Prologue

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I looked around... everything was, for all intensive purposes, a dump, and it didn't surprise me. This would be a good place to hide. Don't Stand out, Accept the Past, Trust No One... I thought. The words echoed through my head and I looked around at everything again. The dark landscape brought back memories, none good. The words that had echoed through my mind were rules to survive. I looked around at my companion, a female human with wavy blonde hair, no older than 25 standard years old, young and the most caring person I had ever met in the galaxy. She was far ahead of me, scoping the landscape in her own way. Raxxaan was a dark stormy world, it barely saw a sunrise. I had been led to believe this was due to some kind of global warming. In truth I didn't care. If I did, I would be breaking the first rule going through my head. "Don't stand out..." I muttered quietly. No one could hear me over the thunder and heavy rain anyway. I was used to storms. In my two years travelling I'd seen plenty. I ran to catch up to Kara, my young friend, but hard voice clear as I spoke. I was nineteen, almost twenty, and my voice sounded like that of someone twice my age. "This should do, perhaps we can lay low and finally settle down and live here," I say the words, but don't hold much optimism. Kara looked at my and smiled, her blue eyes radiated hope. Seeing them look at me, I guess I didn't sound as old as I thought I had. "You need to relax, you can't always be on edge" I knew she didn't believe me, but I admired the false bravado. I smiled at her, and we kept moving, searching for a place to stay. We had a rule, no living on the ship unless we were travelling, and we were definitely not travelling, though it would be a relief considering that I was freezing and wet. Lightning cracked, adding a burst of light to the galaxy. It was a suitable metaphor. The galaxy was a dark place now, but there were occasional flashes of light. If only I knew how close the blackest parts of the darkness were. At the time, I would have thought I was exaggerating. Looking back on how everything was going for me, I was a tiny bit optimistic. Raxaan was a back water, in some senses literally. The ground was covered in water, and both me and Kara were soaked. "if this is any deeper, we may need some boats" I say. Kara gave me a look. "Lighten up, its not that deep. We knew what we were signing up for" she says, that smile worked wonders. I felt a small surge of warmth hit. Just as I looked around to reply, for my long strides had placed me ahead of her. I saw 2 things of note. The first was an abandoned building. It was intact and by the looks of things, waterproof. Then I saw the reason. Stormtroopers. I didn't know what to think as I Looked like a chaotic scene, but at this point, we needed shelter. I signalled to Kara so they didn't arrest us if we were breaking any curfew. The rain had died down in volume, but not enough for us to hear them, or for them to hear us. We walked closer. Officially, Raxann was not occupied planet, and it wasn't. Only small parts had an imperial presence, even then most of that was to do with probe droids. In truth, this planet allowed me to fit in fine. It wasn't a mining world like most places. This planet took apart old war ships. I was a pilot sure, I just knew my limits, and Kara was a much better pilot than me. Being who I was I didn't plan on flying here, given how well I knew my limits, and I agreed with The Empire on one thing and one thing only: The Clone Wars had to be forgotten!

The Eighth Brother glared out at the constant darkness of space. He was angry, angry that a promising lead on a Jedi had led nowhere. It was annoyingly common and he knew if he did not find this Jedi soon his talents would be called into question by his superiors. The lead had said that the Jedi was a Knight, low level, but a challenge The Eighth Brother had leaped at. The only thing to show for his efforts was a new lead. The Knight could have a Padawan. The captain of The Star Destroyer, Relentless came up behind him, standing a few paces further back than an officer normally would. When he spoke, The Eighth Brother felt her fear in the force, and could feel her shiver. "I don't blame you for our lead disappearing, I will blame you for any lack of following up I ordered..." he says. The voice that came through the helmet was rich, smooth, and cruel. Captain Koraan was a young female captain of twenty seven. Her blue eyes and blonde hair made her look younger than she was. "I ordered a tech to do it" she said formally. "And judging by how far away you're standing, I am not going to like what you say next" said The Eighth Brother. Koraan shuddered but spoke formally still. "The Officer found nothing and"- she was cut off by the Inquisitor turning to her. "Summon him" he says simply. When the officer arrives and tries to speak The Eighth Brother stabs him with the lightsabre he carries, shocking everyone... "Making a mistake is allowed Captain... but I don't allow laziness, clean this mess up!" he says. After this lesson, he returns to staring out at space. There was no timeline for when he had to return to his HQ, meaning he had a chance to make something of this. "Scour the galaxy for anything strange, and make sure it leads somewhere this time!" he says. The crew were now more properly motivated to do as he said without disappointing him. The Eighth Brother knew he was destined to one day be selected as the successor to The Grand Inquisitor, provided nothing else went wrong. "Lets go hunting!" he says to the ship, and they do. "No Jedi can hide from us forever!"

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