The time is during the Battle of Erebria Prime. The Rebel forces have gathered to do battle with the Intruder Wing and vastly overpower them, being lead by an unknown commander. The Intruder Wing is being lead from the MC-120 Darkstar by Admiral Kevin Setzer, who was rescued from a Rebel Prison a month before, after having been stranded there for a year. He continues to wear a mask because he is ashamed of turning against his homeworld. Most of the other Intruder Wing Command Officers were assassinated a week before in hopes by unknown forces that it would put the Intruder Wing into a state of confusion. Now Admiral Kevin tries desperately to pull off victory in battle….

"Sir, the situation is completely hopeless." A young tech sadly reported to Admiral Kevin. "The ISDII and its support craft are more than a match for us and they’re getting close to disabling us, before long we’ll be completely stranded. And the Illustrious is slowly being destroyed, most of the crew has already died in several explosions, but the remaining crew are leaving in starfighters." Kevin sighed. He had only been back for a month and this was already happening. "Very well, order all ships in the area to escape to the safe point, as for us, target the ISDII and give me ramming speed…" The tech was stunned for a moment, but he was soon ready. "Aye sir. You should probably head out to the transports." Kevin shook his head. "Won’t happen, I’ll be needed here." The tech stood up after hearing that. "No sir, you’re more needed out there, with the remains." With that another tech from behind hit Kevin with a stun gun and he soon fell to the floor. "He’ll only be out for a few minutes." The second tech responded. The first tech nodded. "That’s fine, it’s enough time to get him to his starfighter. The Babylon is prepped and ready, correct?" The second tech nodded. "He’ll be ready to go."

Narm flew his E-Wing making a run against a small Dreadnought, finally causing it enough damage to destroy it. He made a few quick maneuvers that one of his Rebel pursuers couldn’t handle and rammed into the wreckage. Narm was quick to maneuver around the other pursing A-Wing and quickly blasted it away. He looked around and saw that he was free for the moment, and decided to check up on the rest of his squad. He was shocked at what his CMD told him; they were all dead, all of them. He looked around and saw that the Darkstar was making a suicide run into an ISDII, and that there was only one remaining fighter near him, a TIE Avenger. Narm quickly got on a COM link with the Avenger, and was pleased to find out it was Master, a friend of his. "Master, is your squad as bad as mine?" Master sighed. "Looks that way, most of the Rebel starfighters have been cleaned up, but we’ve lost about everyone…things aren’t looking good." Narm nodded. "I suggest we form up and go head near the Darkstar, see if anyone survives that." "What about the Illustrious?" Master asked. Narm sighed. "Illustrious already has starfighters supporting the battle…better to help out survivors by the Darkstar, which has no starfighter cover." Master nodded and agreed and the two fighters went off.

Colonel Argon Viper shot down yet another starfighter still flying around what had once been his ship. The Illustrious had been rammed, smashed and torn apart, and only an incredibly small crew had survived, so the remains of the crew, including him, went out in starfighters. But evidently the crew was just too tired to fight, or not experienced enough, because they were getting torn apart. Argon Viper shot down another E-Wing from his TIE Defender in an attempt to save one of his crew. But as Argon Viper saw the smashed window with the pilot’s lifeless body outside of the ship, he knew the result of that. With that pilot gone, he had no one else. After smashing down a couple of Rebel ships, Viper was alone…the area had been cleared, but there was no more purpose, no survivors…it was completely useless and didn’t matter. Viper looked around and saw that the Darkstar was beginning to collide with an ISDII. Viper decided that was the only place left to go, and head on his way over there.

Kevin came to and was surprised to see himself in the cockpit of his Modified TIE Interceptor, Babylon. It only took him a few seconds to realize what must have happened, one of his crew must have stunned him and stuck him in his ship and launched. "Damnit!" Kevin yelled out. Kevin quickly found some fighter in the area and began to shoot it down. "Damnit all to hell!" He turned and watched as the MC-120 Darkstar rammed into the ISDII, destroying it. "DAMNIT!!!" Kevin cried out. Kevin was unable to move until his comm system began beeping. "To T/I Babylon, this is Commander Narm, please respond." Kevin pressed the controls for the comm system. "Narm, this is Admiral Kevin. It appears that I was drugged out and put here…what is our situation?" Kevin could hear Narm sigh. "I’m here with Master, it appears we’re the only survivors of the Darkstar forces…there might be some Illustrious forces left though…" "Negative on that." Colonel Argon Viper came on the comm system. "They have all been eliminated, it appears there is no more forces, Rebel or Imperial, in this area." Kevin was surprised. "None? What happened to all of them? This isn’t like them just to leave…" Suddenly a thought came to mind. "All of you, full speed ahead to the secondary base!" "You don’t think they would..." Narm began. Kevin nodded. "The way things have been going, it wouldn’t surprise me. Quickly, we have no time, jump into hyperspace!" The small entourage of 4 ships quickly entered hyperspace on a hopeless mission…

