Coronet, Corellia…One week after Alex’s departure from the White Maw…

She chose the direct route, it was easy to find the Green Jedi Enclave; easier still to determine which orphanage they were running in Coronet. The information gave very detailed instructions in this regard, but Alex had to see it for herself. She held her breath that first night, standing outside the gated entrance and looking in. So close, so very close; her daughters were just on the other side of the bars.

Over the course of the week, Alex established her presence. Requested a meeting with the headmaster; a Jedi matron in charge of overseeing the orphanage. As the date of the meeting drew near, she determined how she was going to approach things. They were Jedi, she was a Jedi; things should be simple in any case. Alex decided to just tell the truth about all of it, all of ‘her’ if it came to that. There would undoubtedly be questions; the subject would come up as to where she had been for the past decade and a half. And why now? Jedi always loved to ask that question, they always wanted to know the ‘why’ of everything. Blame it on the lifelong study of everything related to the Force, the ‘why’ was not as important as the how, to Alex. One thing she decided she would not do was betray Drogan's trust. If the subject of any information concerning the White Maw came up, she would not speak of that. She owed him that much.

Alex was welcomed with suspicion; she could feel it in all of the Green Jedi who greeted her as she made her way to the headmaster’s study. They glanced down at the two black electrum plated lightsabers which were clipped prominently on each hip. For a moment, Alex thought they were going to ask for them. Perhaps it was just the differences of the Green Jedi and other Jedi Temples, but tension was unusually high. She could feel their angst as she walked the halls. Her eyes going around; searching. It was killing Alex to be that close and not see them, to not even catch a glimpse of her ‘babies’. They understood her feelings, they understood a Mother’s heart. One of the few Jedi Temples that actually did. The Green Jedi married, they had children, families. Attachment wasn’t forbidden to them. Her own Mirialan Temple frowned on it, but turned a blind eye in extreme cases; such as her own marriage to Bernard. The two marrying so they could become crusaders for ‘The Unity’. It helped that the both of them went out to colonize the Universe and not have the marriage right in front of those in the Temple’s faces to be reminded of it and see it every day.

The Jedi Matron was waiting outside her door, she looked like the typical ‘old maid’ type, which was surprising in a way, given the Green Jedi’s predisposition for families and relationships. Alex didn’t know what she was expecting. Alex didn’t expect to see an advanced Jedi of some years and reaching out she felt no attachment from the Matron to the Green Jedi, which housed the Orphanage. All of it caught Alex by surprise.

“Your reputation precedes you Alexandra De’nabre…” The Matron bowed and moved aside with a flourish of her arm, “…please, come inside and have a seat.” That comment also caught Alex off guard, forcing a smile as she moved past the Matron to enter her chambers. No doubt they would have checked on her background after she requested the meeting. Some of it they would have found, the rest they would never know about.

Moving behind the desk, the Matron sat down very elegantly and folded her hands with a plain smile, “Well…” She let out a sigh and smiled again, “…shall I get us some tea?” The Matron looked at her wall chrono. Alex shook her head ‘no’ and the silence ensued, the two looking at one another plainly. Alex already having sized up the woman as she walked in, it was now her turn. As the silence continued, it was obvious the Matron was waiting on Alex. It was Alex who had requested the meeting.

“Oh…I’m sorry…of course I should begin. First of all, thank you so much for taking my request to see you.”

“Of course…” It was all The Matron said, curt and very to the point. Another silence ensued and try as she might, Alex could not get a clear sense of the woman; though she did have the feeling that the Matron was continuing to be purposefully elusive.

“Well…I suppose I should tell you why I’m here. In my request I outlined my reasoning and my desire to be reunited with my children. I understand they are here and I would like to see them….” Again, the elusiveness. The tea arrived in a most inopportune moment as it gave the Matron another few moments not to answer, “My husband and I…well, my Late Husband, we lost them on our colony many years ago. I thought them dead and among the ashes of the ruins. It was by pure happenstance that I learned of their existence.”

