The Imperial Campaign

"THIS IS EMPRESS CEYL OOKITA. EMPEROR PALPATINE IS DEAD. I AM NOW EMPRESS OF THE GALAXY. I HEREBY ORDER ALL IMPERIAL VESSELS TO STAND DOWN AND SURRENDER TO THE GALACTIC REPUBLIC OR BE DESTROYED UTTERLY. [TURNS TO LUKE AND ZANAIR] CHANCELLOR SKYWALKER - THE EMPIRE SURRENDERS."

- CEYL OOKITA

CAMPAIGN HISTORY

Imperial Operatives (5 ABY)

Five years since the destruction of the second Death Star, the galaxy remains at war. The New Republic forces are slowly beating back the Empire. The Empire is caught in a power struggle between several factions, most notably self-proclaimed Empress Ysanne Isard, who controls Coruscant and Ord Mantell; Grand Admiral Thrawn, who controls a large portion of the Rim territories; and Grand Admiral Zaarin, who controls Ord Biniir and surrounding sectors.

Ceyl Ookita, a Twi'lik Operative in Imperial Security, former Senatorial Aide Zanair Bohdari, one of the Empire's few non-human nobles, and Erik Ransom, a TIE pilot, were recruited by Admiral Zanda to assist Grand Admiral Thrawn in uniting the Galaxy under Imperial Rule once more.

Changing Sides (6 ABY)

While making repairs at Ord Biniir, Zanair and Ceyl were approached by Admiral Tigritt. Grand Admiral Zaarin, one of Grand Admiral Thrawn's rivals, had heard of the work they'd done for Thrawn and wanted to employ them on his side. Ceyl and Zanair liked the arrangement and agreed. Zanair's political contacts were useful to Admiral Tigritt and he was stationed on Ord Biniir while Ceyl took over the Seraph and hired on more crew. While hiring, she took Zanair's recommendation and hired a bodyguard for herself as well. She hired on four new crewmembers: Vap, an engineer, T-Bone, as a bodyguard, Cleon Gascano, pilot, and Sars. The team successfully raided Corellia to liberate the last engineer who'd worked on the designs for the Death Star. Returning to Ord Biniir, the crew learned Zanair had been involved in a tryst with the Admiral's daughter and the girl was pregnant; Zanair was being sent to infiltrate the New Jedi Order, considered to be a suicide mission.

The Dark Seraph and her crew were now too well-known in Republic space for infiltration work, so Zanair was sent alone, and the ship was left in Ceyl's command. They had false identities built for themselves and the Seraph. While Ceyl and Vap gave up their false identities after one mission, T-Bone retained the name Knuckles, and Cleon kept the identity of Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Bounty Hunter. Sars left to hire on with another ship. The Dark Seraph was given the false identity of The White Rose. After running cargo to help legitimize themselves, they were sent on a mission to Coruscant to retrieve a data cube hidden in the Old Jedi Temple containing tactical information on Coruscant that would prove useful if the planet was captured by the New Republic forces. Capture of Coruscant seemed likely as Admiral Akbar's fleet was steadily making progress toward the Imperial Capital. They would need to sneak past Isard's security forces and get out before the Republic fleet arrived.

The team was able to successfully enter the old temple through the sewers and retreived the datacube from the holocron room. They also liberated several holocrons, including one hidden by then-Senator Palpatine imprinted with his knowledge of the Dark Side. Ceyl, already a devotee of the Dark Side, took the Senator's holocron into her keeping. A large force crystal used to create a ship cloaking device was also found and kept. They escaped Coruscant without Isard's forces ever knowing they were there. Vap also rescued a young Twi'lik being sold as a slave to the Hutts who happened to be Ceyl's cousin Pryn Ookita. On their return to Ord Biniir a Black Sun interdictor ship yanked The Dark Seraph from hyperspace. A pitched battle was fought and the Black Sun ship eventually surrendered. It was brought in as salvage to Ord Biniir.

A New Ship (6 ABY)

The sale of the interdictor ship, coupled with Zanair buying out Ceyl's share of the Seraph, earned Ceyl enough credits to purchase her own ship. She bought a Gallofree Medium Transport and had it completely remodeled and upgraded under Vap's supervision. She also hired another crew member to replace Sars, a security specialist named Aja. Aja turned out to be a Hand of the Emperor as well as a computer and security specialist. She and Vap located several traps left from the old crew of the transport vessel and defused them. During this, Cleon brought a replacement pilot on board to meet Ceyl, so he could focus on his fighter ship and running as escort to the larger vessel. Bindo Gascono was hired as the new ship's pilot. Vap also wanted an assistant engineer, and Cham was hired for that role. The new ship was christened The Heavenly Voice.

Having been so successful, the team now reported directly to Grand Admiral Zaarin. Coruscant had fallen to the New Republic, and Isard had fled to Ord Mantell with what left of her fleet. That fleet included eight star destroyers and three Admirals; Admiral Vaash, Admiral Bellin, and Admiral Ross. The Heavenly Voice's crew was given a deadline of two months to capture her and return her to Ord Biniir. They would be claiming Admiral Tigritt was ready to swear allegiance to Isard, and carrying a gift of powered armor, weapons, and medical supplies as a sign of his good will. Also, Zap Brannigan, a TIE pilot and notorious ladies' man as well as Ysanne's former lover, was coming along.

