Corruption of a Jedi

Guthix awoke, which was a surprise to him. He was suspended in a bacta tank, and appeared to be back in the JvS temple. He seemed to be mostly in one peice, thanks to the work of the droids. A medical droid noticed he was awake, and opened the tank. Guthix emerged and quickly donned a set of grey robes. He looked around, and saw the contents of another bacta. Atarus Penin had survived, and for some reason the masters had seen fit to let him live. Guthix picked up his lightsaber, which had been retrieved from Naboo, and approached the tank...

Sarus and Aragorn bumped into Thing, and Sarus proceeded to inform him on the status.

"Thing, Aragorn is our last member, wich makes it you, Dusk, Ptolemy, and Dray the other 4. We will go in two ships...Due to the carefullness and precision needed for this mission, we will take my ship and Dray's. Three members will go in each ship till we arrive on Dantooine."

"Why yours and Dray's?"

"Simple. Dray's ship is an ex smuggling vessel, wich means its more then prepared for evading and stealth events. And i have modified mine to adjuust to the past 5 years, so it can drive and function as a smugglers ship."

"Ok....anything else?"

"Yes. We leave tomorrow."

"Already??'"

"The Council has urged to me that this mission is a top priority and that we should handle it now before those Crusaders beome more powerful."

Aragorn added to Sarus statement."Yes its true. You said they are gathering more and more supplies and followers. In time, they may gather enough power to attack even this very temple..."

The three men stricked a silence in fear of what could happen if these cult followers werent stopped. All the lives at the settlement in this planet, all the lives in the temple, and on other countless planets were in perol.

"Its my duty and of all Jedi to stop these Crusaders. I chose all of you because the Force led me to you all....Each one of you brings something to the table that will be crucial in the success of this mission. Even thou i suspect it may be overwhelming for us....I still have some hope on all of you. You too Dray."

The other two perplexed at this, looked around to find Dray.

"Of course my friend. What would you be without me? You would be a lot less happier in life i can tell you that."

From atop a tree bench, Dray was hanging there all this time, listening to what Sarus had to tell. Trees were always a favourite place for Dray to hang on...it gave him happiness to be surrounded by branches of life.
Dray proceeded to jump off, and joined the rest of the crew

Aragorn stated." Dude, why do you keep hanging around on trees?"

"Well.....why do you keep hanging around on....sidewalks?"

Aragorn proceeded to slap his palm in his forehead.

Sarus then turned to Dray, with the face of someone who had only one purpose in his mind right now.

"Do you have your ship ready by tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Its all set to go, just needs to load our supplies and we're off."

"Ok....then i suggest we all get ourselves ready to go."

"Ill go take a walk, maybe sparr someone...it helps me." Aragorn directed himself down the corridor.

"I think ill go take some meditation time, maybe eat some junk food...i have a feeling we wont be eating nice meals for soem time." Thing exclamated, with a hand on his stomach, and proceeded to the cantina.

"Ok....What about you my excentric crazy jeedai friend?" Sarus asked Dray.

"I need to pick up some stuff, including a special gift given to me by my master. Itll proove itself helpful."

"Oh? what kind of gift?"

"A surprise gift...now i gotta go by my room, pick up meh gift, pick up meh cookies. Specially made by the Sith baker at the cantina. I stole them one night. Saving them for an ocasion liek this. Cant go on a trip liek this without meh cookies!"

"Will you give me one??? I love sith cookies!"

"Oh sure."

"Really???"

"NO!"

Dray then jumped his way to the dorms, and left Sarus with a sad face.

"Crazy jeedai..."


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dray entered his room, went into his cooling compartment, and took out the package of cookies, and placed them in his old utilities bag, an old bag that he had carried ever since he left the academy to go do some traveling, many years ago. It carried a sentimental value for him, and he couldnt dispose of it. Next he proceeded into his room, and picked up the special gift from his old master and placed it next to his utility bag, ready to take them the next morning.

"Its time for me to use it. Champ said when the time came, i would know what to do with it. The Force tells me now is the time....i just up im up to whatever challenge it is."

Thougts of responsibility flowed thru Dray's mind. He kept the rest of the day looking into the void. Meditating....feeling the life around him. Feeling the people outside, the two fellows in the medbay who had just arrived injured...."Awkward" he thought, and kept reaching further.

He felt Aragorn sparring in the Dueling rings, "Kicking ass as usual." Then he felt thru the dorms, seeing Sarus in his room, packing up gadgets. Great disturbance in him. With no wonder of course. All that is being put on his shoulders....he could be no other way. But Dray felt the strong pure good will in his core. "Ah my friend, you worry too much.
Whatever happens, it wont be your fault."


Dray then reached out and near the garden, next to the dueling rings, he felt a old presence...With Force in it, but concealing its true self. He felt his concentration....and an odd focus on the dueling rings...."Weird...i thought he went get his stuff ready....must be watching the duels.....this old man...he hides alot. He hides his presence, he hides his force abilities. At least he tries to. Why he insists in concealing so much...is something we will find out later i suspect."

Dray then proceeded to feel the Living Force again...."Lets hope Zohan doesnt make me fall of the bed too this time...."

A maelstrom of emotions swirled within Guthix... almost like he and his past self were arguing against each other.

"It's not the Jedi way!" he told himself.

"He's too annoying to be left alive!" screamed his Pravus side.

"He must stand trial!"

at that Guthix deactivated his saber, and strode out of the medical room, determined to have justice in the jedi fashion.

Ptolemy felt the force probing and searching. He didn’t care if someone that was looking knew he was there. His mask was for Aragorn. Lies, deceit and masks were a part of him now and old habits are hard to break. With a mental wave at the user that was reaching out, Ptolemy turned his attention back to the ring where his son was sparring and teaching.

‘Patience is essential in light saber combat,' Aragorn said, as he switched his laser sword off ‘with out it your opponent can get you to over extend and then you could loose an arm, or your head’ The padawan nodded and returned to his place at the edge of the room.

‘Now’ Aragorn said ‘who was next? Jaren was it you?’

‘I would like to spar you’ Ptolemy spoke up ‘I do not know if anyone else was next’

‘You sure you want to do this,’ chuckled Aragorn ‘I do not want to hurt you’

‘Then don’t’ said Ptolemy twirling his staff lightly.

Aragorn stood relaxed saber deactivated in his right hand and watched as Ptolemy alternated his spinning staff from his right hand to his left hand almost mesmerizing in the simplicity and grace of the movement. The speed of the maneuver increased and the staff cut through the air with a slight hum.

‘He’s not limping as much’ Aragorn thought ‘that, is a wooden staff, a lightsaber will cut right through it.’ He finally said.