Setting the tea cup down, the Matron regarded Alex with a keen eye and picked up the flimsy, evidently the request by Alex to see her, “Yes, I read your request.” She smiled plainly; it was fake. Alex got the clear feeling in the Force that she was indeed hiding something, “If you don’t mind me asking…how exactly did you come by the information that told you they were here?” It was a probe, there was no legitimacy behind the question. The Matron was now clearly on the attack and searching for verification of what she already assumed about Alex.

Grimacing, Alex sat her own cup down after accepting the offer of tea, even though she really didn’t want to. Anything to keep her hands and the nervousness in check. Edging forward to place the cup and saucer on the Matron’s desk, Alex smiled back. Though not fake, “I’m afraid that’s confidential…” It was Alex’s turn to hide things. Though she held the Matron’s gaze with an intense look as she said it.

“I see…” The Matron pursed her lips, “We, of course, have Mirialan children here…all of them orphaned by War or some other unfortunate circumstance. The Jedi pride itself on the repurposement of children. All life has value, even those that others would discard or disregard…” Returning the intense stare with one of her own, the Matron lied flatly; Alex could sense that much, “…but I am afraid that wherever you received your information, it is incorrect. Your children are not here.”

The boldness of the lie struck Alex, it was like an electrical shock entered her body. From the moment she arrived, besides the elusiveness of the Green Jedi; Alex could also feel her children’s presence. Karolin and Mrysti were very close, she could feel their presence in everything around her. The look the Matron gave as she told the lie was also a challenge, a way of getting Alex to say more. Perhaps a ruse to gain knowledge of how Alex came upon her information. Loyalty to Drogan and the White Maw would not allow Alex to tell and as the anger started to rise within her, so did the intensity of the Matron’s stare. It was a Green Jedi stronghold, she did not fear any retribution from Alex, even as her hands unconsciously drifted to her sides and the lightsabers she kept close to her hip. It was why they didn’t disarm her when she entered, why would they need to?

“I must say, I find that hard to believe. My sources are almost one-hundred percent reliable…”

“Your sources are wrong. Our listings for who is contained within these walls is a matter of public record….” Alex knew she was headed that route, it was almost as if she foresaw that. There was no listing for Karolin or Mrysti De’nabre. There were no listings for twin girls who matched that description. Alex had previously checked on that. The words only confirmed what Alex already knew. The Matron was hiding them for whomever the Jedi were in league with. Unfortunately for the Matron, Alex already knew who that was. The time for pleasantries was over.

“Fine, you wish to be elusive. I have no problem with that.” Alex stood quickly, “I will expose your involvement with the Republic concerning this project and my daughters involuntarily participation in it. I am sure the Jedi Council would be most pleased to learn of its existence…” As she stood the Matron slowly rose. Alex was going to get nowhere with these people. She had tipped her hand and she moved for the door, the Matron spoke after her.

“So, you are ‘her’. Tales of a Jedi Pirate made its way through these and other halls over the years. I never thought I would come face to face with one, refreshing in a way…”

The condescending tone, the way the Matron said it. All of it pushed Alex to the edge as she turned back. She raised a hand to blast the Matron in the Force, an attack which found its power absorbed by the Matron’s own Force abilities. The two stared at one another for a long moment, their hands raised at one another before Alex spoke again, “I don’t know the specifics of whom you are protecting or who are involved with in Project Alpha, but I will soon…”

The Matron raised her eyebrow as she lowered the hand after absorbing Alex’s Force Assault. She smiled kindly, condescendingly toward the other woman as Alex moved once again to open the door, “You will find no allies on Coruscant…” Alex looked back over her shoulder, “…I suppose that’s where you’re headed.” The Matron rounded the desk slowly, “May I offer you some advice?” Alex stopped, lowering her hand from the pad which would open the door, “Forget that you came here. Forget that those girls…” She laughed slightly, “…wherever they are, exist. This is much larger than you…or I. This goes all the way to the very top echelons of Jedi and Republic leadership. A height which friends are few and enemies abound.” The Matron crossed her arms, “…And you have neither, ‘Elle’…” Alex turned her face towards the Matron, the condescending stare the Matron was giving her. They knew who she was, at least the Jedi did.

Without further action, Alex left suddenly. The Matron watched the door close and quickly went behind her desk to activate her Holo-comm. An image came up and as it did the Matron gave the person on the other end; a large humanoid with a military style haircut and a look like she given Alex, “General…we have an issue that has just come up….this should be high priority.”