Admiral Striker watched as the remnant of the Intruder Wing’s secondary base was destroyed. Granted, it hurt quite a bit to lead a force of his enemies into combat into a group that had once been his home, but orders were orders…Striker headed to the small hidden comm system to contact his associates. "Number 1, mission complete, the Rebels have completely obliterated the Intruder Wing. Is it safe to say that the project has been moved and is now safe and near completion?" Number 1 laughed. "Oh, it’s quite operational now, thanks to you. Your Jedi Mind tricks worked well there…" Striker laughed. "Wouldn’t have happened without you and your backdoors…anyways, I’ll be returning to the base soon, in my personal fighter of course." Number 1 nodded. "Be seeing you soon, Colonel Darklord…

Kevin was in complete and utter shock when he saw the damage. The entire secondary base had been completely obliterated. All that was left in the area was a Rebel Star Destroyer, and a few fighters moving around. "Master to Kevin, is it just me or are these ships acting a little…strange?" Kevin pressed a few buttons on his CMD and noticed that none of the ships were moving, just standing around. "Looks like you’re right, all the ships…" Suddenly Kevin noticed a T/D moving away from the rest of the group. "Never mind, we’ve got one flyer. I’ll go after it, the three of you attack those ships and help take revenge!" Kevin sped off to go attack the T/D while the others stayed back.

Kevin was gaining on the T/D, putting all the energy he could into his engines. He was curious as to how the Rebels had gotten their hands on one of these, and more importantly, as to why they were flying it. "Doesn’t matter, it’ll be dead soon." Kevin said to himself. Suddenly the comm system opened up with a voice Kevin remembered well…"Hello Kevin, hope you’re not looking for a fight with your old friend…" Kevin shook his head "Darklord! How could you turn to the Rebellion?" Darklord scoffed. "Who says I have? We merely use them for our own purposes...Anyways, it's none of your business and I don’t want to have to finish off an old friend, so just back off. Kevin was furious "None of my business! You’ve destroyed my fleet, my friends, and my life! Revenge will take place Darklord!" Kevin quickly charged up his shields and lasers and started taking shots on the TIE Defender. DL was quick to react and made a quick turn and began firing, but Kevin knew DL’s strategies all too well and was already dodging the lasers with ease. DL tried to get a shot off but Kevin was predicting every move and was taking as many shots off him as he could. DL finally decided to give up. "You always were better in a starfighter Kevin. But I was always the better tactician…especially when it came to predicting what you’d do in a crisis…" Suddenly the T/D stopped and Kevin noticed that a shuttle launched from the ISD. Kevin was too far away to get to it, and before he could order his men to go after it the shuttle had already jumped.

Master, Argon Viper and Narm were on the most boring and easiest mission of their life. They had eliminated all of the forces, and had disabled the Star Destroyer. Except for a shuttle, everyone was gone. "Kevin to Attacking Party, the ships were under Jedi influence…meaning that now everyone will start waking up so to speak…time to finish it off." Narm nodded. "Aye Boss." With that Narm let a few torpedoes fly and the Destroyer began to slowly break up. "Now what?" Master asked. "Darklord was in charge of the fleet here, I guess he was using it for his own purposes…which I don’t know, but whoever it was, was really behind our destruction." "That would explain how they knew how we’d react so well." Argon Viper commented. Kevin nodded. "He used a TIE Defender as a decoy, but I’m sure it’s his personal ship so it must have some information on it. I’ll set my TIE Interceptor to auto-pilot and board his T/D, and control the Babylon from there." Narm raised an eyebrow "You can do that?" Kevin gave a half-smile. "There’s more to the Babylon than looks. Anyways, we’re heading to this small remote world nearby, Kodomo, it should only take us about a day to get there and we can plan and figure out what we’ll do next from there." After that Kevin flew the Babylon nearby the T/D, boarded it and got into the controls. "All ships, enter hyperspace on my mark…mark!" With that the five ships left the remains of the secondary base and headed on to their next destination…

