Brenn Taunsia stood over the data officer as he scrolled through the log of ships. He was especially interested in 3 entries under ship names Villigance, Vigilant, plus one un-named ship.
>Datacore entry #I3001CS38920
Project type: Ship Construction
Ship Name: Villigance
Ship Type: ISD_III (Elysium Class)
>> Blueprint below.

However. There was no blueprint below. It was simply a void space before the next entry
>Datacore entry #I3001CS38921
Project type: Ship Construction
Ship Name: Vigilant
Ship Type: ISD_III (Elysium Class)
>> Blueprint below.

but it was the next entry which was the most unusual, and perhaps most un-nerving.
>Datacore entry #I3001CS38919
Project type: Ship Construction
Ship Name: >       <
Ship Type: ISD_III (>       < Class)
>> Blueprint below.

Perhaps the most un-nerving fact being that the ship he was now standing on was the ISD Elysium.
"Gerry, could you put the blueprint of our own ship up on the screen perhaps?"
The data officer taped in a few commands into his console. Up came a number of plan views. The Elysium was nearly a run of the mill Imperial Star Destroyer I. However it had an updated shield system. Brenn always had assumed Conquest had had the system modified herself. He was familiar with how it could project a shape of shield, they had used it in battle a couple of times to ram ships with the shield system, while being well out of range. But now it seemed that the ship was actually the namesake of a class of ships. Yet the class of ships were less powerful in firepower and speed than the ISD II Avenger Class. More like the original ISD I Imperial class. Yet there must have been some reason to introduce this "Elysium" Class. And Brenn couldn't imagine it was so that they could ram ships with it. He would have to put some research into this ship indeed.

It happened so quickly all three of them didn't even know what had happened till too late. At one stage Detae was just getting welcomed into the Tupe household. The next the place was crawling with sand people and Teecea was bleeding badly from a wound to the chest.
Detae didn't have to wait for another invitation and quickly pulled Teecea into the homestead and shut the door, locking it tight.
Jenat-Lai was up, though still weary and very sunburned, he was alert enough to know that there was trouble.
"This is too much in one day wouldn't you agree Corri?" commented Detae.
Corlanda indeed agreed. She was at the point of tears when Jenat-Lai came into the room. Detae glanced at him, but Corlanda just continued crying.
The old Jedi did not speak. He simply sat by Teecea and placed his hand on his temple and began to meditate upon the force, trying to feel it's strength. But he was out of practice. He had been avoiding the force ever since he left the Jedi order to be with Jolanda.
The effort was too much. So he rocked back and removed his hand. Detae looked at him, the look of dawning realization crossing her face. He entered her sense and could see that she knew he was a Jedi. He returned to Teecea who was very quickly dying. Recomposing, Jenat-Lai retook his position and started his rekindling of the force. Muttering a prayer under his breath he continued. However as fate would have it, Teecea died that night. By morning Corlanda had drifted off to sleep and so to had Detae. Only Jenat-Lai remained awake as he took Teecea's body and prepared it for cremation. The sun had removed most of the threat of Sand People. As Jenat-Lai gave Teecea his due honors.