Looking down, the Matron spoke before looking at the General and the door which Alex just passed through, “It’s headed your way…to Coruscant. I will send you details, but you need to know General Stone that Project Alpha….has been compromised…”

--

Rounding the corner, the Matron passed through the different Pods containing various sets of children. She continued to walk the courtyard until she came to a secured door. Pressing a series of keys, the door popped open. She nodded to the two guards who stood watch on the other side as she continued to walk. The walls were stenciled with words as she passed one wall and then the next; … …. …she stopped when she reached the only occupied Pod area, the words stenciled on the observation wall behind a series of one sided glass panels.

The scientists milled around the other side and looked up as the Matron walked in. She said nothing to them as she took position alongside of them to look in on the children occupying the play area. Her eyes went from one child to the next; the Large Ratataki who seemed to once again be keeping to himself and watch over all the others leaned on the far wall, his massive arms folded one over the other. The two Zabrak boys were busy arguing over something, the Matron couldn’t figure out what it was.

Eventually her eyes drifted to land on the two Mirialan twins. Both girls sitting across from one another. The larger one, with red-hair was already growing at an astronomical rate. So much that she no longer held exactly the same features as her twin. The raven-haired girl waited patiently in a cross-legged seated position.

Mrysti floated the block in the air, her fingers seeming to weave an invisible tapestry as she spun the block slowly and then started to pass it in the air by an unseen force toward her smaller sister. Karolin watched the block make its way toward her, as if she were waiting on something. The block made it half-way the distance between the two as Mrysti suddenly and without reason pressed out hard with the hand which was weaving the invisible force. The block sailed like a ball shot from a cannon toward the raven haired Karolin. It was headed for her face and shortly before it struck, almost in slow motion; Karolin raised a hand and stopped it. The momentum gone, the block hung in the air right in front of her, before Karolin waved to the side and sent the block sailing away from them both.

Their power was growing, they were growing. And soon the Project would have to make a decision; as all of the children were going to soon outlive the confines of the orphanage. As the Matron watched them, Mrysti got up and walked over to her sister smiling, they exchanged words that the Matron could not hear on the other side of the glass. She was shocked as both sets of eyes, Mrysti and Karolin went to the glass and then directly to her. It made the Matron stumble back a step.

They knew. The two girls didn’t know what they knew, but they knew something was amiss. Perhaps it was their Mother’s untimely arrival at the orphanage, perhaps it was the Matron herself who came into the pod just to look at them.

As Karolin and Mrysti approached the glass, the taller one looming over the smaller; Karolin placed her hand on the glass; fingers spread as she tried to look through. They were both directly across from the Matron looking at her, though the Matron knew neither could see her. Karolin removed her hand and breathed some fog onto the glass and began writing in the mist left by her breath. The Matron watched and as the two girls shrugged and walked away the Matron looked at the message as it already started to fade away. It was something far beyond what the adolescent girls should have been capable of reasoning at their age; words far too ancient and seasoned for mere children. And Karolin had written it backward, so the words would be readable to those watching them from the inside.

--

Zakuul…the End of ‘Reprogrammed’….Years later and after the Eternal Empire invades the galaxy....

Karolin spun with a fervor shown only a few times to her sister. The blast came from the hand she had free, slinging the purple saber in her other hand behind her. It hit Mrysti dead center of the chest and sent her flying. Had she been any other warrior, it would have burned clear through her breastbone. Mrysti bringing her own purple blade up at the last moment.

The body slid to rest at Alex’s feet, Mrysti unconscious. Alex bent down and placed her hand on her daughter’s forehead and bowed her head closing her eyes. She lived. Barely, but Mrysti was still alive. Passing a little of her own Force energy into her daughter, Alex stabilized the fallen Mirialan and stood slowly. The Lab was in shambles. Not a single inch of the facility went untouched and as Alex looked over at Karolin who was busy picking herself off the floor after such an awesome display of power, the two faced one another.

