Brandon Harth sipped a juri juice, paying little attention to the din of many conversations that surrounded the booth in the little cantina in Coronet, Corellia. He still couldn’t believe that his entire world was gone. He had been a king of a small world in the Outer Rim, but it had been destroyed a year prior in the massive Sith War. He was listening to the band, when he noticed an old friend approaching.
“Well, if it isn’t Brandon Harth!” the man said. The man had dirty blonde hair, with a few small gray streaks. He had a muscular build and bronzed skin. He peered out through coal black eyes.
“Markil Darillian!”
“Say, I’m glad I ran into you. I could use your help.”
“Sure, anything you need, old buddy,” Brandon said.
“Great! I knew I could count on you. Okay, you know that the Republic is caught up in a big war with the Sith, right? Why did I bother asking, they destroyed your world. Sorry. Okay, I’ve been hearing some rumors from some very reliable sources that there’s Sith activity on Mon Calamari. As a Republic soldier, I’m not at liberty to investigate. I need you to investigate it for me.”
“And if I find this Sith insurgence?”
“Destroy it.”
Brandon almost laughed aloud. “You must be kidding! I’m a king, not a Jedi!”
“That is why I called in a few favors and got you some help.”
Brandon noticed several of the cantina patrons walking towards the booth. “This is Tinian Rossik, the daughter of Adol Rossik.” The redheaded girl bowed slightly. Adol Rossik was a powerful Corellian aristocrat. “She’s brilliant where anything mechanical is concerned.”
“Markil served in my father’s militia for a time, so I’m doing this for my father. Besides, I love an adventure and an excuse to get away from my demanding family,” Tinian said. “Oh, and this–”she motioned to the ginger-and-cream colored Wookie standing by her. “–is Jiaraporin, or Jia. Some Hutts tried to enslave him, but, with a little help from CorSec, I was able to save him, so he swore a life debt to me.”
A twilight blue Twi’lek woman approached. She wore dark brown robes, and one lekku is draped around her neck. She wore a simple gold headdress on her lekku. “I am Seela Freykaa, a Jedi Padawan. Markil and I fought a couple battles together.”
A woman approached. Dark robes concealed her face, except her chin and mouth. She wore a close fitting black jumpsuit, which was barely visible beneath her cape. A few locks of fiery red hair glistened like rubies beneath her cloak. She pulled back her hood, revealing brilliant jade colored eyes. “I am Cirla S’Ardan.”
“She’s a Mistryl Shadow Guard!” Markil explained.
Hand claws emerged from the black leather gloves Cirla wore, and they were pointed at Markil’s neck. “My connections are to remain unspoken!” she bit out ominously. She retracted the claws.
“Right,” he said, rubbing the marks on his neck where she had pressed the claws. “Okay, Cirla, Seela, and Tinian have their own ships. Brandon, I’ve gotten permission from the Republic to loan you a Republic fighter. You must leave at once!”
“I was just thinking I wanted something to do, I guess this is it…” Brandon said.
“Unfortunately, as I said earlier, I cannot go with you,” Markil announced reluctantly.
“Don’t worry, Markil,” Tinian said, “we’ll find those Sith.”
They proceeded to their ships and rendezvoused in orbit of Corellia, which glistened like an emerald suspended in space.
“Should we all take the same route or separate routes to Mon Calamari?” Brandon asked through the inter-ship transmitters. The Republic fighter was a glistening white ship that was shaped like a plus sign.
“I think we should keep a low-profile and come in separately,” Cirla said. Her own ship was jet black and shaped like a streamlined arrow.
“No, we need to stick together,” Tinian said.
Jia growled his agreement.
“I agree with Cirla, we need to draw as little attention as possible,” Seela said.
“Well, Brandon, looks like whatever you vote for goes,” Tinian said.
“I…I think we should stick together,” Brandon said slowly.
“Have it your way, but I fear this will not turn out well,” Cirla hissed.