The ships entered a small docking bay on the outskirts of the world…not that there was much that wasn’t outskirts, the planet was for the most part deserted. As for the area where the four pilots were, it was a very small deserted New Imperium refueling station. All it had was a docking bay and a bar that had a few beds in it, nothing big. It’s all the pilots needed though. Argon Viper and Master were getting some sleep while Kevin and Narm were working on the TIE Defender they had acquired. "So why do the two of them get to sleep while we work on this ship?" Narm asked, obviously desiring sleep. "Simple: I’m the leader so I have to stay awake, as for you, this will be your ship, so you better get used to it and show it some care." Narm wasn’t all that surprised. "I thought you’d be handing it to me, though I have to wonder what we’ll do with my E-Wing…" Kevin shrugged. "Spare Parts?" Narm sighed. Well, the T/D was a better choice for flying anyways. "What about that ship over there?" Narm asked, pointing to the Babylon. "Don’t give me that T/I crap, I saw it in battle, it’s quite impressive and obviously upgraded beyond whatever it used to be." Kevin shrugged. "It’s not that different from the T/I, I just modified it for shields. A lot just depends on the pilot." Narm smiled and shook his head. "There’s more to it than that Kevin, don’t try to fool me, it’s way too maneuverable under high speeds, and I clocked that T/I faster than it should, even with shields…" Kevin grinned. "Well then, I’m impressed and you’re right." Kevin admitted. "The Babylon was a prototype for a few new systems. For one we put a beam system on it, but it’s only job is to give the pilot as much speed as possible, and it’s much easier to turn off and decrease speed than the engine. Second, we added an exhaust system to it. It’s hard to describe but what it does is that it lowers the weight and drag of the wings by throwing out any excess metal. The problem with it is that I have to refurbish it and repair it every time I do that…and the wings are lighter than a regular T/I already, so it’s a bit of a pain." Narm nodded. "You didn’t use the system fighting Darklord did you?" Kevin nodded. "It was unnecessary, and…" Kevin paused and that left Narm curious. "And what?" Kevin sighed. "And he didn’t use his." Narm was surprised. "Darklord knows about the system?" Kevin nodded. "He helped me design it, like I said the Babylon was a prototype for a much more powerful ship…" Narm looked at the ship in awe. "Think I could try it out for a spin one day?" Kevin smiled. "It has a sim built into it…if you’re up for it you’re welcome to try…just warning you thought, your first few times in the Babylon will definitely alter your reality on ship movements…As for me, I’m getting some sleep, night." Kevin walked off to leave Narm in the control panel of the Babylon. Before Kevin was at the small bar they called home, he could just make out Narm’s voice, yelling out in confusion, "TWO flight yokes?!?"

Master had just woke up along with Argon Viper and was walking around the small refueling station. Kevin was still asleep however he hadn’t seen Narm yet and was curious as to his whereabouts. He entered the docking bay and saw the hatch to the Babylon opened, so he climbed up the ladder and looked in, to see Narm there, sitting at the controls. "What ARE you doing there?!" Master asked in complete surprise and confusion. Narm just stared blankly. "This…is…the…COOLEST ship I have ever flown!!!" Master just slapped his forehead and looked down to see Kevin walking nearby. "Enjoy the ship Narm?" Narm nodded. "Sure you don’t want my T/D?" Kevin laughed a strange thing to see from the masked leader. "I’ll be fine, thank you. How about you all get some food, I’ll be over there soon, just want to make sure you didn’t break anything." The two pilots nodded and left.

