Second Star to the Right

The space above Ossus burned, blazing with dancing Dogs of War.

Three Warbirds dove in to strike like angry Raptors of the ancients and their turbolasers were claws with murderous light pounding on the shield of the Imperial flagship, Nevermore. As the mighty ship rocked from the onslaught, a hooded figure stood before the massive displays that wrap around the Flag Bridge. He staggered and nearly fell, the storm was fierce and unrelenting.

In near inaudible whisper, the hooded man spoke to the young woman a step below the forward command platform. "Padawan," he paused. "Order the forward batteries and torpedo launchers to concentrate fire on the lead ship."

Four feet tall and nearly nine years old, a young Jedi stood behind a station normally reserved for the ship's first officer. Her hands flew swiftly across the panel and as the lead Warbird came about to launch yet another attack on the Flagship, every forward weapon system coordinated their vicious attack, breaking the lead ship's forward shields. Five minutes later the Warbird Aka'gi blew in a screaming rage and scattered across the stars.

The Aka'gi's sister ships, the T'sar and the T'Rex rallied and combined their assault pounding unforgivingly on Nevermore's bridge shield. The klaxon screamed loudly. An officer called from his station "Hull breach! Intruders detected off the main bridge---!" Suddenly the blast doors of the Command Bridge blew as four Assault Droids collided and overloaded the blast door's shields and armor.

If a ship could feel, Nevermore would have writhed in pain.

Walking over the broken and melting fragments of what was once were Heavy Assault Droids who gave their existence to breach the Command Center, was a hooded Human Sith Lord, Nhyl. There were no pleasantries exchanged except the blurred cobra-like strike of a crimson Sith saber colliding with an Emerald Green blade and a Pink one. The universe seem to shrink, focusing on that one moment. The command center was bathed in the cold-light of blades.

The Sith Lord Nhyl collided with The Jedi Lord Taiyu expecting the Jedi Master to meet him head on. Instead the Jedi absorbed the ferocity of the Sith Lord's attack, locking with him and with a powerful push from the Force dragged both of them to an awaiting Escape pod. In a blink of an eye, Master Taiyu had shot himself and Lord Nhyl into the cold depths of space, blacking out from sheer force exhaustion, leaving an eight year old human Padawan on the bridge of the Republic's Flagship and in command of the Fleet.

The next thing the Jedi Lord Taiyu knew was an excruciating pain coursing through him as tendrils of the Force prickled and coursed through his body. The depths of his soul cried out in pain. In his ear a blode beauty with the sweetest voice whispered enticingly in his ear. "You will join us," Then the pain grew more intense.

The gentle chime of the ship woke Lord Taiyu. Sweat rolled across his forehead. It was another nightmare. "Yeah?" He spoke to the wall. A blue hologram appeared before him. It was the manifestation of the ship's Artificial Intelligence.

"I am sorry to disturb your sleep cycle, Lord Taiyu. You have an incoming message from Republic High Command."

"Understood. Pipe it through." Before him stood the image. His Flag was being summoned home. Expedite return. Refit to commence immediately. Tzu Taiyu knew what the message meant. The war had nearly bankrupted the Republic. Had there been no war, Nevermore would have been scheduled to be transferred to a new superstructure. He knew this because he designed it himself. Sleek and powerful, far more mobile with more teeth than the white Imperial-III-Class starframe of his current ship's superstructure. There was still war to be fought and the Republic needed all hands on deck. His Krayt-Class WarDragon would one day rise, Tzu Taiyu knew with certainty.

Tzu Taiyu clipped his lightsaber and donned his Master's robe and strode to the bridge. As the doors parted to reveal the Command Bridge, he saw Jheytee, his now ten year old Padawan on the Command Deck and she was patiently waiting for him.

A holoprojection of Nevermore appeared beside his Padawan. Today, his ship's persona wore an ornate costume, intricate with the black and gold stripes of the Tiger. She already knew what Fleet Command wanted. If she was human, she'd know fear. It was akin to hating injections.

"If I were human, I believe my response would be... Go to Hell." Taiyu looked at Nevermore, raising an eyebrow. "If I were human," Nevermore stated.

"People can be very frightened of change." His Padawan noted.

"Some people think the future means the end of history. Well... We haven't run out of history quite yet." Taiyu quoted.

It was Nevermore's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Course heading, Master?" His Padawan asked.

Tzu Taiyu stood before the stars and knew the dangers that lurked behind the natural splendor out there. He looked at Nevermore then at his Padawan Jheytee and the courageous crew of his ship who braved hell to rescue him from the dark abyss of Korriban. Taiyu turned to his young apprentice.

"Padawan: second star to the right... and straight on till morning".

"As you command, Master". Turning to the ship's crew, rattled orders and the crew went about their work.

Tzu Taiyu stood before the stars. He let his mind woolgather. He knew his ship and trusted his Padawan and his crew to carry out their orders. In a moment of introspection, whispered to Nevermore who had now stood beside him gazing across the stars.

"Captain's Log, 30ABY.12.19: This is the final cruise of Nevermore running under Tiger. This machine and her history will shortly become the care of another Operating System: Leopard. To Leopard and her posterity will we commit our future. We will continue the voyages we have begun, to face the challenges of tomorrow and journey across the galaxy, boldy going where no machine, where no one... has gone before."

I hope the mixed metaphors didn't give you a headache. This is my way of blogging that I am beginning my upgrade towards Leopard. See you after Tiger retires.

Edit: first image is a image i took using iSight of my copy of Leopard and the second is a screen shot of an email i received from Apple about demo dates in Asia.