‘Do not concern yourself with my weapons.’ Ptolemy said ‘you preach patience but say there is more that you should understand about combat. You should never judge your opponent by his appearance.’

Ptolemy grabbed Aragorn’s feet and pulled with the force. Aragorn’s feet were yanked over his head and he came down hard on his back. Flustered, Aragorn rolled back and flipped to his feet facing Ptolemy, he looked at the old man still twirling his staff, a little embarrassed, he ignited his saber. Slowly Aragorn circled left holding his saber dropping into Soresu, not quite sure what to make of Ptolemy but having a bit more respect for the man. Aragorn sensed something behind him and swung around bringing his saber up impacting Ptolemy’s staff as he was striking at Aragorn’s back. Ptolemy pushed off the ground with the force and catapulted himself back from Aragorn landing several feet away. He landed on one knee as Aragorn took a step toward him. Ptolemy stood and spun his staff over his head and brought the butt of it down impacting the floor sending a shockwave through the floor causing it to ripple in concentric rings from the staff and sending Aragorn staggering back. Ptolemy leaped forward again and unleashed a flurry of attacks against Aragorn that seemed to stretch the young mans defenses his staff becoming a blur as it seemed to come from every angle at once as Ptolemy circled the young jedi. Aragorn felt the staff strike his right shoulder and his arm went limp as it lost all feeling and strength causing his saber to clatter across the floor coming to rest against the wall.

Aragorn pushed against Ptolemy with the force to get some distance making the man stumble back against his weak leg but propelled Aragorn back several feet. Aragorn looked at the old man a little winded and rubbed his shoulder. Some of the feeling started coming back. He looked around and called his saber to him catching it in his left hand.

‘It is not broken’ Ptolemy told Aragorn holding the staff out as if for inspection, ‘I made this staff with my own hands from a branch cut from the sacred trees on Kashik, a core of Cortosis through the middle and the outside of the staffed laced with the same metal. I have also infused this staff with the force making it virtually unbreakable. As an interesting side effect it tends to magnify the pain when it strikes. That love tap would have put you on the ground if I had been able to get a solid hit on you.’

‘But you were in front of me’ Aragorn started

‘I was? Hmm… then how did I get behind you?’ Ptolemy chuckled as he turned toward the Garden ‘come I want to show you something’

Aragorn really wanted to keep training but something told him to follow the old man to the garden.

Ptolemy rummaged around in several of the pockets of his robe till he found something and asked ‘what do you remember of your family?’

‘My mother and Father Died on Tatooine’ Aragorn said ‘my girl friend was taken as well but she survived the attack.’

‘Attack? Who would do such a thing?’ Ptolemy asked fingering an object on a rather delicate chain.

‘Sand people,’ said Aragorn, ‘we were on holiday and I had gone to get drinks for everyone. I was to far away to help.’

‘Is there anything before that?’ Ptolemy asked ‘Never mind, you remind me a lot of someone that meant a lot to me. I would like you to have this.’ Ptolemy held out a medallion that seemed to be a piece of a larger medallion. The engraving was intricate and almost worn away. When Aragorn looked at the piece it appeared to be a portion of a medal with the image of a man, and part of another person and something that looked like a baby wrapped in linen. The edges of the piece was round except for the broken edge was a bit rough like there was a piece that would fit with it.

‘What is it?’ Aragorn asked

‘An heirloom but I have no family to leave it to so I would like you to have it’ Ptolemy said ‘Look the inscription on the back’

Aragorn shook his head ‘Looks valuable, I cannot take this’ He tried to hand it back to Ptolemy.

‘No, no,’ Ptolemy insisted ‘I want you to have it, I insist.’

Aragorn placed the medallion in his pocket. ‘I have to go get my things together, Thank you’

Back in the Dark Council Chamber
======================

'Guthix is a traitor to the the Sith' Spanish Said coldly 'Why would you go and bring him back here?'

'Well.. I... I mean..' Xzavier stuttered 'I didn't know he had been turned, he was still eradicating the blight that is the descendants of Perin. That was a task decreed by this council was it not?'

The tempature seemed to drop 10 degrees in the chamber. 'Yes it was, He was torn between what is good and what is power.' Layfon said 'Span i think we have found our first volunteer to act as 'bait'.'

'I think you are right' Spanish Chuckled then glared at Xzavier 'for not finishing the deed you have volunteered for what will end up being a glorious battle and, hopefully for you, death'

'Prepare your gear,' Layfon said 'many of our number and many Jedi will be leaving tomorrow for a retreat of sorts. you will be amung them.'

'Yes M'Lord' Xzavier mumbeled and almost ran from the room.

//sorry it is short but this gaurentees you will be on planet when the fight happens Smile

//So I lied, this is just going to start the trip, since I'm out of dialog at the moment.

"The Force," Iron began, projecting his voice out into the Hall of Lost Jedi, "is not a thing to be taken lightly. It has the power to strengthen, or weaken, to encourage or disparage, to give life, or take it. It is the one true perfect thing in life, and it is in the hands of imperfect beings." The Grand Master leaned on the desk, his impromptu podium, "It gives it's power to us, in the hope that we will use it wisely, that we will better ourselves and others through it's use, and often we let it down." Iron was silent for a moment, as if thinking up an old memory, but it was only a moment and was soon back on with his speech, "We, as Jedi, dedicate ourselves to the will of the Force. We are servants of it, not masters over it, and many Jedi spend their whole lives just trying to decern it's will, to anticipate it's will," he shrugged, "some are more successful then others, and others never bother trying to sense it, they just listen to those who do." The Grand Master turned and gazed at the holos, lifting his hands as he spoke, "The Force has use for anyone, no matter what their abilities or skills, this is obvious just by looking at who we honor."

Iron walked over to a statue of a Kel Dor, holding a bright yellow lightsaber, "For instance, this Jedi was not a fighter, nor one who sensed the ways of the Force, he was simply an Administrator. He delegated resources and personnel to different areas, and was very good at it, he listened to what he could decipher of the Force, and he did what he could to fight, but he not an expert of either." Iron turned back, "He is honored here for a very simple reason, without him our Order would not have survived. He contributed in perhaps the most difficult way of all, by not using the Force, by using his mind, and letting the Force guide his hand in his thoughts. The Force had great things in mind from him, even though no one saw anything more then a mediocre Jedi."

He walked to the center of the hall, "Others shown here include: Pilots, Historians, Healers, and even Scientists, each was not what one would consider a traditional Jedi, but each made contributed largely to the Force, and to the Jedi." He looked back around, "So my lesson to you is this: Never waver, never doubt, never for a moment think that you are not special, that you have no purpose. The Force has a use for everyone, no matter how insignificant it may seem, and each contribution, while it may not change the face of the Order, will bring about a change for the better. So long as you let the Force guide you."