“Look! Sith fighters bearing 3-4 mark 5!” Seela shouted.
“It’s only two!” Brandon exclaimed. “I got ‘em!”
Brandon’s laser cannons flared, and one of the fighters erupted into an exploding blaze. Seela was on the other one and it was also destroyed.
“Let’s get out of here!” Tinian said.
“I’m right behind you,” Brandon said. The four ships rapidly streaked across the sector and vanished.

An hour later, the four ships came out of hyperspace around the blue jewel of Mon Calamari. The entire planet was one big ocean, save for a few reefs, small island chains, and floating cities. They landed at the largest of the cities, Coral City. They were all able to land on one platform. A Quarren greeted them. Quarren typically inhabit the depths of Mon Calamari. They have yellowish-tan skin and squid-like tentacles surrounding their mouths.
“Welcome to Mon Calamari,” he said. “May I show you to the Tourist Council?”
The others looked to Brandon, obviously expecting him to lead them. “Uh…yes, thank you,” he vacillated.
“This way please.”
He lead them through the city, which was made of highly polished white metal and white coral that had been polished for so long that it was as clear as glass.
They entered a room with eight seats in it, each holding a Mon Calamari. Mon Calamari have bulbous, fish-like heads, and their skin colors span the spectrum. “May I present the Tourist Council,” the Quarren said.
A green-skinned Mon Calamari female stood up and greeted them. “I am Yirin, chief of the Tourist Council,” she said. “How may we serve you, honorable citizens of the Republic?”
“Uh…” Brandon wavers, then turns and whispers to Seela, “I think you’d better handle this.”
Seela glanced at him quizzically, then turned to face the Council. “We have been told by a good friend of the Republic, a soldier named Markil Darillian, that there are rumors of Sith in the area,” she stated bluntly. “You want to tell me about Sith activity in the area,” she said, waving her hand subtly, trying to use a Jedi mind trick.
Although it doesn’t work, the Mon Calamari are honest people. “I’m afraid, Mistress Jedi, that I am unaware of Sith activities on Mon Calamari, although I would not deny that it’s possible.”
“That really got us a long way,” Cirla whispered tartly to Seela.
“Thank you for your help, we leave in peace,” Seela said.
“What help?” Cirla muttered sourly.
They walked out, and Brandon grabbed a Human man’s arm. “Excuse me, sir?”
“Look, I’ve got a blaster if I need to use it on you,” he said warningly.
“Relax! I’m not trying to rob you, I just want to ask you a couple questions…”

“Well, after spending all afternoon talking to people,” Cirla said as they stood outside their ships talking, “all we’ve come up with is rumors and cryptic clues! I say we infiltrate every operation in the city, that way we can get proof!”
Jia growled objectively.
“I agree with Jia,” Tinian said. “We don’t have all decade, we need answers. We need answers fast.”
“We’ve had at least ten people mention the Sith might be using the Czerka weapons factory,” Brandon said. “I say we investigate that first.”
Jia growled his approval.
“Wait, isn’t that the one that is only accessible through the sewers unless you’re a factory worker?” Tinian asked, scrunching up her nose.
“I could claim rights to enter in the name of the Jedi Order,” Seela offered.
“It’s too risky, we don’t want to draw that much attention to ourselves!” Cirla said.
“I suppose you’re right. Regardless, it’s our best bet. We’ll try it tomorrow.”
That night, they all found lodging. Cirla stayed in her ship. Tinian and Jia shared a room at the Sea Pearl Hotel, a luxurious seaside hotel. Brandon got a penthouse in the same hotel, and Seela checked in at the Kelp Motel, a more modest residence.
After Jia went to bed, Tinian decided to go down to the lobby to get a snack. There, she found that Brandon was sitting at a table in the lounge, munching some palies and sipping an Alderaanien buri nectar.
“Oh, hey, Tinian!” he said quietly. “Care to join me?”
