaw’s lead. The crews of the sensor stations watched in awe as the two notorious ships descended, the white glistening Scaffaw contrasted by  the black obsidian Defiance. Both were infamous ships at the moment.

Yet far below, at Vonderburg, Kailen received word that Ligris was coming home and was overjoyed. She stopped work on the Hand of God monitoring while Artoo labored on with the intricacies of the hyperdrive unit and its apparent unwillingness to co-ordinate with the navi-processor and delay timing system. Giant RSI mega-hoisters and mating mechanoids were busy mounting the external ring even as Artoo was running system analysis checks every thirty seconds and running continuous projections for accuracy. Vonderburg was alive with tens of thousands of workers and mechanoids working round-the-clock. The noise was deafening even out in the open, but then all stopped as the first of two giant starships landed on the former training grounds.

Ligris set down right in front of the massive craneship Scaffaw , his Illustra buffeted by the huge braking thrusters of the white giant. Even as the workers and military personnel were amazed at the two landing white birds, the sight of the lone Sith heavy cruiser was astounding. The giant obsidian wedge was not graceful at all like Scaffaw but was a pure fighting machine bristling with deadly guns and very heavily armored. Her Rekurium reactors were powering down but blazed like red suns as her landing pads extended and her braking thrusters fired with a tremendous roar. Touching down on a reinforced pad the Sith ship cracked the pad as the lander legs dug into the ground under tremendous weight. Gold Army engineers quickly surveyed the damage but it was light. For a moment another hoister was going to be ordered over to her, but then she shut down as the Queen, both Imperators, Lady Kaliah, Lady Anwar, and Commander Braggs arrived in a diplomatic speedmaster.

The Gold Army urged restraint on the part of the crowd, but they surged forward anyway. Ligris was the first to emerge from his Illustra and was practically ambushed by Kailen who jumped three feet in the air to straddle him and kiss him. Ligris was happy but a bit embarrassed as a Kraal. “Honey, the crowd” Ligis whispered. Kailen told him she didn’t care if the whole universe was watching. “Honey, the Queen”… but Kailen wouldn’t let go. Finally Ligris had to put Kailen down and begged, “Honey, my wounds.” Kailen didn’t know Ligris was injured, but then saw the bandaged areas along his arms, torso, and legs. The Gussam bio form was busy tending to his back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were injured” Kailen sighed. But Ligris lifted her back up and looking into her eyes said, “well the only serious injury was my aching heart, but now it is healed with your kisses.” Kailen smiled and said, “with sweet words like that you know that someday you will have to marry me.” Ligris smiled and joked, “Yes, I know. We must train you to hunt Mangalores before you meet my family!” Kailen kicked Ligris, but laughed as well.

By this time, Bassam Omenga was coming under Gold Army armed escort. He looked tired and worn, not the once imposing sight plastered on every street corner on every planet in both Rims. Back in those days five years ago Bassam was like a mighty notorious Prince of TaBora; today, he looked like a shabby average manual laborer, worse for the wear. The Queen did not know what to say except, “Thank you for attempting the impossible. No matter what the outcome, you will now be remembered as a hero for generations.” Bassam studied the Queen and bowed. He begged for proper medical treatment, food, and new clothing. He also asked if he might rest a bit before going over the schematic read-out of the Sith infidel weapon. Time was of the essence. The Queen quickly granted his requests and ordered Imperator Bevins to see to his every comfort. A refurbished Skylyter took Bassam to Jeranu’s Medi-center for treatment, rehydration, and rest while custom Bura-type clothing was ordered delivered within the hour from famed fashion designer Aranami. Bassam’s left eye patch was surgically removed while he was put to rest. The medi-droids replaced the empty socket with a brand new techno ball vision device that could see and track with great accuracy. The droids accounted for the Bura’s sensitivity to light and made him shadow eye inserts for his right eye while setting the vision ball for low light vision. The entire vision ball was hard wired to Bassam’s brain to avoid system failures. Machines pumped bio-strengthening liquids into his body as the bio-grid relayed his exact measurements to Aranami for his new clothing.

Back at Vonderburg there had been a long pause before the Sith emerged from Defiance. Gold Army troops lined the ramps with turbo pulsers fully charged and raised as Tirahn descended the ramp in her Kyrie suit. She regretted having to remount the suit, but her Master’s protection came first. The crowd gasped at the sight of the female Kyrie, but her whip cord remained coiled about her and she came down the ramp arms raised as Lord Kalore followed behind draped in his black scarnett hooded robe.

Commander Braggs had flashbacks of Syrenia and approached with light saber drawn. But Kali forced herself between him and the Kyrie and welcomed her. “I am Lady Kaliah of the Whills, welcome. This is my mother Queen Serapha of the Whills.” Tirahn responded with professionalism, “This is my Master, Dark Lord Kalore and I am his Mistress Tirahn of the Sith. We were the ones that sent the Slayer’s disc to you courtesy of the Bothans Bruxus and Boorman and we come bearing a gift that will certainly save your people.”

At this, Lady Kaliah moved back as the Queen herself waved off the Gold Army. Commander Braggs de-activated his light saber and knelt before the Kyrie as the Queen personally welcomed them and invited them to the Palace of Light to discuss the Slayer problem.

Lady Kaliah studied the Kyrie with much interest. She could feel the life force surrounding her and in her heart she asked herself? Can darkness bring forth light? Is this an enigma or a matter of faith?