There was chaos at Mos Eisley's arena. The skirmish at the Tenuun homestead had obviously destroyed a number of contestant's chances of competing. Not to mention destroying a few contestants themselves. Yet the decision was made to continue the race. The starting time was to be 15:00 hours at the Mos Eisley Time.
Detae, Corlanda and Jenat-Lai all decided to come and take a look this time. Corlanda was still having difficulty believing her father was dead. Jenat-Lai could sense the heavy sense of loss that the girl was feeling. However, Jenat-Lai had a strong feeling that their fates were to be entwined somehow. He did however have difficulty knowing what would become of this Detae girl. Detae Azneih he thought to himself, The same age as Corlanda. Perhaps a year or two older, but as far as maturity and independence were concerned, there might have been fifteen years between their ages. Still, he did worry about Detae to a point. She was a strong girl, but this was a rough place. She even seemed to have a slight force sensitivity. He could sometimes read her feelings, but most of the time there were quite a number of impenetrable mental blocks. She even seemed to be able to sense when Jenat-Lai was trying to read her. She was pretty yes, but not so much beautiful. A rugged beauty perhaps, but a slightly cynical beauty. She was hard to work out. The blonde hair which she wore flopping loosely nearly all the time, her cute pudginess. Not really pudginess, but not skinny either. She was a walking oxymoron was a thought that came into his head. And she was taken. If there was one thing she proudly wore on the top of her mind was the fact that she was in love with a boy named... Jenat-Lai couldn't pick the name out, nor a face.
Detae turned her head and made eye contact with Jenat-Lai and smiled cheekily. Jenat-Lai grinned back at her. He chuckled to himself.
He got up and sat next to her, with the type of look as if meaning to begin conversation.
He didn't have the chance, before Detae started yapping.
"So are you going to stay and take care of Corlanda, Jenai?"
Jenat-Lai considered the thought carefully before replying.
"Not stay" He said. "But perhaps take Corri to Corsin perhaps." he continued before Detae could interject. "I plan to take care of her for as long as she believes she requires it."
Recovering from being cut off, Detae argued "She could stay with me and Glynn. We own an apartment in Mos Esnik"
Jenat-Lai probed the mind beside him slightly deeper. Almost chuckled as he finally put a face to the identity.
"Your boyfriend and you?" he commented.
Things were starting to fall into place now, Detae Azneh, 18 years old, living in the back of nowhere, working as a model for a scaresly legal podracing agency, living with her boyfriend. How she would befriend a girl who lived on a farm with her widowed father, a girl as dependent as Corlanda he still could not work out. He would have to consider that idea for a fair bit longer.
"Better than running off with some old guy we picked up out of some canyon the day before..." Detae looked defensive and ashamed all at once, before ashamed got the better of her "No offense or anything I mean". But only just the better.
"Looks like I will have to win my trust here" Jenat-Lai observed.

The Tenuun homestead lay in ruins, smoke drifting up out of smashed remains and rubble. The Tenuuns had been a major player in the smuggling game on Tatooine, however it now seemed that once again the balance of power was shifting. Tatooine life would once again go through one of it's major upheavals.
Hundt was a vicious man. Power hungry and ambitious. Now it was time to consolidate his power.
He looked to one of his men. He came forward.
"Is the force ready to move, we must arrive at Eisley by three thirty or the stageplay don't work, get it!" Hundt never addressed anyone by name, even his most trusted employees.
"Should be done by now, I can give the signal if you wish"
Hundt simply nodded.
For someone who may have been watching the scene would have been both odd and frightening. At once, a hoard of men picking and searching through ruins turned in neat unison and headed out to their vehicles, tracked tanks, hover transports and speeders. A moment and a bustling scene of salvage, became deserted, only the cloud of dust left by vehicles speeding off across the desert, and the drifting wafts of thinning smoke left. The end of the Tenuun legacy.

