Return to Eden was a mission undertaken by Battleteam Exar's Shadow in 24 ABY, shortly before the clan evacuated to the Jusadih System. Led by Commander Aabsdu al’Tor, the team was sent to the former home world of House Bane to investigate a beacon that had been activated, but it soon turned into much more.
While there, the team came upon a group of fake Imperials apparently searching for a program known as FireFly, although the computer had in fact already been moved to Byfrost. By the end of the mission, after getting rid of the would-be Imperials, the team came upon Alonzo Bodelle and captured him, returning him to Aerun.
Stormtroopers? Here?
Nothing to It
The mission was originally nothing more than a spy mission. The Summit of House Exar Kun had sent the battle team to Eden to investigate a distress beacon that had been recently activated. Incoming reports suggested an attack by the Crimson Tide, so many were suspicious that they could be hiding on Eden, no long inhabited since the dissolving of House Bane.
As soon as they landed on the planet, however, they all knew that more was happening then met the eye. In a nearby village surrounding the remains of House Bane's temple, the team came upon a large group of troops dressed in Imperial armor.
When Salth Khan went to investigate, he discovered blueprints of the temple. Still, they all knew that these were not real Imperials from their behavior and organization. Suddenly, though, Salth was discovered while investigating their camp, and no more than a few minutes after they had landed the team found themselves in the middle of a battle. Against the Dark Jedi and their lightsabers, the soldiers were no match, and when Jonaleth Isradia arrived he quickly finished the job with force lightning.
While Scorpius was able to apprehend one prisoner for questioning, he got no more than a few words out of him as his fellow troops activated several thermal detonators, destroying a small portion of the village, and leaving none of the soldiers alive.
Meanwhile, Salth had snuck off towards the entrance of the abandoned base to find the large majority of the “Imperials” attempting to drill through the wall and enter the base. The, at that time, Sith Battlemaster quickly engaged them, and after cutting down many of them disarmed the others and captured them as prisoners.
Aggressive Negotiations
Just as everything seemed like it was starting to calm down, though, four force-sensitive Dark Jedi wielding lightsaber emerged from the forest. Jonaleth quickly struck the first down, while the other three engaged with the Kunians, the one female eventually fleeing.
As Aabsdu took care of one Dark Jedi, Scorpius, Rydack, and Galaphile quickly handed the fourth. Meanwhile, the entire team was starting to get separated, as Salth and Jonaleth moved to interrogate the prisoners, Lorien disappeared on a personal vendetta, and the rest of the team cleaned up the rest of the Dark Jedi and “stormtroopers”.
Ghost of Bane
In the midst of the fighting, Galaphile was captured by the pirates when knocked unconscious by an explosion. When he awoke, he found himself bound to a pole in a cave surrounded by the pirates. Just as it seemed they were about to kill him, though, the spirit of Darth Bane appeared in the cave, and massacred the pirates before disappearing again.
By the time Scorpius arrived, the pirates were all dead, and he released Galaphile so they could continue on their mission. Still, the appearance of Darth Bane would be something that Galaphile would remember for the rest of his life.
Interrogation
As Rydack and Aabsdu finished off the last Dark Jedi, the team gathered back together at the old base of House Bane. Here, Salth and Jonaleth had already retrieved from them the information that the pirates had been here looking for a computer program known as firefly. The program, in the words of Jonaleth Isradia:
- "I built an artificial intelligence called Firefly to guard the knowledge we gained and secrets we gleaned, in preparation for the day they were needed. Fireflys task was to take the information, link it, and extract patterns and meanings that even the wisest and most powerful of my Order could not fathom. She did her job well, and we profited mightly from her findings"
- ―Jonaleth Isradia
Of course, after the house was disbanded the computer was moved to Castle Frost on Byfrost, and later to the Dark Tower on Kapsina. Exar's Shadow had taken care of the pirates, though, and their threat would not have to be worried about anymore. It is notable, however, that rumors exist that the pirates worked for the Crimson Tide, although this has never been confirmed save by the later presence of Alonzo Bodelle on the planet.
Final Confrontation
Crimson Tide man Alonzo Bodelle
Once inside the base, they were met by even more Dark Jedi, although quickly taken care of by Adept Jonaleth. They also quicly deactivated the beacon, but then they came upon something they had never expected to find.
While they found their landing pad, it was occupied by more pirates, as well as two bounty hunters. Salth and Jonaleth took out the outermost guards before the rest of the team moved in for a frontal assault. The battle went well, although Galaphile was knocked uncouncious by a concussion missile.
In the middle of the battle, a shuttle attempted to take off from the platform, but was quickly deprived of that ability by Scorpius. After finishing off the rest of the pirates as well as the two bounty hunters, the team moved in on the shuttle to find none other then Alonzo Bodelle tucked away in it.
Aftermatch
After riding themselves of the remaining pirates and capturing Alonzo Bodelle, Exar's Shadow returned to Elysian where they interrogated Alonzo, but were able to get nothing out of him. Eventually, he was moved when the team moved to the Jusadih System, and then a few months later escaped.
While the connection between the pirates and the Crimson Tide has never been confirmed, it is highly suspected that they were working for Calliban Crimson. The fact that they were Imperial armor, which Jonah Kraul possessed, and were led by Alonzo had proof to this idea. Currently, FireFly, the program they were looking for, is still safely in the hands of Clan Plagueis.