The Grand Master turned back to face the Hall of Lost Jedi and spoke no more. "Thank you for your time Master, a Instructor said, bowing deeply, then escorting his students away.

Sarus had been watching and listening to the whole speech from the doorway, partly waiting for a chance to speak with Iron, but also because he loved to hear the man speak. When Iron spoke, the world made sense, and when he had to leave, it was as if you were loosing a mentor. "You have a gift for words Master," Sarus said walking up along side the Grand Master, "you would have made an excellent politician."

"I have neither the years required to teach bureaucrats, nor the desire to indulge their misconceptions," he replied, still staring down the Hall.

Sarus grinned and shook his head, "You never change, Iron, nothing in this place does." Sarus said making a brief sweeping gesture, "Perhaps that's why I always come back," the Chiss trailled off.

Iron coughed, "While I do enjoy our little chats, I assume you came to me for more then that."

Sarus' grin returned, "You know I never waste the Council's time Master." Sarus slid a datapad out of his tunic. "This is a list of who I would like to bring along on my mission," he said handing it over.

"Hmm," Iron said taking the pad, "I notice you only have three names on here. I take it then that you approve of Ptolemy?"

Sarus scoffed, "Not like I had a choice, you assigned him to the mission without even asking my opinion."

Iron laughed, "Shadow Cloud, you, of all people, should be able to read between the lines. I told you to evaluate him as well, and I know full well you would have found a way to get rid of him if you thought he wasn't useful."

Sarus averted his gaze, "Be that as it may, you should still have asked my opinion."

Iron chuckled, "When you're Grand Master you can be as patient with the Jedi as you wish," he said handing the pad back, "but even the smartest of Jedi sometimes need a guiding hand."

"You mean a kick in the ass," Sarus replied pocketing the pad.

"Perhaps," Iron spoke with a wry grin. "I assume your sixth is a Sith since I haven't assigned you another member, and by your own admission you don't waste the Council's time."

"Yes, I've chosen the boy you asked me to investigate a week ago. I'm not sure of his name," he replied shrugging, "he alternates between calling himself Dawn and Dusk."

"He doesn't seem like a good fit for this kind of mission," Iron said turning to face the Chiss, "he has very little knowledge of advanced techniques, and his fighting style is untapped to say the least. In fact the only thing he has going for him is the amount of power he can call up. He's a loose cannon."

Sarus thought for a moment, "That description fits in more ways then most feel comfortable with, but that's exactly why I want him on my team. He's so unpredictable that it makes fighting him hard to say the least."

Iron's brow furrowed, "Are you expecting a fight?"

"'Expect a fight, but don't start one' as Champ says," Sarus said shrugging.

The Grand Master thought for a minute then nodded, "Very well. Will you be leaving now?"

Sarus nodded, "As soon as my team is ready we'll be heading out."

"Then I give you my leave, and my blessing," Iron replied turning to look back down the Hall. 'May the Force be with you."

"And also with you," Sarus finished bowing. Then turned and walked out of the Hall, mumbling under his breath, "You'll need it more then I friend."
----------------------

Sarus walked through the hanger entrance and saw the five members of his team, plus a droid, already waiting for him. Dray and Pto were leaning against a refueling pilon, chatting about what Sarus hadn't the slightest clue. Aragorn and Thing were sitting on the ground and playing a game of pazaak, a game Aragorn looked as if he was loosing. And Dawn and his assassin droid were cleaning and polishing their assortment of weapons.

Sarus couldn't help but grin at the sight. They had only been gathered yesterday and already they were falling into routines to keep their skills sharp. Pto and Dray were thinkers, they specialized in creative Force use, but in order to be good at it they had to be mentally sharp as well, and even though Sarus couldn't hear the conversation, he could guess at what kind of chat they were having. Ara and Thing were strategists, although made of a vastly different cloth, they always planned ahead. Both would have counters set up for every move they could see, and even some for moves they couldn't, and despite the apparent luck of pazaak, the most skilled players had strategies going as far as how they shuffled their cards. Dawn and Jax were fighters, no other desire or skill in the two but their ability to overpower an enemy, Dawn would rely on his instincts more then any kind of plan, and the simplicity of disassembling and reassembling his blade made the simple and intuitive train of thought more clear. While Jax, being an assassin droid, would be able to glean targeting, range, and penetration data from the status of his blasters.

Most people would look at this group as simply bored and trying to pass the time, and indeed even the group would see it as this. In fact Sarus doubted most psycologists would recognize what was happening, it was something he was trained to recognize for the simple fact of determining group unity. If any member of the group was uncomfortable with those around him he would isolate himself, and would never get in depth in whatever task he decided to do. A group needed to truly trust each other before they would relax themselves this much. It was also a sign of skill that they chose an activity to reflect their skills, not consciously, but by simple feel.

Sarus walked the rest of the way over, gathering the attention of the group. "About time," Dusk said as he snapped his lightsaber back in place.

"Sorry about that," Sarus replied with a smile, "I had to clear it with Spanish and Iron before we could head out."

"Query: Why must we take the 'dingy' meatbag?" Jax asked, his vocabulator keeping it's neutral tone but still managing to sound pompous.

Sarus sighed, "It's not a 'dingy' it's a Blastboat."

"And just what is a Blastboat?" Thing asked standing up fomr his game.

"It's the starfighter equivilant of a tank," Dray replied for Sarus, "it carries anywhere from one to three people and has dual quadlasers, a concussion missile launcher, a proton torpedo launcher, as well as a fairly powerful shield generator. It's basically a starship with destruction as its only objective. Base models don't even carry a refresher or bed."

"Obviously I've changed that, I replaced the concussion missile launcher with a small bed and refresher," Sarus replied unlocking his ship and stepping away as the ramp lowered. "Now back on topic. As you already know from Dray, we will be taking my ship and his own, mostly because of the armaments. His ship has much more comfortable acomidations, but my ship is open as well if you would rather spend two hours in a cramped compartment with a spy." The Chiss smiled as a few of the members cringed, "Once we arrive I'll be transfering to Dray's ship until the action begins, the reason for that is simple, his ship has a table and holoprojector we can plan on."

Sarus hauled his pak over his back, "We leave in ten minutes, right after the pre-flight checks are done, so pick your ride. If you're not on a ship by that time then you'll be left behind." Sarus turned and marched up the ramp, settling into his seat and starting the preflight check, and allowing Ptolemy, Aragorn, Thing, and Dusk decide where they would choose to be.