The flag dropped and all eight contestants flew off the starting grid with a ear shattering roar, as engines strained to meet the demands of their owners, and contestants jockeyed for position in the mayhem of the opening moments of the race. Dvuur went from 3rd place in the grid to 2nd within a few seconds.
The racing craft were soon dots on the horizon, Holovid Screens taking the action from various viewpoints and cam droids placed at various points on the course. Jenat-Lai and Corlanda Tupe were probably the only two not interested in the race. Corlanda because of her grief, and Jenat-Lai because of something more sinister, yet elusive. Like some evil about to descend in its entirety. Jenat-Lai looked around carefully, drawing on the force, He'd been doing that far too much lately he thought to himself, for someone who had left the Jedi order. The old and dying Master had not wanted him to leave he remembered, he had pleaded with him to stay. But Jenat-Lai had said to him it was for the best. Jolanda had needed him, and he was in love. It wasn't that Jedi's weren't allowed to marry, far from it. The master himself was the son of two of the greatest Jedi to ever live, his father had, as history told, single handedly resurrected the Jedi order after the dark times of the Empire. But Jolanda was not a Jedi, or a force adept at all. Not that that was bad either. The legendary Luke Skywalker's sister, Leah also had married a man with no ability in the force. What was frowned on in the Jedi Order was promiscuity. Strict laws about sexual relations outside of marriage were kept. The laws were simple enough. There were to be no sexual relations outside marriage. Jenat-Lai had never broken these laws. And realistically he still hadn't. It had been Jolanda however. He remembered with a smile that first time he had met her. Him and his "apprentice". Too old to be an apprentice, and only 4 years between them. Jenat-Lai had been only 20 years old then. Sent to a small rim station, believed overrun with operatives of the empire, and endangering the safety of the refugees on the station, The Republic had feared that the Empire might use the fears of the refugees and rise up against the Republic. Jenat-Lai had met the pregnant Jolanda there. She had helped him, and when the worst came to the worst they had saved each others lives. She, Jolanda Dobson, a simple human, and significantly pregnant, had saved Jenat-Lai's life, when his own apprentice had failed. Trummle had been too arrogant to take the mission seriously, and had become distracted from the job at hand....
Distracted...

Jenat-Lai nearly physically jumped. Realizing how much time he had spent reminiscing. The racers sped past, an entire lap had elapsed. A pod pulled into it's pit stop, some obvious damage to the stabilizers on the right engine apparent. The pit crew working even before it had completely stopped to strap down the stabilizer to stop it flapping about at speed. That insicent buzz was going off in Jenat-Lai's head, a sense of urgency to do something before it was too late. Jenat-Lai grabbed Corlanda's arm and growled for her to stay close. They ran down the steps as fast as Corlanda could keep up. Past disgruntled podrace fans of all species. Enterprising cantinas offering frozen sweets or cold drinks as Jenat-Lai pushed past. Heading past the main entrance and into the pod hangar. Jenat-Lai scooped up a long metal airfoil, a discarded relic of a past podrace, and headed for the main arena. Detae would be there he knew. He planned to leave Corlanda with her as he investigated the area. However as soon as he broke out into the arena area, all hell broke loose.