Karolin leveled the tip of the purple blade at her Mother and stood up a little straighter. The battle with her sister had taken a toll on Karolin, but she was still formidable. And Alex was no longer the young Jedi she once was. The odds were even.

Remembering when they brought Karolin back from Hoth and before she once again fell under the spell of her programming, it was emotion that broke the hold the program had over her. Extreme emotional response from Karolin, brought the woman back for brief periods. Alex glanced behind her at her other daughter’s unconscious body.

“She lives.” Alex cracked a crooked smile as the two started a slow circle around each other and the room, “You are no better at killing than you are at…” Alex shrugged, “…well anything else really.” Karolin’s mouth twitched in a sneer, her lip starting to move involuntarily. “You fail at relationships, you fail at love….driving men to absolutely kill themselves to get away from you.” The sneer increased as Alex watched Karolin grit her teeth, “Face it…you’re a loser. And I am ashamed to call you daughter…that anything like you would come from my womb—“

The words had the desired effect, Karolin charged; her other hand reaching out to grab the yellow blade which had been sent flying from her hand by her sister back to her palm. She ignited it in the spin as Alex brought both her Azure blades up. “AGGGGHHHHHH!!!” Karolin screamed as she struck down with both blades and spun again to try and cut her mother in half. Only to meet the blue flashes of her Mother’s twin sabers. “I HATE YOU!!!” It was enough, the fact that Karolin expressed hate; Alex knew Karolin was breaking. Now she had to survive her daughter’s rage to get through to her.

Jumping backwards to try and get some space, Karolin’s Power in the Force was threatening to stifle her; Alex landed hard next to Mrysti only to have the purple blade sailing from Karolin’s hand toward her. That angered Alex, enough was enough. Reaching out, Alex swatted it away. All of this had taken its toll. Watching her two daughter's fight after she been blasted out of the doorway. Watching and waiting to see one kill the other and now to hear her daughter express absolute hate. Karolin had never seen that side of her Mother; she never had the chance being stolen from her before the two could have a life together.

The Dark side gene ran strong within all of them, but no stronger than the source of both Mrysti and Karolin's Darkness. Their Mother. Alex slung the sabers out to her side and sneered in the direction of the child, “You think you are the original Dark Lady of the family…” The rage continued to build, "You think you can strike ME down?!?! How dare you...you are a weak little nothing, playing with a power you cannot begin to understand! And to think I thought you were stronger than this, stronger than that programming, stronger than anything the Republic could put inside either of you!!" Twirling the blades, she let go and started at a run, “You want power….I WILL SHOW YOU POWER, LITTLE GIRL…”

Very rarely did Alex ever completely let go. She did it when the Sith killed Bernard. She did it when the Republic killed Drogan. She did it after Mrysti was presumably killed in her attempt to escape the Jedi…and she did it the day the Zakuul attacked Mirial. As Alex’s eyes lit with a purplish black haze of raw energy she stepped forward, the blades in her hand spinning with almost inhuman speed. She became a blur; warping behind Karolin as the younger Mirialan tracked her in the Force. She slashed out behind her, spinning to try and decapitate Alex. Fading to mist as Alex struck Karolin’s thigh, “AGGGHHH”. Karolin stabbed to the front. Alex was already gone, striking her shoulder. Karolin fell to one knee and dropped her yellow saber, placing her other hand on the leg to keep herself upright.

It was a ruse, Alex didn’t sense it. Saturated in the Darkness as she was, seeing Karolin stumble and fall; her own power and lust for battle waned. For a moment, as Karolin looked up with sad eyes and the mother's met her daughter's, Alex thought Karolin had broken. That she had finally freed herself from the program that had made her a mindless killer. As Alex faded back into normal space, Karolin smiled wickedly to herself; both hands jutting out before her in a blinding barrage of white hot lightning. It caught Alex unawares, the smile faded as she was struck down.

From the floor, Mrysti shook her head to clear it, sitting up slightly. Karolin was just getting up off her knees and stalking toward their mother. Alex had fallen, the white-hot lightning searing her skin and disintegrating her. Karolin was going to erase their Mother, the lightning beginning to do its work of burning her away.

Mrysti leapt up, the look of complete rage on her face. Mrysti's hand was already pointed as she stretched it out calling the purple blade back to her hand and bringing it to life as she landed.