En route to Ord Mantell, The Heavenly Voice was pulled from hyperspace and attacked by a Black Sun raiding party. Using a shipkiller virus developed by Knuckles, they disabled the ship, destroyed its escort, and continued on, only to find a small fleet of Imperials turned pirates in their way. Aja transmitted her identification codes and the ships broke off, instead escorting the Voice to their base on an uncharted planet, a secret mining operation for crystals used in high powered lasers -- such as the laser on the Death Star. It was discussed and decided a secret base could be a useful fallback point from Ord Mantell, so the crew prepared to take the Base through diplomacy and intimidation. Aja's codes as Hand of the Emperor granted her authority over everyone; Brannigan happened to have Sith Acolyte robes which Ceyl borrowed to lend weight to the claim that she was one of the Emperor's apprentices; Knuckles wore his purchased Crimson Guard power armor; and everyone else would just be themselves. They had to kill some of the command staff to do it, but they did take over the Base. The team found a box with ten black crystals purported to belong to Darth Vader.

Study of the crystals in consultation with the Palpatine holocron revealed they could summon the Force Spirit of their creator by speaking his or her name. Unfortunately the holocron was recorded prior to Vader's ascendence to Palpatine's apprentice, and did not contain Vader's true name. The crystals surrounded the cloaking crystal in the Voice's engine room and whenever someone tried to touch them, they seemed to enter that person, granting the person the ability to see the Force without expending their own energy to do so. Aja searched through her databases and managed to find the name Anakin Skywalker, which did summon his Spirit to the group. Anakin Skywalker explained he made the crystals using Sith Alchemy as he hadn't Palpatine's skill to make holocrons, but wanted to leave a record of his experiences for new force users. The crystals could summon him for nearly ten to fifteen minutes each. He expounded on the nature of the Jedi and the Sith, that the Jedi were supposed to keep the balance of the Force, but had failed when they instead chose to police the galaxy. The Sith were the counterbalance to the Jedi. Ceyl discovered during this time that Vap was force active.

The Base secured and the mystery of the crystals solved, the crew left for the final leg of the trip to Ord Mantell. Cleon tendered his resignation at this time, saying that he had found a replacement for himself, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter. Cleon wanted to devote his time to bounty hunting. Twelve hours out of Ord Mantell they made contact with the new Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Pu'tah.

Finally, The Heavenly Voice made it to Ord Mantell and docked with the Base. Ceyl met with the Deputy Director of Security under Ysanne Isard, a former Hand of the Emperor known as Malak. Malak, currently Ysanne's lover, attempted but failed to control Ceyl using the Force, and she remained adamant that she needed to deliver her message directly to Empress Ysanne, so The Heavenly Voice was brought on board the Star Destroyer Revenge. Ysanne was immediately distracted by Brannigan, and Admiral Vaash was left to play host to the Voice's crew. Eventually Ysanne returned to meet with Ceyl and agreed to come meet Admiral Tigritt. For her protection, she would travel on the Voice under heavy guard. Vaash also approached the crew privately and arranged to help betray Ysanne because of the way she'd thrown away good ships and lives in her own protection.

Ysanne safely on board, The Heavenly Voice and escort ships headed for Dathomir. En route, Ceyl had a vision of a battle with Black Sun capital ships. Aja sent a coded message informing Tigritt and Zaarin of a change in course, and the Voice emerged from hyperspace during the battle. While the battle took place, the crew stormed into the secured rooms they'd set aside for Ysanne, capturing her. The Imperial fleet was victorious over the Black Sun, and The Heavenly Voice's crew was able to deliver Ysanne into Grand Admiral Zaarin's keeping. Ceyl was able to convince Blackheart, one of the Crimson Guards, to stay on the Voice. Ceyl was also informed of their next mission, which would be to destroy Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Needing some time off, the crew first shot up a bar on Ord Biniir, with Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter collecting some bounties along the way, then went cargo running and bounty hunting. On Yablari, The Dark Seraph was in port, registered again under its own name, and carrying not only Zanair but Luke Skywalker. Zanair warned Ceyl that her aura was very obvious, so after offloading cargo she had the Voice move to another port. He also let her know that Malak had joined the New Republic, and was now a senator. Malak had placed bounties on the crew of The Havenly Voice, wanting them dead for betraying Ysanne to Grand Admiral Zaarin. Malak was also targetting the families of the crew of The Heavenly Voice. While Ceyl and Aja oversaw ship matters, Vap received word that his family had been attacked and went to assist his relatives. He returned later to the ship saying he'd arranged someplace safe for his family, but would reveal nothing further.

