Beginnings of Zenith Part Three: Exar's Rise to Power.

By: W. Bob Yankovic

In this Fic I hope to explain the events leading up to, and following the death of Emperor Palpatine. I will tell of the adventures I had under the rule of Ulic Qel-Droma, then under his pupil Exar Kun. I hope this reveals the final years of my espionage mission for NCC. Enjoy the fic!

My term as Emperor's Hand lasted only a short year. The death of the Emperor aboard the second Death Star was totally spontaniouse. Who would have thought that a young Jedi could turn his father from years of evil. This event combined with the death of Darth Vader sent the remenants of the Empire sprawling. I was basically forgotten by the Empire. I had noticed that my SD Badge was not fully functinal due to the fact that I could not open any rifts. This I think was due to the immence dark power of the Emperor. It must have been short circuted or something of that nature. I was once again a floater. Three years went by faster than I could imagine. I could not contact NCC for some unexplained reason. I could not acsess any of the records or databanks either. It was almost as if I did not even exist. But not too much longer I would discover that one person had me in his eye. And little did I know that this person was the epitamy of evil.

It seemed like I would be hopping from planet to planet looking for some contact from NCC forever. That is when I met him. He was a very powerful Sith Lord. His name, Ulic Qel-Droma. He found me in a trading square on a Free Trader planet in some Outer Rim system. He told me that he had seen my work while I was in the Empire and offered me a job. I said that I would have to be told what the job is and what the wages are to give him a definant answer. I amlost collapsed as he told me that I would be reconstructing a smaller but more deadly from of the Resonance bomb. He also told me that I would recieve one lump some at the end of my reaserch of 1,000,000 credits. I gladly excepted the job. I was to start immediatly at a planet to be named later. He told me to make a hyperspace jump to the planet Dathomir. There he would tell me where to go. Needless to say I was in high orbit of Dathomir a full day in advance.

He met me on his flag ship "Sith's Pride." There he told me that I was to go to the Obra Ski system to begin work on my project. He also informed me that I was also to design and build a bomber to carry the bomb I was to make. I asked him if any extra money would be thrown in to the deal. He said that an extra 5,000 credits would suffice for the extra work. I noticed one thing that he never did though. He never at all called the name of a person. Whenever he wanted to talk to someone he just looked at them and they came to him. I wondered just how powerful this guy was. I finally broke down and asked him "How do you do that little trick?" "I am the most powerful Sith Lord in existance," was his answer. "I feel the Force with you, but it is very small," he also said. "Just how much do I have?" I asked him very intrigued at the fact that I had the Force. "You have the ability to change the outcomes of events. Your extreme luck is due to the Force. You cannot loose a bet or any game of chance because you "want" it into happening. In other words you hope something happens so much that it does. That is a very rudimentery ability of the Force. I could train you to the level where you could read the minds of people if you would like," he concluded. I took him up on his offer. It seemed like a second nature once I had learned it. He told me that I was now maxed out on the amount of Force I could use. I did not gripe. The ablility to read minds and never loose a bet could come in handy at the Sabbac tables.

I finished the ship to carry the bomb fairly quickly. I had it designed and built in a month short of a year. The bomb was another story. I had to take the original plans, that I had memorized, and shrink it down but at the same time make it more powerful. The work was completed the day before the second major loss of income happened. It seamed that some guy named John Aruva had teamed up with an unknown person to kill Qel-Droma. It did not make me mad but it was a small inconvinance. When I heard that the way Qel-Droma died was due to a very strong disturbance in the Vortex, I began to speculate. I went down to the planet Qel-Droma was based on to find the remainents of a massive machine. This was the machine I had thrown together in my spare time that blocked out the presence of the Vortex power. It seemed to have been blown up by an overload of Vortex power. That is when I knew exactly what happened. Ray was back. But one thing that puzzled me was the fact that it would take a power source larger than the one that ran NCC itself. This must mean that Ray was the most powerful being in the whole known universe. I knew that I was close to going home.

When Exar Kun took over the Destroyers, A group of really bad Dimentional Gaurdians, I finally found out who I was working for. For almost two years I had been working for the enemy. I had given them the power to destroy the good Gaurdians. I had single handedly doomed the future of peace in the universe. I have to say I felt really crappy. Exar brough me before him to look over the plans to attack NCC. He had stolen two of Qel-Droma's SSD's that were armed to the teeth. He had also taken over the whole fleet of TIE fighters. He had the power. Along with the H-Wing, that I had designed, he could destroy the Gaurdians for good. I went over his plans with him. We were to move out in a week to attack NCC. The SSD's were to go in first to destroy the capital ships. Then the TIE's would be sent in to pick off any fighters. Then I was to take the H-Wing and blow up the NCC ship. This really got me stuck. I was going to have to blow up my own friends, the very ones who trained with me. I had to take action. To my surprise I actually got a message off to NCC. It was in the form of a satellite reading so that Exar's men could not intercept it. I gave them readouts on the fleet and the exact location. then I hoped that I was in time.

When I saw the wing of fighters that I knew to be Phoenix Squadron pop out of hyperspace a feeling of relief swept over my body. I rushed up to the bridge in fake consern. "What is goin on?" I asked a officer. "A group of fighters have been picked up by our scanners. They appear to belong to NCC. I request permission to engage Sir," he replied. "Go ahead, but send only one squadron of TIE's at a time," I answered him. Oh I did not mention that I was given the rank of Commodor did I? Oh well. Anyway, I watched as the Phoenix's ships blasted one TIE after another. Then Exar made his way to the deck. "What is this? An engagement of the enemy without my supervision?" he said quite perterved. "I gave the clearance to attack sir," I said quickly. "Why are you not destroying tham then? Send out all remaining fighters except for the H-Wing!" he screamed as he stormed out of the bridge. "Man, he was mad," I told the officer. The remaining TIE's were dispatched quickly by Phoenix Squadron. I knew it was now or never.

As I ran to my room I made a little detour by the main computer room. There I transfered the money that was owed to me, plus a little extra, about 600,000 credits, to my account with the bank of Couruscant. After that I made a little side trip to the bathroom, then on to the hanger. I set my Dimentional Fighter to auto-home and hoped that I could find it by a portal to NCC. Then I hopped in the H-Wing. As I spead out I recieved a transmittion from Exar. "What in the $&#% are you doing with the H-Wing?" he yelled over the comm. "Sending you straight to hell!" I answered. As I approached Phoenix Squadron I heard a familliar voice. I knew I was going home.

The Beginnings Of Zenith Series has been completed. To read what happens to me next you need to pick up on Dimentional Gaurdian Force 3. I hope this series has given you a better picture of myself. May the Force and Vortex be with you!