Dvuur and Bulk Svens had just whooshed past the finish line, when suddenly the entire arena was blocked off. A third contestant in the race, J'knaan threaded his racer through the legs of an AT-ST which had suddenly appeared at the main entrance, when Connell, a Krectarian racer bounded around the corner and headlong into the activated shields of a large hovertank, splintering burning shards of podracer about the pit lane. The crowd quickly started panicking. A shuttle landed in the centre of the arena, and opened it's ramp. Men holding rifles, the type that Tusken raiders commonly use, poured out to keep the crowd back. Suddenly all the screens of the podrace flicked to a picture of a man flanked by two others, obviously bodyguards. His voice boomed over the arena's public address system.
"Lady's and Gentlemen of all species. Please return to your seats! This is Jokoll Hundt speaking. I wish to make an announcement to you."
Jenat-Lai forced his mind off the echoing voice and onto what he needed to do, when he noticed Detae and all the podracers being restrained. It was obvious though, that Hundt's men were paying particular attention to Detae. Jenat-Lai, still dragging Corlanda with him, concentrated on the force, and tried to distract Detae's antagonists attention away from her. It did not work. "Damn I'm a bit rusty at this" muttered Jenat-Lai under his breath.
Quickly thinking through his options, Jenat-Lai decided he had to go alone. Turning to Corlanda he told her to find a safe place and hide, and to get back to the farm any way she could.
He approached the men as the amplified voice continued booming
"....These are new times for Tatooine, the disorder of the past will be replaced by a new order. We will be the savior of the people, we will not have to tolerate the abominations which inhabit us, our land, our way of life...."
Jenat-Lai smiled bitterly at the words which sounded all too familiar. From the beginning of the original Galactic Empire, to the way Jolanda's people were made homeless off Veninia. These were the words of a tyrant.
Jenat-Lai's approach was suddenly noticed by the men who were now in the motions of stripping Detae of her clothes. She had been fighting back. The men stopped to confront the man now standing with a purposeful stance about him. There he was holding a large blunt metal object, face to face with eight men and many more now occupying the main arena.
"Can't have her, she's ours" blurted one man.
Jenat-Lai took no notice of him.
"Touch my daughter again and die"
Detae looked at Jenat-Lai with both utmost surprise and fear. He could tell that it was himself that Detae was afraid for.
the men laughed, one of them pushed Detae to the ground, and kicked her heavily in the face, making her nose bleed.
The airfoil of a podracer is usually considered a blunt object. It's slatted side, although fine edged, is not sharp enough to do anything much more than bruise, or perhaps break a bone. However when Jenat-Lai swung the object at the man who had just kicked Detae to the ground, it hit him with so much force that it lifted him off his feet, sent him near eight feet distant, and cut clean through the clothes and skin of his right shoulder. Somehow the metallic object survived the blow and quickly became a flying object again, if only for a moment, before hitting 2 men clean across the face. A fourth man was neutralized by a strong kick to his upper torso, with another propelling his own impending unconsciousness by using his weight and flinging himself at Jenat-Lai. A quick move sent him flying even at the same moment as a punch was thrown at another man. It took only a second before Jenat-Lai had armed himself with a new weapon, a long metal bracing section off the destroyed pod. Jenat-Lai with a near imperceptible move, blocked a bullet from a rifle, which set the metal brace vibrating loudly with a high pitched, quivering "ping!"
Detae looked at the blackened mark on the brace with an expression of disbelief, which only intensified, when Jenat-Lai dispatched four more shots in quick succession, some of the ricochets even finding targets themselves, the unleashers of the rifle shots crumpling over, victims of their own bullets.
Detae managed to work free of the ropes binding her legs, but her hand restraints proved too hard to pull. Jenat-Lai noticed this and after dispatching another gunman, dove to the semiconscious man who had pocketed the keys to Detae's binders. A moment longer, and Detae was free, dispatching  men at close quarters, as Jenat-Lai's metal brace began humming with a shrill and metallic tone once again, as it contacted bullets and sent them back to whoever had fired them. The Jedi and teenage model had attracted a fair amount of attention by this stage, and Hundt's men were attempting to seal off the main arena, Jenat-Lai took Detae's hand and started running. The force had just given him a vision, or was it a memory? The memory in the past, distant or recent he couldn't remember, of a podracer darting between the legs of an Imperial Scout walker.
Twirling the metal brace in his hands like a sword, Jenat-Lai snorted to Detae to get into the podracer. However there between them and it, stood, like some rancor guarding it's treasure, a single and enormous AT-ST, it's main turbolaser turret tracking every move Jenat-Lai and his charge. Somehow both Jenat-Lai and Detae dove just in time to avoid the thick green energy pulse as it kicked up a huge amount of dust. They had hover separated. Jenat-Lai dropped the now smoking and battered metal brace and managed to find a rifle. He fired a shot at the window of the lumbering military craft. He need not have bothered, the bullet simply bounced off the armored transpasteel of the AT-ST's cockpit, leaving not as much as a scratch. The dust which had been kicked up blocked all visual contact, and filled Jenat-Lai's mouth, nose and eyes. Squinting and tearing at the stinging blast of the sand, Jenat-Lai ran forward a metre and lost his balance, Rolling sideways, he felt the sonic shockwave of superheated air thundering in the wake of a second turbolaser blast, the sand beneath him gave way and he found himself at the edge of a clean crater. Jenat-Lai knew he had to keep moving. The sporadic fire of rifles had died down as the dust cloud obscured vision, but the AT-AT seemed to know where to fire. Four times it fired at him, missing him by no more than a metre each time, when suddenly as it fired it's fifth shot, it seemed to veer well off course, taking out a handful of rioting civilian crowd. Jenat-Lai looked up to see a good many rifle shots hit the cockpit from many angles.
Jenat-Lai had no Idea where Detae or Corlanda were, but it was obvious now that the AT-ST was lying dormant for a while. It was all he needed, Sprinting between the massive metal legs of the vehicle, Jenat-Lai decided against leaving Detae to her own devices, and helping her. The Pod was the second craft to have entered the arena, Jenat-Lai recalled that the pod belonged to the same identity that employed Detae. Seeing a second pod in the distance, but under guard, Jenat-Lai knew what he had to do. Bracing the control column of the racer with a stray piece of metal, so that it would continue flying in circles, Jenat-Lai started the engines and set the throttle to deliver 1/3rd power. The craft responded instantly, and began a tight right hand turn. Jenat-Lai dropped out of the racer's cockpit, and ran toward the AT-ST which had attacked him. He was just about to climb up it's ladder, when the entire cockpit of the craft exploded in response to being bombarded with huge amounts of green turbolaser fire. The insicent voice of the amplified Hundt suddenly screamed out. "The actions of the Rodian hooligans who attempted to take over my Scout Walker will be punished! And of the supporters of the alien masses!" Jenat-Lai shielded his face from the scattering debree and took a glance at the burned corpse which had fallen clear of the wreckage. A distinctively human corpse.
Jenat-Lai darted away from the falling column of metal which once held the weight of the cockpit of the AT-ST and suddenly saw something which both amazed and relieved him all at once. Detae Azneih at the cockpit of the pod racer he had just unleashed. And she was flying straight toward him. Quickly picking up a slightly scorched hand blaster, Jenat-Lai made a quick rolling jump into the open cockpit of the craft Detae was now piloting.