Meanwhile, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter and Knuckles went after a bounty, Ren Starkiller, by the cunning method of having sex with her while she was filming her latest porn movie. Eventually Shadowstalker was able to kill Ren and collect the bounty on her. The Heavenly Voice had to fight its way out of the Yablari system, as Malak had them ambushed. Malak himself escaped.

Grand Admiral Thrawn's Attack (7 ABY)

The Voice set course for Dathomir, to pick up armor for Aja. At Dathomir, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Knuckles, and Blackheart went on a rancor hunt. Aja and Ceyl met a witch of the Night Sisters and learned from the witch that Palpatine was alive, having cloned himself before his death. His acolytes were overseeing his rebirth on Byss and preparing for his return to rule the galaxy once more. Ceyl began her studies of alchemy under the witch's guidance. In the course of securing materials for her studies, Ceyl and Aja uncovered a plot of Grand Admiral Thrawn's nephew to subvert the Imperial Garrison on Dathomir, converting the prisoners to his cause. They killed Thrawn's nephew and ended the plot. Ceyl also had a vision of Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet, which included the fabled katana fleet of automated star destroyers.

The crew had a little more time before they needed to go after Thrawn, so decided to hunt Krayt dragons on Tatooine. While prepping for the hunt and purchasing supplies, Vap finds an old holocron which he brought to Ceyl, knowing her interest in them. Vap, Aja and Ceyl investigated the holocron, eventually activating it. Once activated, the holocron released the Force Spirit of Naga Sadow. Sadow attempted to seduce Aja into becoming his apprentice, but when Vap tried to interfere and was blasted by Sith Lightning, Ceyl turned on Sadow and attacked him. Others of the crew attacked the spirit as well, until it weakened and fled. Attuned to the Force, Ceyl noted Sadow's spirit headed to Korriban.

Finally, the team headed out after a krayt dragon. They holo-recorded their battle and defeat of a huge dragon, which they released over the holonet. They also harvested parts of the dragon to sell, and some parts to keep. Everyone received a krayt dragon pearl, and they kept teeth for Ceyl to later turn into knives. By the time they'd finished their hunt, news of Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet heading through the galaxy had reached Tatooine. The Heavenly Voice set course for Thrawn's fleet.

When they reached Dathomir and Thrawn's fleet, Ceyl transmitted her old codes to Admiral Zanda's flagship. Her codes were accepted and The Heavenly Voice was brought on board by tractor beam. They were met by a squad of stormtroopers under the command of Captain Prewitt. Ceyl, Aja, and Blackheart were escorted to meet with Admiral Zanda after relinquishing their weapons, while Vap, Knuckles, and Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter stayed in the hold outside the Voice, since the stormtroopers were searching the ship. They reached Zanda's office followed by a clone of a Master Jedi named C'baoth, who had sensed their presence and wanted them to become his apprentices. Aja taunted C'boath into attacking them, and the three force users duelled until Ceyl ordered Blackheart, still in his powered armor, to kill the former Jedi. Admiral Zanda said he now felt they were powerful enough to be of use and were told they would meet with Thrawn within a week.

Returning to the ship, the crew found the stormtroopers had not only ransacked it, stealing their personal items such as holocrons and the cloaking crystal, but bugged the ship and every single droid. Ceyl, who had been considering switching sides back to Grand Admiral Thrawn, decided in her anger to go through with Grand Admiral Zaarin's plan. Their items were eventually returned, broken. They were contacted by Thrawn directly during the week in transit to his flagship and made known their complaints; for their troubles they were given Captain Prewitt to do with as they wished. Ceyl spent the rest of the week using Prewitt in her alchemy shapings, turning the dragon teeth into knives for those who'd been on the hunt.

En route to rescue Skywalker, Ceyl sought a vision of him in the Force, to see what they would be facing, and instead saw the future, with her and Luke kneeling before the Emperor reborn.

They reached the cloning facilities in time to rescue The Dark Seraph with Luke and Zanair on board. They helped destroy the facilities, and also captured Mara Jade, who'd been watching hidden in her ship nearby. The crew of The Heavenly Voice discussed the threat from Thrawn and convinced Luke that he could unite both the Empire and the Republic if he became Chancellor. The remaining Imperial forces knew the Emperor had wanted Luke as his apprentice, and the Republic recognized Luke as a hero. With Zanair's influence, Luke agreed.

Under Ceyl's orders, Aja contacted Tigritt and Vaash to have them come over to the new alliance being formed. Ceyl informed Zaarin that Palpatine was alive, and Zaarin decided his best interest lay in not becoming Emperor, and agreed to come in to aid in the fight against Thrawn with the Republic. By the time Thrawn reached Coruscant, The Heavenly Voice had helped coordinate an attack on his fleet. They delivered Luke to Thrawn, and a battle ensued in Thrawn's throne room during which Knuckles was killed. However, the team was victorious over Thrawn and he was destroyed. Luke announced they were taking the ship, the Republic and Imperial forces destroyed the remainder of Thrawn's fleet, and an uneasy truce between the two sides was declared as the galaxy united under Republic rule.

