Midnight Assault

-Kyle Zimmerman-

In… Out… In… Out… I reveled in the meditation that I started doing quite often as a Jedi Padawan. It was unbelievably soothing to feel the force wash over me. It cleansed my mind and calmed my heart. Anything that troubled me would be washed away.

The funds injected by my Uncle were already deposited and converted last night. I transferred almost all of the credits to Galen, only keeping a few million for myself.

Those credits were already being put to good use. One of the friends that Galen brought on board was a real estate agent back on Earth.

Her name was Satine Demos and she was unbelievably successful for someone in their 20's. Her background was quite an interesting story.

Satine's, or Serena's, family was extremely unfortunate growing up. Serena barely finished highschool which was where Galen had met her. Not being able to afford college, she acquired her real estate license.

In the 9 years since she acquired her license, her wealth has exploded. She was nearly a millionaire at the age of 27 and I could only imagine the empire she would one day have.

Seeing the tangible results of her prolific business acumen, I decided to create another special position among the leaders of the guild. Along with Violet being the Operations Director, we now had six special positions and someone occupying each of them.

First, of course, was Violet who held the position of Operations Director along with her being an elder. The operations director was responsible for the majority of activities that the guild undertakes. This includes, but is not limited to, guild quests, recruitment, the hiring of locals, and logistics. Since the guild was still small, there wasn't too much for her to do but the workload would undoubtedly explode once any semblance of growth takes place. I had no doubt that this would be one of the largest departments within the guild one day.

Second, was Satine's position. Along with being an elder, she now held the title of Asset Management Director. She would subsequently be in charge of every capital asset that the guild possesses. This essentially means that if it is worth money but isn't money itself, it falls under her. The first item on her agenda was to purchase a skyscraper on Coruscant to be used as a guild hall. We had more credits than we knew what to do with so this was a smart investment.

How would we make the most of this investment? Well, that's where the third position comes in. My Uncle brought in a talented financial advisor from Berkshire Hathaway that went by the name of Toro Icathian. His name on Earth was Tony Ittorio and was essentially my Aunt Susan's prodigy at 31 years old. It took a lot of effort by Uncle Paul to convince her to let him observe this effort. His position would be an elder serving as the Finance Director. He would be in charge of budgeting, investments, and entrepreneurship. He is fabled at Berkshire for his investment sense. This position would also handle payroll once the guild had enough cash flow to allow the senior members, and eventually more, to play full time instead of working.

While we had enough right now in order to keep our elders' and core members' bills paid in the real world, it would become difficult as our member count grew. It would only take a few weeks for this cost to catch up with us.

Fourth, of course, was my Uncle Paul. He decided to name his character Leonardo Brenko. He actually held two positions within the guild. While only one of them truly mattered at this point, the other would be even more important later on. His first position, which is the one I gave him, was Grand Elder. This is essentially the head elder and is equivalent to being a vice guild leader. It is more of a management position but gives him the authority he needs to establish various departments within the guild. The first of those departments was the finance department.

The second was the political department, which ties into his other position which was Ambassador. This basically made him the designated political representative for the guild. The last department was the intelligence department. He appointed his most trusted aide to lead it. I was eager to meet this man that helps my Uncle maintain his network despite being retired.

This man was Karl Sigurdsson. His name in the game was Sigurd and he was the Intelligence Director, the sixth special position, along with being an Elder. This position was self-explanatory. My father told me that there was a great story behind how the two of them met and that I should ask my Uncle to tell it to me sometime.

Aside from these things which I gave my approval on, I haven't heard anything else. I was, however, looking forward to seeing the reports on their progress.

A voice from behind me interrupted my pleasant thoughts. "Commander, it is time."

I nodded, opening my eyes. "Very well. Let's get this done, shall we?"

I stood up from the ground, wiping the wet grass from my knees. I then started walking forwards towards the troopers that were gathered ahead of me. "Status report."

The man started speaking immediately. "Commander Violet is in position along with Master Zallow. We can move as soon as you're ready. Commander Violet is waiting for your confirmation before she gives the order."

I nodded, touching my chin as I thought for a moment. "Well, are we ready?"

The man replied again. "Yes, sir."

I smiled and gestured forwards. "Then, tell her we are ready!"

The man nodded before inaudibly speaking into his comm. He then spoke up after a few seconds. "Commander Violet says that we are clear to engage."

I smiled and pressed a button on my wrist comm. "Forward march and weapons free."

I watched the hundreds of troopers in front of me start moving forwards through the forest towards our destination. It was a very short walk ahead. The only reason we were so close is because my Master and I spent the half hour preceding the troopers arrival disposing of the Imperial scouts.

Within thirty seconds, the pitch black forest lit up blue. All around me, blasters were firing and igniting the darkness with a ray of energy.

Several dozen meters ahead, I saw the light of the enemy camp. One by one, the lights went out after being destroyed by a stray blaster bolt.This was their main camp on this hemisphere and was the source of most of our troubles. With this camp and the other hemisphere's camp gone, the Republic Fleet could really step on the gas with their assault on the Imperial Blockade.

I remained in the middle of my troopers, trying to hide my presence as much as possible. It would be preferable if the Sith that we presumed to be in this camp thought that there were no Jedi among their attackers. This would make it so that they all come out in order to dispose of us.

Suddenly, I felt five separate presences. The coldness, the rage, it was unmistakable. These were Sith. I pressed a button on my comm and swapped to a private channel. "Master, I'm clocking five."

Ven replied quite quickly. "Mmmhm. Four warriors and one Lord. What do you think you can handle? I trust your judgment, my padawan."

I sighed, thinking for a moment. I glanced down at my hips before nodding with a newfound determination. This would be my new partner's debut. I had to make it flashy. "Three warriors is my limit. It might take me a while to deal with them though."

After a few seconds of silence, my master responded. "If it was just your lightsaber skills, I'd say no. However, I believe that you can overcome this by using the force. I'll try to grab the attention of the Lord and one other. I will announce my presence at full power. Wait a few seconds then do the same."

I nodded, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. I wasn't really nervous. If anything, I was excited. "Okay, master. I'll be waiting on you."

It didn't even take a second after I said that before an oppressive wave of the force smashed through me. The entire battlefield ceased firing for almost a full second before resuming. Even those that weren't force sensitive were able to feel it regardless of whether they knew what it was.

I was shocked. Was my master this powerful? Why did it feel like he puts every Clone Wars era Jedi to shame?

Shaking my head, I remembered that I needed to follow suit. Thus, I took a slow and deep breath of the forest's air into my lungs. I let it hold for a second before I shoved it out.

I might have imagined it, but I felt the ground shake as I did this. While the troopers around me didn't stop firing like they did with my master, I felt like my presence in the force was not too far behind that of my master.

I smirked and wore a smug expression as a sense of pride washed over me. However, it quickly turned to shock due to what I heard next.

My master spoke through our comm channel. "Soryn, bad news. All four warriors are making their way towards you."