"Ok folks, you heard Sarus, decide wich of you ladies comes with me, and wich ones go with Sarus. Either way....youll be having a fully fledged comedian driving you to your destination....so your doomed no matter what hehe."

The four members stood silent and thinking, some grinding a bit, others not looking affected. The droid simply stood still and attentive, as an assassin droid would.

"While you decide, im gonna Force Speed to my room to pick something, and ill be back. You got 10 minutes."

At this, Dray became a blurr, passing by the team, and rushing out of the bay in less than a second.
Dawn was the first to speak:"Well, might as well take draws in seeing who goes with who right? So, dices?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. At this point, Dusk picked off two dices, one blue another red, each having 6 faces.

"So, who throws first?" at wich Thing answered "Lets go by age why not?"

This order would put Dusk first, then Thing, then Aragorn, and Ptolemy the last to throw.

"Ok, so, the two biggest values go on Drays ship....the two lowest ones go with Sarus. Deal?"

"Deal"
"Yes"
"Deal"

So Dusk picked up the dices, rubbed them between his hands, and thru them on the lil box container that everyone hauled around.
The dices rolled, rolled, untill he got a 3 in one of them, and a 2 on the other.
"Ok 5, your next Thingy."

"Hey dont call me Thingy...you make me sound like im gooey or slugish or something..."

"And your not?"

"Whatever, here it goes."

Thing pickd the dice, and without much preparation, thru them on the table. The dices rolled to a halt, where the numbers 6 and 3 could be seen.

"Alright, a 9."

"My turn, lets see...."

Aragorn concentrated, and threw the dices till they came to a halt.

"OK, so i got a 3 and a 1... thats a 4."

Dusk complied."Ok whity, so far that means you and i go with Sarus, and Thing goes with Dray. Unless Ptolemy can get even less than a 4....Your turn old man. Show us your moves."

"Very well."

Ptolemy picked the dice, and was silent. Then he threw them gently, and they spinned for a while. Ptolemy concentrated on them...one of the dice already had fallen with a 2....the other was about to halt...and so it stopped.

Dusk complied in admiration:"Wow, a 3....your lucky we arent playin for money to who gets the most, or you would loose big time old man! So its decided. Thing and i go with Dray, Ara and the old man go with Sarus."

"Sounds fair to me."

Ptolemy grinned his smile....

Dusk left one final note:"I hope none of you cheated by the way."

So the two groups picked up their stuff and headed to both ship entrances, as both were docked next to each other.

"So, looks like we are flying together old man..."

"Yes, faith has made us into fellow travelers into a dangerous journey. I hope we are up to what comes ahead."

Both kept speaking as they headed for Sarus ship.

Thing and Dusk halted at the lift entrance to Drays ship, when a sudden blurr stopped next to them. Dray had come back.

"Hey guys, so your the ones going with me?"


Dray carried a long package on his back. It was involved in a black fabric, with zipper, and inside a hard casing.

Thing questioned:"Hey whats that Dray?"

"Just a little surprise in case we get into a tight corner...youll see."

"So it seems, yeah" respnded Dusk.

"Hey Dusk, you better keep tin man over there under check. I dont care how many assassin protocols he has, he better not damage anything in the ship. That goes for you too boys."

"Oh yeah? What you gonna do about it if he does?"

"Ill pound on him so much, a Astromech droid will be capable of killing people more efficiently than he does...."

"Dont you touch him you hear me?"

"Then dont let him touch my precious ship...Now hop on in. Its time we leave this place."

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Sarus organized his navicomputer, pushed some buttons, cheking every system in his ship, optimizing some, and set the final course, Dantooine. As he pushed the final button for the ship to automate the trip there, he felt a cold thru his body, a reluctancy. He moved along, checking on other final systems, mainly the engine cores and the hyperspace engine. The ticks that so long he grown used to. He tightened up everyting and finally opened the loading ramp. Aragorn and Ptolemy looked at him from down the ramp, and started ascending it.

"So you two sticking with me?"

"So it seems." refered Ptolemy.

"Very well, make yourselves confortable boys...in whatever way you can....not that there are many ways for that here..." said Sarus with a witty smile.

"We leaving or what?"

"Yes, we are Aragorn. Right now actually. Put your euipments in a compartiment, and come help me. Ara, take reconnaisance post. Ptolemy, you can take shotgun..."
By this, Sarus instructed Ptolemy to take care of the weapons and defense seat.

"So, here we go..." The hard words came out of Sarus's mouth....yet, he smiled...a smile of confidence, as if the Force was telling him to calm...and trust his companions and friends....or at least, trust them the most you can, and to trust on their abilities....and so he pushed the ignition button with confidence of the Force Warrior he was.

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"Ok bitches, Dusk are the guns ok?"

"Yeah, eveything ready to kill Jedi..."

"Right....what about the communications and the radars Thing?"

"Picking up nice signals"

"ALLLLLRIGHTY THEN...buckle up ladies...its go-time!"

At this, Dray initiated his thrusters to elevate the Baby Chikita, and thrusted the ship out of the docks, achieving max speed in an instant.

"UUh, Dray? Please...Lets not be hasty on the departure shall we? Like, you dont need to turn the turboengines to the..."As Thing was saying this, Dray turned the handles at his control fully down, turning the turbo engines to the max.

"Nooot.....aaaaa....gggaaaaiiin.!!" Said Thing, having the familiarized feeling of his face being pulled out of his skull, and into the back of the ship....and then feeling his skull ripping off of the rest of his body.
Drays ship flew off into outer space. Not much behind, Sarus flew his ship entail

"Oh this boy thinks he can outspeed me? NO WAY!
And so Sarus repeated Dray's stunt, turboing the ship to maximum speed.

At this motion, Aragorn tried to pull his hand up, trying hard to unglue it of his armchair, and with great restraint, was able to reach it up, just for it to glue into his face, with quite a hard slap. Now his own hand was pushing his eye orbits and all that compassed his skull into his chair.
Between mumbles, Aragorn was still able to pronounce the words"YOU....mmIDmmIOTS!" before his palm shut his voice hole completely, on what some would call, a Perma Facepalm.

And so both teams departured into hyperspace, where everything settled down.

Dray flickered his commlink on, connecting to Sarus cockpit thru holos, and saying...

"I win biatch!"

//This is a Council session to explain a little bit of the plan's details, I'm leaving it unfinished so that anyone who wants their character to be part of the battle can post such, or simply post that their character was contacted by the respective Council to join the retreat. Remember only the Dark and Master Councils know that it's a trap, so as far as your characters know it's just a Retreat.

//Also I had to pick another 3 members for the Dark Council, so I had to throw Jacob in, but he doesn't talk so it doesn't effect much.