Under Ceyl's orders, Aja contacted Tigritt and Vaash to have them come over to the new alliance being formed. Ceyl informed Zaarin that Palpatine was alive, and Zaarin decided his best interest lay in not becoming Emperor, and agreed to come in to aid in the fight against Thrawn with the Republic. By the time Thrawn reached Coruscant, The Heavenly Voice had helped coordinate an attack on his fleet. They delivered Luke to Thrawn, and a battle ensued in Thrawn's throne room during which Knuckles was killed. However, the team was victorious over Thrawn and he was destroyed. Luke announced they were taking the ship, the Republic and Imperial forces destroyed the remainder of Thrawn's fleet, and an uneasy truce between the two sides was declared as the galaxy united under Republic rule.

Heroes of The New Republic (7 ABY)

Grand Admiral Zaarin was made a regional governor of the remaining Imperial sectors. The crew of the Heavenly Voice, along with Luke and Zanair, were recognized as Heroes of the Republic and awarded medals of honor. During the ceremony, Aja was attacked by Senator Malak. He was killed, but turned out to be a clone. Infuriated, Ceyl sought through the Force and located Malak's ship in space, giving others his heading. His ship was destroyed before it could escape the system. Luke was elected Supreme Chancellor of the New Republic, and Zanair was made his Viceroy. Ceyl and Zanair began a relationship that seemed based on sex. Zanair and Luke also mentioned that they'd been told of a dire event in the future, one that was only darkness no one could see through. Admiral Vaash was given second-in-command of the Republic fleet under Admiral Akbar. Admiral Vaash also proposed to Aja, who accepted.

The Heavenly Voice hired on more crew, including Char'ack, and three more former Crimson Guards, Maven, Knacker, and Thug. They searched for more holocrons, finding several, and repaired the ones that Thrawn had broken. Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter bounty hunter's guild began to gain a lot of popularity, and he started tracking down enemies of the Republic. The crew learned the location of the Empire's secret research base, but did not share with their new Republic friends. Char'ack purchased himself a senatorship, and Ceyl was granted oversight of Ord Radama, which Char'ack and she turned into a transport company and shipyard, called Heavenly Voice Shipping.

They also went treasure hunting, using a map they'd found from some pirates. They located a secret system surrounded by 5 pulsars, and one planet which had an underwater base. They met a force user steeped in the Dark Side, Commander Grey, who'd been hiding from the Hutts and using his own descendents to provide materials for cloning himself, for nearly 200 galactic years. He struck a deal with the crew to provide them a percentage of the take if they would steal Hutt funds from the Galactic Bank. The crew agreed, and broke into the Galactic Bank, stole the funds, framed the Corporate Sector, and started a galactic war between the Hutts and the Corporate Sector that wiped out both factions. Commander Grey left his hidden base and disappeared into the galaxy at large. Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter took over the system, and commissioned a large space station built that eventually he moved to the hidden system.

They also went treasure hunting, using a map they'd found from some pirates. They located a secret system surrounded by 5 pulsars, and one planet which had an underwater base. They met a force user steeped in the Dark Side, Commander Grey, who'd been hiding from the Hutts and using his own descendents to provide materials for cloning himself, for nearly 200 galactic years. He struck a deal with the crew to provide them a percentage of the take if they would steal Hutt funds from the Galactic Bank. The crew agreed, and broke into the Galactic Bank, stole the funds, framed the Corporate Sector, and started a galactic war between the Hutts and the Corporate Sector that wiped out both factions. Commander Grey left his hidden base and disappeared into the galaxy at large. Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter took over the system, and commissioned a large space station built that eventually he moved to the hidden system.

The Return of the Emperor (8 ABY)

Towards the end of the war between the Hutts and the Corporate Sector, Emperor Palpatine's fleet emerged from the deep core, striking swiftly at systems on a direct line to Mon Calamari. Aja felt the presence of the Emperor once again in her mind, questioning her loyalty as his Hand. Ceyl then heard the Emperor, ordering her to his presence immediately. She turned to the crew and set course for Coruscant, via Ord Biniir. By the time the Voice reached Ord Biniir, the Emperor's fleet was there, waiting, and they docked with the Emperor's flagship. Everyone with allegiance to the Empire was present: Admirals, Grand Admirals, even Zanair and Zap Brannigan...and Luke Skywalker, filled with rage and brimming over with the Dark Side of the force.

The Emperor turned to Luke and asked what he thought of Ceyl. Luke responded that Ceyl was totally vile, even using children in her alchemical experiments. The Emperor nodded and ordered Luke to kill her. Ceyl's friends in the room looked as if this was unexpected, and the crew of The Heavenly Voice looked to her to aid her. Aja, now convinced the Emperor was truly himself because he'd turned Luke, waved off her companions, believing Ceyl had to pass the test on her own. Luke merely nodded to the Emperor and then attacked Ceyl. Ceyl was able to barely defend herself against his attack, and avoided damage only through the use of the alchemical protections she wore.