--

Looking up, Alex weakly crawled toward the sound of the body falling; the lightning having stopped abruptly. Her skin still smoking as she looked up. Standing over her and with a look of shock on her face; Karolin stared down at her Mother and then the purple blade which protruded through her heart from the backside of her body. Over her shoulder, Mrysti laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder as she quickly withdrew the blade. “Damn you for making me do this…”

As Karolin fell, Alex dipped her head back to the floor; placing her forehead on its cold surface. She screamed. Alex let out a scream so shrill and so loud that even she could not hear it, feeling her daughter’s light burn out in the universe. Falling face first, Karolin fell dead into a heap and within an inch of her Mother’s face, the two locking eyes as Alex watched the light behind her now purple irises fade away.

Sacrifice, Alex had known a lifetime of it. Alex had given up so much to come to that point only to have it stripped away from her again. Time and time again, everything was stripped away from her. Weakly, she crawled toward Karolin and turned over her lifeless body to look down upon it. It would not be for nothing…death was the only thing that would stop her.

And that time had finally come. Her duty as a Mother. To do everything she could for her children. Even at the cost of her own life.

--

- Coronet, Corellia….The Hotel Anchor….

There were no call-signs or identification. The communication was the only one from the team and it was from the team leader as they set-up. Stacked six deep against the wall, their eyes focused between the HUD display and the drone feed which was monitoring the hotel from the outside and the digital display of the hotel’s schematics, which detailed a floor-by-floor layout of the hotel; in particular the room they were stacking up to assault.

General Stone got up from his chair in the command vehicle. Taking out his blaster he charged it and reholstered it on his hip. The last bit of a cigarra clenched between his lips to take one last look at what his team was seeing from their point of view. Holo-screens floated along the command terminal, each one identified with a code number corresponding to the trooper who was transmitting the image.

Stone looked over at the Jedi. As usual, she was uninterested in the going-on’s of any of General Stone’s maneuvers. The designated Jedi liaison for the Alpha Project, she had to endure so much of General Stone; the Republic’s representative to the Alpha Project, she often meditated instead of taking part.

“I’m getting ready to send them in.” Stone said gruffly. He paused, waiting for a response. “This is a Jedi. Not some run of the mill terrorist or someone stealing secrets. I would think you would have something to say about that.” Stone cleared his throat, correcting himself. “I take that back, she’s both a terrorist AND a Jedi.”

Master Anna Craft, the leader of the Jedi Order’s secret sect of assassins opened her eyes slowly, looking up at the General. Her face was impassive as she stood and finally faced him. “General, despite what you have heard or what is regarded as fact concerning former Jedi Knight Alexandra De’nabre, she is no terrorist. At least not in this regard. Simply a mother, trying to recover her children.”

“You have sympathy, Craft that’s not like you.” Stone replied gruffly, reaching down to pull the tactical vest on and fasten it. Armor plates dangled off the shoulders and back. The General synched them down, locking them into place.

“Sympathy is the wrong word.”

Stone sneered, the stubble of cigar moving reflexively in his mouth. “I—WE got orders, Craft. And I intend to carry them out.” The Jedi Master smiled condescendingly. Both moving to the ramp of the vehicle as it started to lower. Once they made it outside, the General and the Jedi turned and started walking the last block toward the Hotel.

“Don’t misinterpret my disagreement with you as disregarding my orders, General. I intend to carry them out. It’s not only my duty to advise the Jedi, but you as well.” Master Craft looked up toward the hotel as they approached. “She’s in pain. Hurting. And she knows she’s been lied to. Lied to by the very people she once swore to protect.”

“Well…” The General lifted his arm, exposing the transmitter buried in the armored gauntlets he wore. “…in a few minutes, it won’t matter. This loop is about to be closed.” General Stone squeezed his palm and spoke into the gauntlet. “Initiate…” Reaching down, he took the helmet off his belt and slapped it over his head. The sound of vacuum seals locking the helmet on to the rest of his armor.