The door swung open as Spanish marched in. "Dark Lord," Champ spoke nodding at the man, "so good of you to join us."

Spanish glared briefly at the Battlemaster before he took his seat and crossed his legs, "Yeah, let's just get this over with."

"Are we keeping you from something Spanish?" Iron asked in a calm and non-challenging tone, he had a knack for that, he could keep every bit of negative emotion out of his voice.

The Dark Lord sighed in exasperation, "Yes if you must know, I do have somewhere I need to be shortly, but I do not feel the need to discuss where or why. So can we get this meeting started or not?"

"Very well," Iron replied with a nod. He turned his head to face outward towards the Alliance Council, even though both Dark and Master Councils had eight possible members, only the five senior members were called to gather when the two Councils needed to meet. As such Bazariel, Zawisza, Neliel, Peppa, and Jacob were excluded from the meeting.

"We've gathered to discuss who and how many Jedi and Sith we will be sending on this mission," Iron began, "it is important that we send neither too few to gather the Crusader's attention, nor too many to arouse their suspicion."

"We'll need to send at least half of our number to ensure a retaliation," Dante spoke, hands folded together in front of him.

"And those will have to be only Dark Jedi, Jedi Padawans, and lower," Ares chimed in, brow furrowed.

"In order to make it seem realistic," Sinestra said, "we will need to send at least a few Knights, Lords, Masters, and Marauders as escorts."

"That's quite a few considering the number of learners," Camus spoke, his hand rubbing his brow as he thought, "it'll leave barely a third of us here at the Temple."

"We knew this was a risk when it was suggested," Stamp said, "but it's better then just waiting for them to strike."

"I truly hope you're right," Siris said, "Sarus was not wrong, there is still a great deal that can go wrong with this plan."

"Loosing your nerve?" Layfon asked with a grin.

"We're Jedi Layfon," Champ retorted, "we don't go back on our word."

The Sith'Ari turned his attention to the Battlemaster, "That fact has worked more to your disadvantage in the past."

"Gentlemen," Iron began.

"That's enough," Spanish finished.

The two stared at each other for a moment longer then broke eye contact, and with it the tension in the room eased. It was no secret that the two were on less then friendly terms, it came with the nature of their ranks. Both were the epitome of fighting prowess for their factions, and both were responsible for their faction's combat status. They were essentially military commanders for two vastly different armies with a tentative alliance.

"Obviously we'll need to use both cruisers for this," Dante said, breaking the silence, "if we're expecting a large force then the bait will need as much back-up as we can gather."

"Won't that be just as likely to tip our hand?" Siris asked.

"Not necessarily," Camus replied, "it's no secret that we're a joint Academy containing both Jedi and Sith, it wouldn't be unexpected for the factions to remain separate in space flight to make sure there's no conflict between the two. Especially when we talk about Apprentices and Padawans."

"I tend to agree," Spanish added with a slight nod.

"As do I," Iron seconded.

"We still have the matter of who we choose to lead this mission," Champ said, fingers steepled in front of him, "if something goes wrong, the team will need good leadership, preferably a tactician."

"I don't think that would be wise," Lay replied, "it may make them suspicious to have a High General in charge."

"He does have a point," Ares said reluctantly.

"Perhaps not," Siris spoke.

"What do you mean?" Stamp asked.

"Well Bazariel is the Jedi High General, but he's also the newest member of the Master Council. It wouldn't seem so unusual to send him on a mission like this to test his leadership abilities."

"Yes," Spanish replied with a finger raised, "but it would still be suspicious if both team leaders were High Generals. If we choose Bazariel as the High General, then it leaves the Sith in the hands of a Jedi."

"Surely you don't distrust us so much Span," Iron said leaning his head against his arm and looking at the Dark Lord. "You yourself fought along side him three years ago."

"Oh I do trust him," Spanish replied, "I trust him to have priorities, and I trust those priorities to exclude Sith."

"You trusted Kami," Camus spoke up, "and he was the Jedi High General when he was alive. He also coached Bazariel to be his replacement."

"Not that you would understand," Dante replied, "but Kami was once a Marauder. We knew him very well, and that is why we trusted him to lead both sides equally, but this new Sentinel is an unknown factor."

"Then choose someone with tactical experience," Iron said simply, not bothering to look up. "Undoubtedly whoever you choose will have more combat experience then Bazariel, so the arguement could be made that he too will have priorities to save Sith on the battlefield, and to avoid saving Jedi if it poses too great a risk."

Spanish's body became stiff, and it looked as if an idea had dawned on him, "She," he said.

"Care to extrapolate?" Champ said leaning back.

"I want Peppa to lead the Sith team," Spanish replied, regaining his composure.

Sinestra tilted her head to the side, "Seems like an odd choice. She's a good combatant, but she has no tactical experience whatsoever."

Spanish smiled, "You'd be surprised. She's actually quite capable when she needs to be, but she hides it. She's," the Dark Lord paused a moment, "deceptive that way, and I think we can use that to our advantage."

"Because it would allay their doubts if such opposites were part of the same group," Iron finished for him.

"She's also the newest member to the Dark Council," Stamp added, "it would look like a training exercise for both."

"Possible," Lay responded, "but let us think on this and return to other matters."

"The numbers still bother me," Siris started, "this will leave both Jedi and Sith drastically low on man power, but how low?"

"Assuming we want to go for realism," Camus replied, "we'll need at least one Knight, Master, Lord, or Marauder for every three learners."

"That'll leave each side with only 50 members at the Temple," Dante said. "I'm not sure I like those numbers."

"But if this succeeds we'll have effectively dealt these Crusaders a death blow," Stamp said. "With the location of thier headquarters we could call in all our allies for a direct attack and end it all at once."

"Yes, but in any attack we'll be providing the majority of combatants," Ares replied. "If we loose most of those on this mission then we'll be unable to launch an attack. We'll have to withdraw and focus on defense to keep from being destroyed."

"And if we succeed no one will ever dare to threaten us again," Lay responded.

"For once I agree with my esteemed counterpart," Champ said lazily lifting his hand to indicate Layfon.

"Very well," Iron said, "we'll need to choose our higher Jedi and Sith then, and we must choose wisely, because battle will be a factor in this."

Spanish sighed and slumped back in his chair, "Something tells me we're going to be in here for a very long time."

Xzavier sighed. i always hated going on retreats. why. cause they were never retreats. they were always SOME secret mission to important to tell you about. but there was really nothing he could do. it was a kind of punishment for leaving parin alive.

Xzavier had just gotten the command finilized by the jedi counsle Thankfully he could take his own ship. but it had to have ,OF COURSE, he would get 3 DJ's DA's or DD's. He smiled when he saw BGfighter on the list. He knew he could hold his own. He kept looking.