It seemed she would eventually lose the fight, until Maven and Blackheart ignored Aja and joined Ceyl, with Blackheart immobilizing Luke and Maven standing before Ceyl to protect her from harm. Zanair moved in to threaten Blackheart with his lightsaber, protecting his master, Luke. Palpatine, intrigued that his own Crimson Guards would defend Ceyl when he wished her dead, asked Maven if he would give his life for Ceyl. When Maven said yes, Palpatine killed him in her place, and considered that sufficient to pass the test. Palpatine named Ceyl his student, placing her second-in-line after Luke for command of the Empire.

Palpatine immediately turned to Vaash and Aja, mentioned he'd heard of their engagement, and married them on the spot. He then began a planning sessions for the war to retake the galaxy, and it became evident that he was completely insane as his plans rambled on. Eventually everyone was permitted to retire to their rooms, with the crew of the Voice all on the same deck. Ceyl was placed in a suite next to Zanair and Luke. Zanair came into Ceyl's room through a secret door and explained the plan to destroy the Emperor's cloning facilities and destroy Palpatine once and for all. Ceyl, still enraged at the killing of Maven, readily agreed. They would destroy the cloning facilities on Byss, turn Luke against the Emperor, and reclaim their allies from the Emperor's forces. Zanair also revealed to Ceyl that he wanted to rule the galaxy.

The crew was allowed to return to The Heavenly Voice. They set course for Byss. Once on board the Voice, Ceyl and Vap cornered Aja in the Voice's engineering bay, which was sheilded from farseeing, and confronted her about her odd behaviour and her apparent change in loyalties. Aja protested her innocence, and allowed Vap to attempt to sever her connection to Emperor Palpatine. Vap was successful, but once her link was severed Palpatine became enraged and sent Admiral Vaash after the Voice. Aja, Vap, and Ceyl decided to use the shipkiller virus on the Heavenly Voice to make it look like Aja had turned on the crew and then escaped; Aja fled in the Vader. It took the crew nearly an hour to get the Voice capable of working again, and only that because they knew exactly what their shipkiller was designed to do. Once communications was restored, Vaash contacted Ceyl and confirmed Aja's escape. Leaving a secured, encrypted channel open to the Voice, Vaash then contacted the Emperor and informed Palpatine that he had failed in his mission to recover Aja. Furious, Palpatine crushed Vaash while the crew of the Voice watched over the open communications link.

The Heavenly Voice completed its repairs at Ord Biniir and then got underway to Byss, picking up Aja along the way and informing her of her husband's death. Ceyl spent the time providing alchemical protection against the Force to Vap and Blackheart. Blackheart also brought his sister, Brittany, on board as a new member of Ceyl's bodyguard, which they were now calling the Blackguard. Ceyl used her holocron of Emperor Palpatine, recorded months before the destruction of the second death star, to access plans and layouts of the facilities on Byss. The Voice met up with the Dark Seraph, and Zanair transferred over to assist the team attacking Byss. Han Solo and Leia Solo were taking the Seraph to the Eclipse to try to turn Luke from the Dark Side. The Heavenly Voice continued on to Byss.

Ceyl's orders were modified as part of their plan to take the cloning facilities, so that instead of being sent to study the cloning facilities, she would be taking over the base. Once they landed, she had the Imperial High Inquisitor, Lord Bothra, killed, in order to create a diversion that would allow Aja, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Char'ack, and Zanair to sneak out of the docking bay and into the cloning facilities. When Lord Bothra refused to submit to Ceyl's authority, she ordered Brittany to kill him. The infiltration team successfully made it past all the guards on the base. Ceyl engaged Admiral Tripp, the second-in-command, in providing her and Vap with a tour, trailed by the ever-present Blackheart. When part of the infiltration team was discovered, Ceyl and Vap claimed it was a test. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the security arrangements and stated she was going to inspect the orbital platforms, which would put the crew back in space and on their way out-system before the explosives blew. They were able to make it to the defense platforms but their timing was slightly off, and the explosions combined with the news that Luke Skywalker had attacked the Emperor put the base on alert with the platforms ready to fire. Releasing the shipkiller virus confused enough of the platforms that, combined with Bindo's exceptional piloting, they were able to escape the system.

Mara Jade, Aja, and Woozie stayed behind on The Heavenly Voice, unwilling to risk certain death if they appeared before the Emperor. Ceyl, Vap, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Char'ack, Blackheart, Brittany, Zanair, and Luke Skywalker went to face down Palpatine and destroy him once and for all. Luke pretended to be captured, and Zanair had him controlled through the Force. The Emperor revealed he'd seen their plans and ordered them killed, starting a massive battle in the throne room. The Voice's crew had prepared a virus to shut down powered armor, rendering most of the Crimson Guards immobilized. Luke rebounded one of the Emperor's lightning blasts on the three Sith Acolytes present, killing them all. Ceyl held up one of the black alchemical crystals and summoned Anakin Skywalker's force spirit. Anakin immediately attacked Palpatine, distracting him from his intended targets. Luke, Anakin, and Zanair battled Palpatine while Vap, Char'ack, Ceyl, Brittany, and Blackheart worked their way through the Shadowguards present. Zanair struck the blow that dropped Palpatine, and as the Emperor fell, Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter thrust a special dark force crystal blade into him, absorbing Palpatine's Force Spirit.