It was a tough squeeze fitting two people into the racer's cockpit. Tougher still when Detae bought the racer around into a heavy, twisting turn. It was all Jenat-Lai could do to keep from being thrown clear of the cockpit. Bullets, and now blaster shots, wizzing inches past the pod, Detae weaved violently left and right, throwing off the aim of those shooting at them as best she could. A few shots collected the body of the pod, shattering a stabalizer to shards. But Detae kept controll of the racer with expertise. She was not officially a pilot for the Scangan inc, but had been watching podracing for a long time. It was at the age of 12 she had first seen the racing specticle, right here at the Mos Eisley Arena. The race had been Illegal then, and in most of the republic, still was. But for a race which pretty much lacked any rules whatsoever, what Detae was about to do had never been tried before. Both too dangerous and stupid, for racer and crowd alike.
Speeding along at full throttle, the craft accelerated till the point that it became unstable, the damaged shards of the port stabaliser flapping about wildly, suddenly gave way and the entire unit flew off, causing the pod to veer wildly left. This is exactly what Detae needed. The lack of lift on the one side of the racer causing a decernable spin. Detae firewalled the right engine, pulling the controlls hard left as she did so. Steering the unsteady craft through 120 degrees, and straightening it up again, Detae sped the racer towards the seats that the crowd once occupied. Jenat-Lai, knuckles white from holding onto the craft noted where the two engines, tethered to the pod itself by it's controll column, and held together by the mesmerizing zig zag energy bolts of the binders, were leading them. The Main Arena's crowd usually sat on the terraced stone seating overlooking the starting grid and finish line. The gigantic stadium was also used for public addresses, political gatherings and as a market at other times. Right now, the east wing was mostly clear, having being occupied by Hundt's political enemies who had either been restrained and were being thrown into large transports, or who had made a run for it. The east wing was the only area of the stadium not to have a large fence around the rear of it, instead, it had a more decorative sloped wall. Jenat-Lai instinctivley knew what Detae was about to do, and crouched down, bracing himself for what he expected would be some quite violent direction changes. He was not wrong. As soon as the craft lifted over the first stone terrace, engines breaking through the flimsy fencing, Detae heaved the control column back bringing the craft up. Like a leaping animal the racer flew up the terraced embankment, catapulting off the decorative wall and droping off the end, heading for the opening desert in a cloud of dust.
Re-stabilizing the racer, Detae caught her breath, turning towards Jenat-Lai.
"I never knew I was the daughter of a Jedi" she chuckled. Jenat-Lai just smiled back, chuckling to himself. "Perhaps you are..."