“Sure, let me grab a small snack and I’ll be right with you!”
She came back with a bantha burger and a Jawa juice. “So,” she said, “what are you doing up this late?”
“Getting a snack. You?”
“The same.” She found herself admiring her companion’s intriguing pale blue eyes, his black hair. At the same time, he found her beautiful sea green eyes and ruby hair mesmerizing.
“So…have you ever been to Coruscant?” Brandon asked casually.
“Once, when I was very little. It was…enthralling, to say the least. Have you?”
“A few times. I’ve had to sit through a few of those boring Senate meetings with a friend of mine.” He thought back to the Senate meetings he attended with the Senator of Elorapin. He hated those meetings, but he wished he could have his world back…
“Have you ever been to Alderaan?”
“No, I’m afraid I haven’t. I’ve heard it’s beautiful, though. I plan on visiting it someday.”
“My father has been there, but I haven’t.”
“I’ve heard that the recently settled world of Naboo is incredibly beautiful, also, but the natives aren’t very friendly.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that the settlers came from the Empress Teta system. I’ve heard that it is very beautiful…”
“But not as beautiful as you,” Brandon said before he could think about what he was saying.
Tinian blushed. She gazed into his deep azure eyes and smiled. Then she looked at her chrono. “I’ve got to get to bed, it’s getting late. Besides, if Jia woke up and found me missing, he’d be more worried than my mother!”
Brandon laughed and got up. “Maybe we can get together again tomorrow night?” he asked hopefully.
“Maybe, if we’re alive tomorrow night,” she reminded him ruefully.
“Okay, then if we’re alive tomorrow night?” he asked pleadingly.
“Sure.” She smiled and turned to leave through the turbo lift, Brandon stared after her.

The next morning, before the suns even rose, the five companions rendezvoused at the sewer entrance. The quietly slipped off the cover and slipped into the sewers, silently replacing the cover once all were through. The flow of effluent, auspiciously, was only ankle deep.
Jia growled something.
“I guess you’re right, Jia. We are at least going with the flow instead of against it,” Tinian murmured sullenly.
For about twenty meters, the flow remained ankle deep, but the next ten meters were a third full with the seepage. It picked the group up off the floor and carried them with it. Fortunately, after ten meters it was back to an ankle deep flow. They continued on for ten meters before coming to a four-way crossing.
“Blast!” Brandon whispers. “Now where do we go?”
“You decide!” Seela shouts.
Brandon pauses to listen for factory sounds, but the roar of the water blocks all other sounds out. “I can’t hear anything over the flow!” he shouted.
Cirla listened for the sounds of the factory, but could hear nothing. “Just pick one!” she shouted impatiently.
“Let’s go right!” he shouts. They turned right, and walked through the low flowing sewage. After about five meters, they came to a nest of scurriers. The little creatures were at first startled and then curious, but fortunately after a moment or two of sniffing and staring, they were content to return to their nest. They went on, and soon the flow became knee deep.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Tinian murmured.
After about ten more meters, they came to a skimmer chamber.
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this,” Tinian said.
“Why couldn’t we have just blasted open the door?” Cirla muttered discontentedly.
Jia roared his agreement.
“It would draw too much attention,” Brandon hissed. “I’ll go first.”
Brandon jumps in, but one of the rakes gets in his way and he has to pull himself back out. He tries again, but this time would have drowned if Jia hadn’t pulled him out.
Brandon was about to try again, but Cirla shoved him out of the way. She jumped into the water, and swam across, pulling herself into the corridor on the other side. Brandon tries again, this time without crashing into a rake. Tinian jumps in and almost hit her head on the rake, but Jia catches her. Jia jumps in and swims across with Tinian in his arms.
“Thanks, Jia,” she said affectionately.
Finally, Seela jumps onto the center of the rake then jumps across.
“Jedi showoff,” Cirla muttered under her breath.