During this, 100 stormtroopers and twenty Royal Guards left in the docking bay attempted to board The Heavenly Voice to capture Aja and Mara Jade. Woozie, Aja, and Mara Jade holed up in Aja's assault shuttle in the Voice's cargo hold, and held off the attack, killing attacker after attacker. Woozie succumbed to heavy wounds and fell unconscious during the battle. Aja was also wounded and, after the initial attack was over, sought the bacta tank on her ship, unintentionally leaving Mara Jade alone to face the reinforcements that arrived. Mara Jade continued to dispatch the attacking force. Aja freed herself from the bacta tank to attempt to help but was too wounded and began to die, when Bindo came running from the bridge and began shooting stormtroopers, turning the tide of the assault.

Vap began downloading the databases of the Eclipse while Luke and Zanair healed the injured in the throne room. Ceyl opened Imperial communication channels and that informed the Imperial Fleet she was now Empress of the Galaxy and ordered them to stand down and surrender to the New Republic's fleet. She ordered Zaarin to destroy any Imperial ship which refused her orders. She then broadcast across the holonet that she was now Empress of the Galaxy, and surrendered the Empire to Luke and Zanair. Before cutting off communications, she switched to the ancient language of the Sith, and named herself Darth Livida and ordered Palpatine's former students to submit to her as Master of the Sith or she would hunt them down and destroy them.

The crew of the Eclipse had started a self-destruct sequence and the Heavenly Voice was no longer space-worthy after the protracted battle; the Heavenly Voice's crew ransacked their ship for anything they didn't want to lose, such as the holocrons and the cloaking crystal, then grabbed whatever ships they could and blasted their way out of the hold and into the battle surrounding the Eclipse. Brittany's ship was hit and destroyed during the escape. The combined Republic-Imperial fleet was victorious over those Imperial forces which remained unwilling to lay down arms, although Grand Admiral Grant did escape the battle. Aja was placed in stasis using morichro, but while the process held off her death, no one was able to discover how to release her without killing her in the process.

Heroes Again (8 ABY)

The New Republic victorious, another award ceremony was held honoring those who'd stormed the Eclipse as Heroes of the Republic, before everyone settled back into their lives. Luke stepped down as Chancellor, and opened a new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. It also turned out Vap had secretly been working with Luke to find apprentices for the new Jedi Order. Luke and Vap together approached Ceyl and asked her to join the Academy as a teacher, instructing those who wished to follow the Dark Side. Utterly bemused by the notion, and recognizing Zanair's manipulation of Luke, she agreed. Vap became a Jedi Knight and also an instructor at the school. Woozie agreed to teach her Healing arts.

Most of Palpatine's other students answered Ceyl's summons; those that did not, she hired the Shadowstalker Bounty Hunter Guild to take care of for her. Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter himself went after Darth Toxin, but failed to take his target on the first attempt, although he did kill a high-level underling posing as a decoy. Char'ack strengthened his faction in the Galactic Senate. He and Ceyl also found their company, Heavenly Voice Shipping, embroiled in a trade war with five other major merchant houses. At the school, Ceyl sought a vision of the coming threat that no one could see; straining her abilities to the utmost she was able to glimpse a ship from outside the galaxy. She provided the information to Zanair and to Luke.

Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter's space station went rogue, commanded by droids that Aja's own droids had infected with a free will virus. The Voice was destroyed and Ceyl's new ship, designed by her and Vap, was still being constructed, so the Voice's crew took several Genociders and went to rescue the space station. Zanair came along as well, although Luke stayed behind to oversee the school and look for more apprentices. Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter was able to transmit a kill-code for the droids, which still worked, but the station had engaged a capital ship which had wandered into it's sector. Recognizing it as the flagship of Yarick's merchant fleet, Ceyl and Char'ack had the ship attacked, then the group boarded the ship to capture Yarick, with Char'ack and Ceyl hoping to have him sign several documents signing away his company before he died. After rescuing a seemingly human woman named Vattasaroo from the brig, they fought their way past Yarick's guards and killbots, capturing him. He agreed to sell Char'ack and Ceyl his company and gave them information on the remainder of those arrayed against Heavenly Voice Shipping. Char'ack also learned of a strange living ship from Vattasaroo and brought it to be researched to see how it works.

Everyone returned to Coruscant once the station was secured in order to assist Zanair in the last days prior to the election for Chancellor. While on the party circuit with Zanair, Ceyl was able to meet with one of the other merchant leaders and start negotiations to remove him from the alliance harming her company. Char'ack and Ceyl eventually promised him protection for one year if he left the alliance, which he agreed to. Zanair was voted in as Chancellor of the Senate, and ennobled several people, including Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Ceyl, and Governor Zaarin.