"BGfighter, sweet. Ive been showing him tricks and skills for a while. Hes almost ready for DJ even tho hes simply a DD. i LOVE it when i get the underranked fighters as the lower ranks."

"SWEET. i get border as a DJ. hes someone i passed up in the ranks but i enjoy sparring with him. he gives me a challange even tho i can almsot always beat him."

"Well so far im 2 for 3. and they made 2 good choices, but i havnt seen this woflyx guy for a DA. Mabye hes good mabye hes not. Hes only a DA but i can live with watching 1 guys back. hell my bro did it his whole life."

He looks at the saber clipped on his belt.

"With any luck this woflyx guy wont get us all killed. he is DEF not piloting my guns. this ship was made for 2 to pilot. and those 2 are me and BGfighter. I suspect BGfighter will pick up the gun controls fairly fast. so if we DO get into any trouble. which wouldnt suprise me. all wepons on the blastboat will be firing at max efficiency. everybody else can watch and not be breathing down are necks."

"Well I better go find them and gather em up. Then i oughta get to know this wolfyx guy..."

//HEAVALY edit if u dont like. btw its just a fighter shaped like a frigate but a bit bigger than a normal fighter. fitting 4 at a max.

Ptolemy looked around the cramped cockpit of, what essentially, was a small freighter, much smaller than the Dawn Treader but better armed to be sure. The short walk to the cockpit revealed smuggling compartments in the floor a small area in which a cot and a very small refresher had been placed. The co-pilots seat where Ptolemy had been assigned was a more a combat station than co-pilot. There were airframe controls but just enough to put it down if there was a need. The bulk of switches and levers controlled the ships shields and impressive array of blasters and laser batteries and a solitary photon launcher. Would not do much to a capital ship but from the control surfaces he saw on the outside and the acceleration felt on take off it would out maneuver most anything he knew of granted, he had not seen much space combat.

The acceleration was extreme but with a manipulation of the force Ptolemy found that he could look around. He looked over his shoulder at Aragorn and winced as Aragorn’s hand slapped on his face and heard him mumble "YOU....mmIDmmIOTS!" looked like that was gonna leave a mark. When the craft were far enough away from the planet, Coordinates were punched into the Navputer,

‘"I win biatch!" came crackling over the comm. As the Chikita flashed into hyperspace

Ptolemy heard Sarus mumble a curse as he moved the leavers to put the Just My Luck into hyperspace.

‘Well’ said Sarus ‘we have 2 hours and I am going to get some rest. Your seats recline if you wish. I get the bunk. We will speak more of planning when we are in system.’

Ptolemy and Aragorn nodded as Sarus slid past them and heard the bunk creak as it strained to hold his massive frame and after a moment, there was a soft snore coming from the rear of the compartment.

Aragorn concentrated on the panel in front of him all indicators were green. He went over the various gauges and switches keeping busy but his mind wondered back to the conversation he had with Ptolemy in the garden

=============

‘Is there anything before that?’ Ptolemy asked ‘No, Never mind,’ Ptolemy hesitated again ‘you remind me a lot of someone that meant a lot to me. I would like you to have this.’ Ptolemy held out a medallion that seemed to be a piece of a larger medallion. The engraving was intricate and almost worn away. When Aragorn looked at the piece it appeared to be a portion of a medal with the image of a man, and part of another person and something that looked like a baby wrapped in linen. The edges of the piece was round except for the broken edge was a bit rough like there was a piece that would fit with it.

‘What is it?’ Aragorn asked

‘An heirloom but I have no family to leave it to so I would like you to have it’ Ptolemy said ‘Look the inscription on the back’

Aragorn looked and shook his head ‘Looks valuable, I cannot take this’ He tried to hand it back to Ptolemy.

‘No, no,’ Ptolemy insisted ‘I want you to have it, I insist.’

Aragorn placed the medallion in his pocket. ‘I have to go get my things together, Thank you’

Aragorn sighed as he shut the door on his room. ‘The knight accommodations are certainly better that when he was a Padawan.’ He thought. He took the medallion out of his pocket and looked at it again, the shape and workmanship was familiar. Aragorn stepped to his desk, opened a drawer and brought out an old metal box flipped the latch and opened it. Inside were things he was able to retrieve from the people he knew as his family. He picked up a cloth pouch and inside was an old scratched and broken data pad and a medallion or rather half of one. The jagged side was built to fit together with another side. He looked at the face of the medallion and saw the left side of an image of a woman holding an infant wrapped in blankets.

He studied the face as he had many times before and could not recognize her. He turned the piece over and saw half of the inscription, “…y…erin… vin…t birth” He had known for a long time even before he found this medallion that he was not related to those he was living with. At the time he had no proof. He found this after the man he thought of as his father died. The medallion had been with the data pad. On that pad were the documents that had been saved documenting that he had been found in the arms of a man dying in the deserts of Tatooine and how he had been placed with a family that had, ultimately, adopted him. The news had shocked Aragorn to the point that he was shattered for days finally allowing his rage to consume him he smashed the data pad and remembered how his hate had fueled him as he hunted the Raiders down and wiped them out. His anger had fueled the power he used to wipe the tribe from Tatooine but it was too late to save anyone.

Aragorn sat at the desk, took both pieces of the medallion and compared the two. He placed them together and the two sides fit together. The one he got from Ptolemy was a bit worn but he could se the full picture there was a man and woman gathered around an infant. The mood in the image seemed to be that of elation, the woman looked tiered but very proud and the man had a look of elation on his face and… Looked a bit like Ptolemy. His fingers shook as he turned the two pieces over and read the inscription.

“Ptolemy, Kerinn and Kevin at Birth.” A wave of emotions swept over him as he dropped the pieces and held his face in his hands.

=============

Aragorn looked over the panel one more time and insured everything was as it should be. The silence in the small compartment could have been a solid wall, punctuated with the soft snores coming from the rack in the rear of the ship’s compartment. Aragorn closed his eyes and Leaned back in his seat and searched his feelings.

Going back in his minds eye to look into the past he could remember. He watched as if from above as his family was taken on Tatooine. He pushed on farther back relived when he met Kirsten and they fell in love. He hesitated there reliving the feelings of those happier times. Then he pushed on earlier and relived birthdays, holidays and the good times. In the earliest time of his life he found a wall. Aragorn’s face showed the level of concentration he was exerting as he tried to break through the wall. He recognized that the wall he had come up against was of his own making. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he worked to get through the wall. Finally he broke a small hole and was able to peak through and it all rushed back to him. He saw Ptolemy lying on the sands of Tatooine. As Aragorn was carried away he saw Ptolemy look up and stretch out his hand and open his mouth though there was no sound.