--

Her first instinct was to fight, to storm the gates of the Green Jedi Orphanage and just unleash every bit of the Darkness she had in her. It was the darkness after all that spoke to her like that, egged her on to do unspeakable things in order to reclaim her life. Very rarely had she unleashed the Darkness within herself, she didn’t like the way it affected her afterwards; weeks sometimes months were spent as she tried to regain balance. All of the time she spent in seclusion after a mission with the White Maw. They thought she was meditating. She was recovering. Only one other time had she ever allowed the Darkness to fully take her; the day that Bernard died.

This was almost as serious. Even as a pirate, she never allowed the Force to control her; sometimes setting it aside or disregarding it completely. It opened a whole new world for her. She learned what it was like to fight without its whisper, without its guidance. Alex incorporated new weapons and new techniques to build her new image. It was always there, the Force. Followed closely behind by her own Darkness, she made a conscious decision to ignore them both. Only using either of them when it suited her. For the first time ever, she viewed the Force as a tool and not as an all encompassing entity.

It was that line of thought that had her kneeling in the center of her derelict room in the dilapidated part of town, trying to find her center after almost getting mad enough to unleash on those Jedi. But that’s what they wanted, what they expected. Since they knew that Alex was also ‘Elle’ Dread Pirate of the White Maw. As she meditated on all of what happened the previous day, she thought about what the Jedi would do with that information. It was clear that a resistance was building against her, yet she had no idea how serious. That anyone would go to that length to keep a Mother from her children was baffling. It added to how little she thought of all of them and to what length they would go to hide the truth. The fact the Jedi were involved made it even worse. An organization dedicated to peace and justice in the Galaxy doing anything BUT that.

Saturated in the light, she felt the presence, multiple presences a second before the door to her room imploded inward. She was already leaping from the floor sideways to the bed; flipping it upwards and over her as the blaster bolts and several canisters of a nerve agent entered the room. The attackers had no plans to subdue or take her in, these attackers meant to kill her. The fact that they were using a very dispersive nerve agent meant, they also didn’t care how many people they had to kill to take her down. That gas would most definitely affect those in the adjacent rooms and on her floor.

Sucking in the air around her, Alex held her breath as she reached out a hand pulling one of the blasters from her holster to her in the Force. She fired the full complement of the power cell in it. They said nothing, as she took down one of the attackers dressed in full black armor. His or her body falling hard on the floor as the attackers backed up out of the door.

--

The door to the hotel room flew apart with an inward explosion. The tinkling sound of charges and rolling canisters following; the assault team throwing in round rolling concussion grenades along with gas canisters immediately after the door blew.

The first one through the door was shot as he moved in. The second trooper behind him instantly taking his place.

Alex dove to the side, beside the bed, pulling it with her over the top of her body. She waited until the tinkling sound of the rolling charges gave way to a series of timed explosions. One through six, each a millisecond apart. Only because it took all six of the team members a rehearsed millisecond to arm and throw them in, in order.

It told Alex everything she needed to know. A hit squad, six strong. She expected it, just not so soon after visiting the enclave. Once the last charge went off, Alex tossed the bed upward with a blast from the Force. Jumping up, lightsabers in hand. The first of the team was already coming through the door, weapons held high and pointing toward the middle bisection of the room.

Intercepting the first, it threw the rest of the team coming in behind the leader off. Their plan, a well-rehearsed and thoroughly trained plan; was one taught to all room and facility clearance teams. Get in fast, kill any targets visible and secure the room in predesignated positions. The second trooper was already coming in, turning to the left. Heading to the corner. When Alex intercepted the first man through the smoke of the concussion grenades, the second man stopped and pointed his weapon toward her.

Alex sliced through the barrel of the leader’s carbine with a quick swipe of her saber, spinning to kick the leader into the rest of his follow on. The flying body missed the second trooper as the leader fell back into the rest of his squad. The slice from her lightsaber causing the blaster bolt meant for her to make his weapon explode. She dove to the side, blaster bolts tracking her; grabbing the nightstand next to her bed as she moved and hurling it toward the second trooper.

--

General Stone stopped before he got on the lift, placing a hand to his helmet. Master Craft couldn't hear what was going on being transmitted inside of his helmet, but she felt it. Looking up the lift shaft as General Stone confirmed.