The group met with Governor Zaarin and his wife Azula to borrow a mask she had in her possession; the mask was needed to break into Naga Sadow's tomb on Korriban. Ceyl wanted Sadow's sarcophagus under her control so she could link it to her alchemy lab on her new ship, the Harbinger. This would have the added benefit of keeping Sadow from appearing whenever he wanted and trying to wreck things. She secured the mask and then led a field trip to Ossus to search for Ancient artifacts that she could use to bribe the gatekeeper of one of her Sith Holocrons to provide her with a map to Sadow's tomb. When they returned to Yavin 4, they discovered that Lusker, one of Ceyl's apprentices, had opened Exar Kun's sarcophagus and been possessed by his force spirit; Luke had tracked him to the Maw and cornered him in the mines of Kessel. Taking the Harbinger, Ceyl, Vap, and Char'ack went to assist in the capture of the apprentice as well as give the Harbinger a shake-down cruise. They also wanted to run the Maw Cluster, knowing there was an Imperial Research facility there; Zanair agreed to meet them at Kessel for the run.

They entered the mines and located Lusker; before anyone could attempt to rescue him from Exar Kun, Char'ack set off explosives in the mine and everyone had their hands full merely escaping before it collapsed on their heads. The collapsed mine killed Lusker and freed Exar Kun's spirit, which attempted to possess those present, and succeeded in taking over Woozie. Char'ack became enraged and ordered the spirit to leave Woozie alone, attempted to remove Exar Kun by brute force. Vap dropped enough Light on Woozie to free her from Exar Kun, then attempted to sever the Sith Spirit from the Force. Vap succeeded in banishing Exar Kun and then dropped unconscious. Naga Sadow then appeared, but left after Luke, Ceyl, and Zanair made ready to battle him, and Luke ordered him to leave.

After healing those needing it, the group headed into the Maw with the Harbinger and five Genociders, successfully using Grand Admiral codes Zanair had to get them safely into attack range. Luke ordered an attack and the Imperial defenses were overrun, including the destruction of a prototype Death Star. Grand Admiral Daala surrendered. Zap Brannigan, on loan to train the Harbinger's fighter escort, worked his magic on Daala and she didn't have the attackers ambushed when they entered the base. Zanair and Ceyl set out to charm the rest of the Base, and everyone plundered the data and various prototype weapons or defenses they could find. There were Crimson Guards on the base; Blackheart convinced them to join the Blackguard.

Char'ack was called back to Coruscant for several important pieces of legislature, so Ceyl decided to take the Harbinger and hunt down Grand Admiral Grant. Conflicting information from Force visions as well as more mundance sources placed him either at the ruins of Alderaan or at Hoth. They found a small fleet at Alderaan, and summoned reinforcements from the Galactic Fleet. When Grant's forces hypered out on a heading towards Hoth, Ceyl and Shadowstalker's ships investigated the system and found a protocol droid claiming to be C3PO, but Senator Leia Solo claimed C3PO was with her when they contacted her. They shut down the droid and held it on Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter's Genocider. They then set course for Bespin, where they met up with the Galactic fleet under Admiral Tigritt's command. They didn't have enough ships to lead an assault, so the task force attempted to blockade the Hoth system while reinforcements arrived. Once Admiral Zanda and his fleet made it to Bespin, they coordinated an attack on the Hoth system and destroyed Grant's forces. Grand Admiral Grant attempted to flee the system but his ship sustained heavy damaged and was destroyed with all hands, including a dark force weilder who Ceyl and Vap could sense. The Genocider with the potentially false C3PO was also destroyed during the battle.

Vendettas (9 ABY)

The techs at Heavenly Voice Shipping finally believed they had a method of removing Aja from stasis. While they were able to revive Aja, when they tried to removed her from the bacta tank the tank exploded, killing her. It turned out the tank had been trapped in order to kill her; the assumption was that the trap was put in place on the Eclipse in order to kill anyone who'd sought healing in the Heavenly Voice's bacta tanks. Ceyl ordered the techs responsible to her alchemy lab in order that she could see to them personally, but they killed themselves before she could arrive.

The techs at Heavenly Voice Shipping finally believed they had a method of removing Aja from stasis. While they were able to revive Aja, when they tried to removed her from the bacta tank the tank exploded, killing her. It turned out the tank had been trapped in order to kill her; the assumption was that the trap was put in place on the Eclipse in order to kill anyone who'd sought healing in the Heavenly Voice's bacta tanks. Ceyl ordered the techs responsible to her alchemy lab in order that she could see to them personally, but they killed themselves before she could arrive.

Certain the immediate threat to Senator Solo was handled, they turned to hunting the escort vessel which had fled during the search for Admiral Grant. The vessel had turned slaver and was now carrying cargo for Ceyl's Grandmother out of Ryloth. The crew confronted Ceyl's grandmother, and using the Force Ceyl was able to determine where the slaver was headed. Before leaving the system, Ceyl had the Blackguard capture her grandmother's majordomo and blow up the Ookita homestead, killing her grandmother in the process. They intercepted and destroyed the rogue ship at Vulpeter. They also bought off a small bounty hunters guild which was targetting Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Bounty Hunter.