‘POPPA!” Aragorn screamed

=============

Ptolemy looked over his panel again and saw all was in order. There really was no need to monitor weapons and shields in Hyperspace. He felt Aragorn look at him and turn back to his panel. He leaned back in the seat as he heard Aragorn’s breathing become regular as though he was sleeping or concentrating. Not sure how long it would be before he slept again Ptolemy closed his eyes.

It had been several hours since there departure from the JvS temple, and thing was getting bored. He decided to go pick on Dawn, well now known as Dusk. Thing walked over to the small bed, from behind, and prepared to smack Dusk in the back of the head.

"Threat:" said a raspy, unlifelike and comuterized voice. "Come any closer to my master and I'll blow your brains out, meatbag."

"Fierfek!" yelled Thing. "Why does this huge peice if shit have to ruin everything?!"
"What in hell is a 'shit'?" asked Dusk.
"Response: I am pretty sure it's a type of cheese, master."
"Cheese? Really? In that case, I could go for some shit right now."

"You want to eat shit?" asked Thing, almost laughing his ass off because of Dusk's desire to eat human f*c*s. "Anyway" continued Thing, This trip is getting really boring... Wanna go have a duel?"
"Your on bitch."




Five minutes later, Thing and Dusk met up in the Holo room, for it was the biggest room in the ship.

"Alright, here are the rules, first person tompay five hits on his opponent wins, alright?"
"Whatever. Force or no force?"
"No offensive force techniques, not counting battle meditation" replied Thing. "Whatever, I'll still win this. I have the power of the dark side..." five minutes had passed since Dawn began his darkside speech and by the time he was done, Thing had already made a sandwhich, finished it, and made another one for after the round.
"You done yet yappin' yet?"
"Yeah..."

Alright, first to five, starting... Now!

//you write the fight scene, Dawn.

Both fighters charged at eachother, Dusk in a Djem-so style attack and Thing with his Shii-cho. Dusk swung down diagonally, and missed. Thing countered with a slash and then a punch to the face.

"Ow.." Dusk said as he rubbed his jaw

"Heh" responded Thing

Dusk leaped at Thing with a double slash and then flipped behind Thing for a single slash blow to his back, Thing parried it and slashed through Dusk's fake left arm.

"$^$#^" Yelled Dusk "Why aren't you using a training saber!!!

"I didn't know we were supposed to..." Thing said

"Are you trying to kill me.." Dusk said

"It's possible.." Thing responded

"Intimidation: Pull something like this again and I shall be using your blood as cooling fluid." Jax said as he started to detach the rest of Dusk's fake arm to replace it.

"It was a accident" Thing shouted

"Sure it was" Dusk said

"Note to self: Never have a duel for fun with Thing" Dawn said

"Can I hurt him in his sleep" Dusk asked

"No, just put his hand in a glass of warm water..." Dawn said

"Can I have Jax stand over his bed with his rifle out, so when Thing's trying to sleep he's scared as shit?" Dusk said "And will shriek when he wakes up?"

"Sure" Dawn said

"So are you ready for another round?" Thing asked when Jax finished replacing Dusk's arm

"No" Dusk said "I don't trust you to not accidently main or kill me.."

"Aw cmon it was a accident" Thing said

"Jax" Dusk said

"Hey?! Are you listening? Hello you son of a bantha fod-" Thing yelled as he was cut off from Jax hitting him with his Neural Scrambler

"Maybe we should just keep doing that" Dawn sai

"I guess..Not that much damage done though...can't we just hit him on the head with a bat?" Dusk asked

"I'm pretty sure if we killed him we'd be in more trouble then it was worth Dawn said

"True..." Dusk said

Dusk walked up into the c**k pit and asked Dray..

"Are we there yet..."

---end----

xD comedy ftw?

"You can't do this to me!" Sarus shouted, his voice echoing up into the upper reaches of the court. He was standing in front of five judges, on trial for an issue he considered trivial at best.

"We do this for the Ascendency, not for you," the center judge replied calmly.

"I've done nothing wrong!"

"You left Acsendency space Lieutenant Cloud," the judge on the left spoke, "without orders to do so."

"We're part of the Galactic Alliance," Sarus retorted, still not understanding the issue, "I was curious about other socieities. We're a naturally curious people, we should accept that and let ourselves explore."

"It is too dangerous to leave our territory," the judge in the left center seat. "The Galaxy cannot be trusted, the Dark Nest Crisis taught us that."

"I'm a Chiss though."

"The Galaxy corrupts all who leave our space," the judge on the left said. "Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Sev'rance Tann are evidence enough for that."

"You can hardly judge an outcome with just two examples," Sarus replied, almost pleading with the judges. "At least give me a chance to prove myself."

"You of all people should realize we cannot do that Lieutenant Cloud," he center right judge spoke, leaning forward. "You're an intelligence operative, your job is to lie, and you're very good at it. Do you really expect us to take a chance when you knew full well the consequences of your actions."

"You can't expect us to be able to remain isolated forever, others will come, and we'll have to speak with them," Sarus replied, standing his ground. "At the very least we should maintain intelligence on enemy forces, and to do that we have to leave our own territory."

"Our regions are unexplored by the rest of the Galaxy, our fleet ensures that," the judge on the right said. "No military would chance an attack without knowing if it will be fruitful."

"Then you don't know humans as well as you think."

"That is not for you to decide," the center judge said, "and I've had enough stalling. Lietenant Sarus Cloud, you are hereby exiled from the Chiss Ascendency. You will be taken to the edge of Chiss space, and jettisoned in an escape pod, there you will be allowed to do as you please. Should you ever return to Chiss space, you will be sentenced to death."

"That's a death sentence and you know it." Sarus replied, clenching his fists, "I should have remained with the humans, at least they would have given me a achance to defend myself, and at least they would feel remorse for sentencing someone to certain death." The guards came up behind Sarus and placed their hands on his arms to guide him out. Sarus shrugged it off and marched out, certain he had just hours left on his life.

Except I was wrong, his voice echoed as the scene faded to black in his head, Whether by luck, or by the will of the Force, a ship stumbled across my pod. It had been out exploring the Unknown Regions and gotten lost, they brought me aboard initially out of pity since they couldn't stand to see any sentient die like that. Their kindness saved us both and I was able to get a lift to the nearest inhabited planet in exchange for directions. He scoffed mentally, Humans truly are remarkable. Were it my own people they would have left me to die, on the asumptions that I deserved whatever fate my superiors had seen fit to give me, but I digress.

By the will of the Force, the one planet they dropped me off on happened to be an Academy for Force Sensitives, and I happened to have an untapped talent with the Force.