They continued down through the ankle deep flow for no more than two meters before coming to a T-intersection. Brandon once again decides to go right. A moderate flow goes with them. This passage, however, ended in a dead-end. They turned around and found the factory entrance just past the T-intersection. They pull themselves into a rear corridor in the factory.
“That’s weird,” Brandon says, “Why would they have a connection to the sewers in a factory?”
“Maybe they’re smuggling,” Cirla mused.
“There are two doors, one to the main assembly area, the other to the main control room. The one to the control room is locked, but I could slice the computer and open the door,” Tinian offered.
“No, I think we should just go through the main assembly area,” Brandon said.
They entered and found a room full of conveyor belts with cranes, welders, and other assembly arms over them.
“Oh, boy, I have always so loved obstacle courses,” Brandon said caustically. “Oh well, I’ll go first.”
He stepped onto the conveyor belt. The first crane swung towards him. Brandon tried to duck, but he was too late. He got knocked on his back. However, he was soon on his feet again. The next arm swung at him, but he dodged. The next, fortunately, swung away from him. After that one, he was able to dodge the next. The one after that, however, hit Brandon in the stomach, sprawling him on the conveyor belt and causing him to go temporarily unconscious. Fortunately, he got safely deposited on the other side. Seela went next, cutting off all the arms, allowing the others safe passage. Tinian got across and administered healing to Brandon. He woke up and caressed her hair. “Thanks,” he said. She nodded.
Brandon turned to Jia. “What do you think we should do?”
He growled something.
“Jia says that you lead, he’ll follow,” Tinian said.
“Great! That helped a lot…I guess this is where we check out that storage room over there,” he said.
When they entered the room, they saw a group of dark robed men, standing in a circle, facing inward. All held red bladed lightsabers. In the middle of the circle was a man with glimmering white robes that almost glowed, and his hair was like platinum. His saber blade was silver.
“Who disturbs the Lords of the Sith?” he demanded.
“Who are you?” Brandon demanded.
The Sith laughed. “The one who will be your doom…” All the Sith raised their hands skyward, and the roof started to crumble. The Sith fled and the ceiling started to collapse.
“Run!” Cirla shouted, grabbing Brandon and pulling him out.
Jia reached for Tinian to pull her out with him when a large piece of the ceiling collapsed upon him. He fell to the ground.
“Jia!” Tinian screamed. “Noooooooooooooo!”
“Tinian!” Brandon shouted. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out. Seela was right behind them. The entire factory was collapsing. As soon as they entered the sewers, they heard a loud explosion. The factory was gone.

They returned to their lodgings, showered, and changed into clean clothes. Cirla had gone to Seela’s room to discuss what to do next. Tinian had gone to her room to grieve. Brandon wasn’t sure what to do. I suppose I should go to comfort her… he decided. He knocked on her door. She opened it, and from the red marks on her cheek, it was clear she’d been crying.
“Hi,” she murmured weakly.
“Hi,” he said.
She sat down on her bed and continued to weep. “I…I just can’t…I mean, how could he…” She couldn’t go any further before she broke down again.
Brandon wrapped an arm around her. “I understand how you must feel. A year ago, the Sith destroyed my world. They destroyed all my people, all our cities. They destroyed all the life, whether plant, animal, or sentient, on my world. All my friends, all my family, gone. But we can’t just stop living because of it! Jia would want you to go on to live a happy life. You still have a chance to live a long, fulfilling life. That’s what he would want you to do.”
Tinian nodded. “I…I know, but it’s so hard to accept that he’s gone. That I’ll never see him again.”
Brandon caressed her arm. “I’ll leave you alone to–”
“No! Please stay,” she begged.
Brandon nodded and sat back down.
After a few minutes, Tinian said, “Maybe we should go see what’s happening with Seela and Cirla.”
“Okay,” Brandon said. He helped Tinian to her feet and they went to Seela’s room.
When they entered, it was clear that Cirla really wanted to punch someone’s face in, particularly Seela’s. She was fingering her blaster. Seela, however, had perfect Jedi control.
