Revenge of Darth Tax Man

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) There was a message that came into the Jedi council center through D V V that said our assistance was required in the Lake Perris sector of our home space. A team of Jedi and Padwars were picked and assigned to meet for a low level land speeder run to bring food to a small clan of Ewocks located at outpost Marina. I headed for the meeting place about 7:30 am to meet the team. Master Digger was waiting for me as I arrived and then my Padwar Bugler arrived a moment later. We were discussing who could have caused the food supply of the Ewocks of Lake Perris to run out of food? Ewocks look for all the world like big grey ground squirrels, but they have been protected and fed by our group of Jedi for years. Master Magic Man and his brother Lance joined us as cover for the first part of our mission While Highlander and his Padwar Tax Man arrived a minute later. We fired up the land speeders and headed out onto the Latham flight path towards Lyon. I was ride leader for the first few clicks before Digger took over.

As we moved north on the Lyon flight path we were in good spirits knowing that we would meet little resistance from Imperial warriors or even worse a Seth Master, someone that followed the dark side of the force. We felt secure in knowing that we all followed the light and were designed for doing good and having fun. Not being on our guard we were flying around in a very loose formation with different leaders moving from the back to the front. That continued almost all the way to the Ramona flight path.

Master Highlander and Digger led us west on the Ramona flight path all the way to the Warp Drive expressway. We waited at the launch light and finally turned west. Digger took us into the warp drive ramp and headed for the Warren side junction. My young Padwan, Bugler, decided to push it into warp 2 and pulled out front taking us through the rise at the Warren junction. When he picked up the pace Master Highlander moved out to follow him at warp 2 leaving Padwan Tax Man, Master Magic Man and his brother behind Master Digger almost all the way to Bridge. But as we got to Bridge Magic Man and Lance kicked it into warp 4 and taking Padwan Bugler with them. Digger didn’t have the engine to keep up leaving a gap that Master Highlander soon jumped around gaping Tax Man and me by at least one warp degree. I had to pull around Digger and give chase pushing into warp 5 and taking my engines as well. Tax Man jumped around a moment later and hooked up on my back wheel as I pulled up to the back of the Magic Group than now had Lance pulling. Both Tax Man and I were suffering by the time we got to Highlanders wheel and Tax Man seemed upset that he had been dropped not once but twice before we could get to space station Nuevo at Hansen. I finally pulled up to Master magic and backed him down to warp two so we could all make a refueling stop at Space Station Nuevo. I could feel something strange in the force however and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. We know the dark side comes from giving in to anger and disappointment but every seemed so happy that I thought my feeling were off. Magic and Lance left us to head for their base while I started the remaining group west back on the warp drive expressway and in pursuit of Master Digger and his exploratory mission to Area Perris.

As we headed towards the wave on warp drive expressway Padwan Tax Man changed for a Jedi novice to a dark lord. He became Darth Tax Man trying to suppress his anger of getting dropped at the beginning of the expressway. As we headed for the bridge before the wave and Barnasconi I happened to be pulling. I was down on power by 20 percent but I tried to hold may pace and had both Bugler and Tax Man on my back wheel all the way to Barnisconi. What I didn’t hear was Tax Man turning into Darth Tax Man and using his mind trick to get Master Highlander to shut down his power plant. As I moved towards the second wave in the space warp Bugler pulled up in front of me and Tax Man tagged up on my wheel. What I didn’t see was Highlander had abandoned the mission when Tax Man attacked towards the top of the wave. There was a change in Tax Man and I could tell there was a disturbance in the force. As my Padwan and I pulled onto the Parris flyway I got a message that Highlander was headed for home base. There was almost a gleam in Tax Man’s eyes but I still didn’t expect anything. Tax Man led us towards the main entrance to the Lake Perris Landing area and then proceeded to pace me to the Marina to check on the Ewocks. As we started to distribute the food from packets we had the Ewocks soon almost surrounded us. By the time we had refueled and refreshed Tax Man was eager to leave and just before we mounted up he snatched the last bag of Ewock food and took off back towards the Warp Drive expressway. When we got back to the first wave Master Digger was leading and was far enough ahead to cross over the wave and head back to Bernisconi and the last warp increase. The true colors of Darth Tax Man showed itself and he attacked me before the warp bridge at the Lakeview. He then proceeded to chase down Digger and after firing blasters at him past and started into warp 2 and pulled away. Padwar Bugler and I gave chase and hit him with tractor beams to reel him in.

Bugler then pulled me as we headed back to Bridge but Darth Tax Man attacked again. He held the pace all the way to the Warren junction and then took us south towards the Cottonwood flyway. Digger was still down on Power and couldn’t hold on at the pace Darth Tax Man was setting but I was able to close but he kept pulling away and we turned east on Cottonwood. Digger tried to cut him off by heading to Esplanade and cutting back to Sanderson. Darth Tax Man wasn’t having any of it and passed Esplanade before he could be cut off. Digger was out of the chase and it left my Padwan and I to catch and defeat Darth Tax Man. By Menlo we almost caught him and Bugler almost put the Jedi finger knock out touch on him

Much like a big fish that is pulled up next to the boat Darth Tax Man made another run for it and got away again. It took a lot of effort for Bugler and I to run him back down and we found ourselves closing in on the last flyway on Devonshire and the safety of the neutral zone. As we got close to the corner Bugler made another try at the Jedi mind touch.

Once we were in the Devonshire flyway Darth Tax Man went into an escape panic run towards Kirby and it was all Bugler and I could do to catch him. However the gate opened before we got to Kirby and by the Gilmore glide path into the safety zone Darth made his last sprint and made it to safety before we could capture him. Yes it is a shame when a good Jedi turns to the dark side but sometimes a Padwan resents being dropped and accepts the dark side to get the respect they feel they deserve. We need to keep an eye on Darth Tax Man.