“Let’s go!!” His voice strained from inside the helmet’s vocabulator, both he and the Jedi skipped the lift and took the stairs next to it. Bounding up two at a time.

--

Blaster bolts tore the room apart. The rest of the squad minus the leader and the second man, firing inside from outside the door. Alex flipped the bed frame. Bringing it up to block the majority of the incoming fire, the troopers weapons shredding the bed to pieces. She glanced at the window.

--

General Stone made it to the floor in time to see his men get up from their position and try to re-enter the room. The sound of lightsaber and screams of anguish coming from inside. Stone drew his blaster and pushed out in front of Master Craft.

Entering the room, he saw the flash of movement and the dive toward the window. The rest of the squad was down, scattered along the floor in various shapes of contortion. Smoke ebbed from places along the armored plates of the squad. Stone fired at the blur, running toward the window as it shattered. Seeing the last bit of Alexandra dive through, shattering the glass as she dove out. She fired back, a blaster in each hand. Making Stone back up as he persued.

Sounds of the blasters following her out of the window and then down past her as she fell faded further and faster as she fell toward the ground. At last she gasped in clean air and looked down at the quickly approaching surface, righting herself and placing both palms out in front of her. Calling on the Force, she started disturbing the air around her, twisting the molecules of the environment to make it thicker, slowing herself as she continued to descend. As she made it to the ground, she landed hard, but on her feet, the Force of her ‘disturbance’ in the air and the Force itself cushioning her fall as she looked back up the way she came. Her time on Corellia had come to an end and any illusions she had about taking the Green Jedi by force also went away.

Finally going back to the window and looking down. Alexandra was a red streak. Red boots and red jumpsuit darting away as only a Jedi could using their enhanced speed. He dropped the arm holding the blaster in resolution, his head sagging. Master Craft entered the room and looked around, leaning down to place a hand on the neck of one of the troopers.

“They are alive…damaged, but alive. She didn’t kill any of them.”

Stone took off the helmet. A release of the seal and the hiss of trapped pressurized air filled the space between the two. Shaking his head he turned around to leave the room.

“This isn’t over….”

--

They were on to her and they meant business. It was time to play the game the way it was meant to be played. The Jedi recognized her as ‘Elle’ and whomever attacked her in her room expected to find just a pirate there. In a very sick and twisted way they were asking for ‘Elle’ to come back. She smiled wickedly, placing a little speed in the Force behind her run as she ran off in the direction of the Starport. They wanted ‘Elle’, that was exactly who they were going to get. The war had been declared and they had no idea of the lengths Alex would go, the sacrifice she was willing to make in order to get her girls. They were going to have to kill her in order to stop her, no one; not even the Force itself could rip this away from her.

--

General Stone was on the ground level. A second assult team, on stand-by quickly realized they were not going to be needed; they came to attention, saluting as the General passed. Walking out to the road, he looked down where Alexandra landed and then the direction she ran. Toward the Starport. The agent he used to try and kill her was pervasive. Civilians were staggering out of the building around them. A loud rumbling sound of air scrubbers activating on the inside to try and purge the interior of the hotel.

Stone opened his wrist comm speaking into it to the unseen people monitoring, his face a mask behind the disappointment. “She has escaped. I have it in mind that she is headed to Coruscant. We need a listing of anyone that was around during her time in the Jedi Order, some of those people may still be active on Coruscant.”

Stone grimaced at the voice as he moved further away from the hotel and the rest of his troopers, “You forget yourself!!! This project, the investment already placed into it…we cannot afford to be sentimental concerning anything project related.” He sighed, “Does it bother me…of course it does, it is unfortunate that the girl's mother has returned from the dead. But need I remind all of you that we are not the only ones invested in this and those girls now hold a significant part of that investment. It’s unfortunate, but Alexandra De’nabre must go. One way or another…she is going to disappear so that we can get back on track…” Pressing the comm unit he disconnected only to connect again almost immediately, “Get me the Supreme Commander’s office, and place the entire Ministry on High Alert….”

The reply came to his earpiece as he replied to the question, “Name?…check the database for known enemies of the Republic, the White Maw datafile and ‘Elle’…Dread Pirate of the White Maw…”