On Vulpeter Ceyl was approached by a young Miraluka female named Amaya Culu, who claimed to be sent by the Force Spirit of Aja Arundeel. Ceyl studied the young woman and reconized traces of Aja's presence, so granted the woman temporary status on her ship until they could determine the truth of her tale.

Everyone rejoined Char'ack on Coruscant in time for Zanair's upcoming party to meet his potential brides. Char'ack telepathically investigated Amaya and confirmed her story, and she was granted a position on the Harbinger. While Ceyl stayed at the center of attention at the party and met the women who might become Zanair's wife, Vap, Amaya, and Char'ack arranged for Corley, one of the merchants aligned against Heavenly Voice Shipping, to have an aircar accident. His widow declined to continue the vendetta, leaving only Badger, the ringleader, and Meghara, arrayed against the Heavenly Voice Shipping Company.

Everyone rejoined Char'ack on Coruscant in time for Zanair's upcoming party to meet his potential brides. Char'ack telepathically investigated Amaya and confirmed her story, and she was granted a position on the Harbinger. While Ceyl stayed at the center of attention at the party and met the women who might become Zanair's wife, Vap, Amaya, and Char'ack arranged for Corley, one of the merchants aligned against Heavenly Voice Shipping, to have an aircar accident. His widow declined to continue the vendetta, leaving only Badger, the ringleader, and Meghara, arrayed against the Heavenly Voice Shipping Company.

Darth Toxin joined forces with Badger to destroy Ceyl, and placed a bounty on Amaya's head. Ceyl finally lost her patience with the slowness of the Shadowstalker Guild in taking out Toxin and confronted Shadowstalker regarding the contract, preparing to go herself to find the renegade Sith Lord, but Shadowstalker sent word to Bane to take the shot. Bane killed Toxin and took over her organization, which had become part of Badger's organization, thereby sabatoging Badger's company. With Toxin's and Corley's demise, Meghara decided staying with Badger was too costly and broke the alliance. In order to ensure she would be safe from retaliation from Ceyl and Char'ack, she delivered information on the security and layout of Badger's home base. The Harbinger's crew attacked the base and killed Badger, ending the trade war.

Naga Sadow (9 ABY)

Having won their trade war, the team decided it was time to party, and ended up at a bar called Gray Haven. They were stunned to find Commander Grey running the bar - and that Badger was Grey's sister. This made him Lord Grey, a position he took up with delight and no thoughts of vendetta against the Harbinger's crew.

The crew finally felt they had enough information and artifacts to take down Naga Sadow and capture his sarcophagus. When they reached his tomb on Korriban, they learned the first task was to put on the mask. After some debate, Sage (one of the Blackguard and Alvin's cousin) donned the mask, and immediately fell to the ground. Only Woozie's quick aid kept her alive. Having opened the tomb, they left Sage on the ship and headed inside.

They found themselves in a dark miasma of twisting corridors. Ceyle cautioned everyone to touch nothing unless she says it is okay. Even with warnings, they lost over half the assembled group of Blackguards and minions to traps and puzzles. One alchemy puzzle nearly trapped Ceyl, but Blackheart threw her from the room, breaking the spell.

At last, they made it to the central tomb and Sadow's sarcophagus, surrounded by four smaller ones, matching Ceyl's visions. Four ancient Sword Droids attacked them, dropping Ceyl, Vap, and Shadowstalker the Bounty Hunter, Bounty Hunter. As blasts riccocheted around the room from the remainder of the team, Alvin was killed protecting Ceyl.

Suddenly, Ceyl heard the voice of Yoda, offering her aid. Vap heard the voice of Exar Kun, offering him aid. Ceyl, being pragmatic, accepted the offer and allowed Yoda to posses her. Vap turned down Exar Kun, who immediately attacked him, attempting to posses him by Force. Another Sith Spirit offered aid to Shadowstalker, who turned it down. The droids were destroyed as the three managed to stand, Amaya shouting that "He's coming!"

Naga Sadow's spirit appeared, and Yoda/Ceyl immediately unleashed an attack on him. Vap gave in and allowed Exar Kun to posses him. Lumiya attacked Ceyl, and was killed by Shadowstalker and Amaya. Shadowstalker was injured again and fell to the floor in a pool of blood, apparently dead. Naga Sadow was overcome and faded out entirely. Wounded, bleeding out, and dying, they turned to the five sarcophagi. One is the one they want, one has an exit out of the tomb, and the others are deadly traps.

Legends (9 ABY)

But the battle against Naga Sadow and the choices they made were never known, for they were never seen alive again.

After waiting for weeks in orbit, Woozie and Sage took the Harbinger and returned to the Republic, to inform the Senate and the Jedi Academy of the loss. After a suitable period of mourning, Zanair chose one of his brides and married. Luke continued running the Jedi Academy without a Sith Master, but still allowed the Dark Side to be taught. And Alvin Blackheart's widow and children suddenly found themselves incredibly rich, as Ceyl had left them her portion of Heavenly Voice Shipping and Heavenly Voice Shipyards.