“We’ve found the Sith, now let’s return and have a fleet come and raze the place!” Cirla argued.
“No, we must destroy them now! Everything depends on it!” Seela reasoned.
“I agree with Seela,” Brandon voiced quietly. Both women turned to look as Brandon and Tinian entered the room. “Can you sense them, Seela?”
Seela closed her eyes. “He is in the main power station in Coral City,” she said.
“Then we must go there at once!” Tinian exclaimed.
“Then you will be going without me!” Cirla said. “The Republic’s compensation for the Mistryl is not adequate to commit suicide!” She walked out of the room.
“What are we waiting for?” Brandon asked.

They arrived at the power station an hour later. The door was locked.
“Here, let me slice that computer terminal to open the door,” Tinian said. The doors opened. “Simple!”
They entered the polished reactor room, and found the white robed Sith standing conferring with one of his apprentices. He looked up as they approached. He motioned for the apprentice to leave them. “You are blasted persistent, Jedi,” he bit out. He extended his hand, and Tinian collapsed to the ground. She was unconscious. He extended his hand again, and Brandon flew against the wall. “Now, let us see who is the more powerful,” he said to Seela.
The Sith warrior struck at Seela, but she parried. After a few moments of dueling, however, Seela was knocked to the ground and her lightsaber flew out of her hand.
“Now, Jedi, you die…” The Sith raised his blade to strike, but when he bore down on the young Twi’lek, his silver blade was intercepted by a purple one. He turned to see Brandon holding Seela’s lightsaber. “You are a fool, boy. If a Jedi cannot beat me, do you think that you can?” The Sith laughed maliciously and swung at Brandon. Brandon ducked, but the blade brushed his shoulder. Brandon swung at the Sith, but the Sith parried. The Sith attacked, but Brandon jumped out of the way. The Sith parried a blow, and swung at Brandon. Again Brandon parried. Then, catching the Sith off-guard, Brandon destroyed the Sith’s lightsaber and knocked him to the ground. He held his saber against the man’s chest.
“Go ahead, Brandon. Kill me,” the Sith jeered. Brandon was shocked to hear the Sith use his name. “I murdered your Wookie friend, and…I destroyed your homeworld!”
“What?! You’re a liar!” Brandon yelled. “You don’t even know–”
“Yes, I remember well the destruction of Elorapin!”
“W-what?” Rage built up inside of Brandon.
He was about to strike the Sith when Seela shouted, “Brandon, no! Don’t give in to anger! That leads to the Dark side!”
“But he destroyed Elorapin, he killed Jia! He’ll only be getting what he deserves.”
“Brandon, give me the lightsaber!” Seela urged.
“Destroy me, Brandon. You know you want to, you know I deserve it. I murdered Jia, I murdered countless Jedi, I destroyed Elorapin!”
Brandon edged his blade up to the man’s chin. “Why shouldn’t I destroy him?”
“There is still hope for him, Brandon. He could be useful in bringing down the Sith. Don’t let personal vengeance get in the way of ultimate victory! Do not give in to anger!”
Brandon closed down the lightsaber and put wrist binders on the man. Seela and Tinian congratulated him on making the right choice, and he realized that they were right.

When they returned to Corellia, they were immediately sent to Coruscant. Tinian received a medal for her bravery, as did Seela. Seela was also bestowed the title of Jedi Knight by the Jedi Council. Brandon was given fifteen thousand credits and a medal to commend his bravery. He was also offered training by the Jedi, an offer that he promised to consider. Jia was given a special memorial and a medal of honor. Cirla and the Mistryl received their compensation. As Seela had predicted, the Sith, a man named Keyan Chistor, came back to the Light. He became a powerful Jedi. Brandon even asked Tinian to marry him, and she accepted. So ends the tale of how Brandon Harth rescued Mon Calamari…

Please tell me what you think.