As Kevin did a few small changes on the Babylon, he faintly could here the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Quickly Kevin jumped from out of the cockpit and soon summoned his own from the workbench. Standing in front of Kevin was Darklord. Darklord smiled. "What? No ‘How did you find us’ or any other of those usual heroic lines? What gives Kev?" Kevin shook his head. "I wouldn’t be a true leader or Knight of the Society of Shadows if I couldn’t tell there was a homing beacon on a ship. Darklord nodded. "You let me find you, just as I predicated. How did you know I wouldn’t bring a full fleet?" Kevin gave a half smile. "You’re not the type. I knew it’d be just you, Colonel. Now we settle this." Kevin quickly unleashed a series of attacks but Darklord quickly blocked them. "Kevin, we’ve been friends for some time, where does all this sudden anger come from?" This comment made Kevin even more furious and he continued to release more blows at Darklord. "You must understand Kevin, I was only under orders." Darklord said, taking a more serious tone. "It was never my intention to destroy the Intruder Wing, it wasn’t something I willing wanted, it was just our last resort. Kevin jumped away and backed off. "Whose intention? Whose last resort? If you’re not here to defeat me, then why are you here?" Darklord smiled again and returned to his original cocky attitude. "To recruit you, of course." Kevin laughed, bitterly. "You’ve forgotten what I’m like then." With that Kevin charged against Darklord, releasing blow after blow, but Darklord was experienced, and wouldn’t give in. Darklord began to throw objects at Kevin, but Kevin was prepared and summoned objects to block the things Darklord was throwing at him. Suddenly, just as Kevin was about to strike against Darklord, Darklord caught him off guard with a quick wrench in the back. Kevin was startled and the lightsaber was just a little out of his hand…enough for Darklord to knock it straight across the room. Darklord quickly jumped over Kevin and summoned the lightsaber to him, then proceeded to kick Kevin down and put both of the sabers at his neck. Kevin looked up, bravely. "Didn’t come to kill me, eh?" Darklord sighed. "It’s easy to be brave behind that mask isn’t it. No bother, I’ll tell you right now why I came."

"So, I guess since Kevin named his ship the Babylon, we should all name our ships as well, eh?" Master suggested. "Fine by me, mine will have to be…the Venom!" Narm suggested. Argon Viper nodded. "I will name mine the Viper I suppose." Master scratched his head. "Well, I guess I’ll just go with Instigator…it’s simple enough." Suddenly the group heard the powering of engines. "I’ll go check it out, probably just Kevin testing a few things out." The two other pilots nodded and Narm left. When he got there Narm saw Kevin in full flight gear, getting ready to leave. "Kevin! Where are you going?" Kevin shook his head. "Have you ever reached a moment in your life when everything changes?" Narm didn’t say a word. Kevin sighed. "Well I have. I know who was behind the attacks…and I know why. Darklord came here and told me…and it all makes sense." Narm was dumbfounded. "Makes sense?!?! Kevin, they destroyed the Intruder Wing, OUR fleet. Nothing can justify that!!!" Kevin shook his head. "Perhaps in your mind. Regardless, I’m leaving. Here." Kevin threw a datacrystal at Narm. "If you truly want revenge, then your answer is there. But you will have to go through me." Narm threw the datacrystal into a corner. "No! I won’t let you leave here!" Narm quickly began to pull on a flight suit. Kevin just watched, shaking his head. "You cannot win, don’t try this Narm." Kevin closed the hatch to the Babylon and loaded in. Narm was in his TIE Defender and started to launch away, following after the Babylon. He was soon on the comlink. "Even if I can’t win, you’re about to make a huge mistake and someone has to stop you! And I can win, you said it yourself, if you know how a ship works, you can defeat it, no matter what you’re in!" Kevin sighed. "But there’s also the other part of that, knowing how the pilot works, and this you haven’t learned." Kevin quickly turned the Babylon around and started firing at Narm’s Venom. Narm tried to retaliate, but the Babylon avoided all of his shots and maneuvered out of the way perfectly. Narm tried to get the Venom to throw a few shots at close range, to take out the Babylon’s maneuverability advantage, but Kevin always seemed to be out of the way, and Narm soon knew that this wasn’t a ship he was fighting, it was a pilot. Kevin launched another volley of cannon fire at Narm and before he could do anything his ship’s engine exploded. Kevin took two more shots to remove a few other systems and any hope Narm had of rebuilding the craft. "Your pilots will save you soon, and do not come after me, I know my place." With that Kevin shot off in the Babylon into hyperspace, leaving Narm stranded in space. Narm slammed his useless controls as Kevin flew off. "KEVIN!!!!!"

To be continued…