"POPPA!"

Sarus jolted awake and rolled right by reflex. It was a combat reflex, and something every soldier was bound to learn at some point. It was meant to help the soldier dodge a potentially lethal shot and make him a hard target while he gained engouh momentum to pop up onto his feet, by this point the soldier would also be aware enough to act. This particular move was known as a Combat Roll in book terminology, but it had another name among soldiers in a barracks. A Face Plant, so called because when this reflex activated while you were on a military style bed you immediately rolled off and onto the floor, normally this wouldn't be bad, but on military style matresses it meant your face would be the first thing to meet the floor. Sarus, had once been a soldier.

The Chiss rolled out of reflex and landed, predictable, face first on the deck. Half awake, the only thing that Sarus could think to do was curse his choice to go cheap rather then spring for a full sized bed. With a small moan he pushed himself up and checked his face for damage. His nose and right cheek were bruised, but there was no blood so he didn't worry about it and instead focused on where the sound had come from.

He walked out into the small refresher and splashed some water on his face to shock him awake, then grabbed a towel and started heading towards the cockpit. When he entered he noticed that Ptolemy was out cold and that Aragorn was trying a little too hard to look busy. The Knight looked at him shyly at first, then seemed to notice something, "What happened to your face?"

Sarus grinned, "In my case it was Stop, Roll, and Drop."

"Yeah sorry about that," Aragorn replied, trying to smile non-chalantly but failing miserably, "bad dream."

Sarus slid into his seat and pulled up a schematic, "You wanna talk about it?"

Aragorn paused for a minute, "I think this is something I need to resolve on my own," he said glancing briefly at Ptolemy."

"Very well," Sarus replied shutting down the schematic and reaching down. "What's our ETA?"

"Umm," Ara said to fill the space until he could glance at his acreen, "A little over forty minutes."

Sarus pulled up a toolbox and set it on his lap, "Good, that gives me just enough time to remodulate the shields to work as a cloak." Aragorn's face turned pale and Sarus couldn't help but smile, "Don't worry we'll still have shields if we need them, they just won't be quite as strong."

"If you're sure that's wise..." Aragorn replied trailing off and turning back to his screen.

"It's a stealth mission, not a combat one Ara," Sarus said standing again and heading aft. He stopped midway down, "I'll be pretty busy, and the engines will drown out a lot of things, so if you need me you'll really have to shout." He said, then continued on his way.

"Right," Aragorn said taking the hint to solve whatever problems he had before they arrived.

Dray was sitting on his favourite chair, specially ordered by him while visiting Nar Shadaa, it had many confy features, including a massage option.
Dray had turned on the holocrons of the cockpit to watch a strange series of events, involving a bunch of soldiers in full body and head armor, talking to each other and making all kinds of crazy things in a canyon. He had let Thing and Dawn wander around the ship, warrning not to mess anything up, and was currently watching this series wich he got so fabled about. At one part, the soldiers were having a conversation.
"Yeah because the glowing sword turned out to be a glowing key." said the blue soldier.

"Yeah, a glowing key that could still stab people!" said the Cyan soldier to the blue soldier.

"Right"

"So it is a sword. Just happens to function like a key in very specific situations..."

To wich the blue soldier retorted
"Or its a key all time....and when you stick it in people...iiit unlocks their death..."

At this point, Dray was laughing out loud, and almost falling off his chair, seemingly amused by the holocrons.

He settled down, when he heard sabers ignite inside the ship, at wich point he stopped the holocrons, and went looking for the two other travelers, and hoping they werent about to ruin his ship.

"What in sams hell are you two doing in the holo room having a duel?????" Dray told from the door entrance of the holo room, looking at both the fighters who were about to engage each other.

"Hey Dray....hehe, these are just training sabers, nothing special..." Thing was trying to excuse himself.

"It may be training sabers, but you hit hard enough, and you might just damage my holotable or any other stuff. Go duel in the supplies room. theres plenty space in there, and you wont damage anth important....i hope...."

To wich the two saberists headed on, where they continued their fight.

"Ok, now its really on!"

"Finally. i was getting yawns."

Dray returned to the cockpit, sat back on his chair, watched the ETA, and took a small nap.


Dray opened his eyes suddenly, and laughed

"Ahah, Sarus fell. Funny....*snore*...."

//this happened a little b4 your most recent posts, so keep that in mind =P

Guthix stood before the jedi high council, having just finished delivering his report on his attempt on the life of Atarus Penin. His feelings seethed within him but he knew that the masters words were law. Iron rose, and said "We have decided. Atarus Penin shall be handed over to the Sith for them to do as they please. However, due to your failure in your mission, and the anger we can feel in you, we feel you are in no way ready for the rank of the Jedi Knight." Guthix was dumbstruck. He had strived for so long to be a Knight, and they believed him not ready? "If I may, master, why should my anger and failure make a difference? Until this mission you believed me ready, and Atarus was a stronger foe then we expected of someone of Rosh Penin's descent. My anger was purely directed at Atarus, and I conquered it by sparing his life in the medical rooms and coming here. What more do you ask of me." A stern look crossed Irons face. "Patience young padawan, we remember what you are like when you get too angry... we remember Darth Pravus." Rage screamed it's way across Guthix's mind, and he paused only to carelessly lightsaber a passing protocol droid on his way out of the temple.

Guthix got into his personal ship, the Taiaha, and sped out of the atmosphere, seeking solitude amongst the stars. He had just reached Tatooine, planning to relieve his stress by blowing up a few sand crawlers when it happened. Laser blasts rocketed towards his ship, and another ship approached him, seeking to board.

Guthix felt multiple force sensitive minds coming aboard the Taiaha, so he ignited his lightsaber. Spinning around he saw 5 warriors, wielding blades coloured with that shadow of the night, and trimmed with the crimson of a sunset on Coruscant. Guthix charged them, doing an overhead flip whilst stabbing his saber down, killing one instantly. Another attacked him, and was cut down within a few seconds. More of the cultists poured into the Taiaha however, and the would not be denied. After 3 more of their number fell one of them clubbed Guthix over the head, and bundled him into their ship, leaving the Taiaha to plummit to the planet below.

Ptolemy brought himself out of meditation feeling rested and relaxed. He had thought long and hard about what he would say to his son when he found him. He knew Aragorn had figured it out from the way he had looked when they boarded the ship, the way he had manipulated the dice to roll low. Of course Ptolemy had to do the same.

“Not sure I wanted to be on the same ship as that Dusk fellow anyway.” Ptolemy thought.

‘I am not sure what you expect’ Aragorn said finally breaking the silence. I know you are my father, I know you carried me out of the desert but why didn’t you look for me?’

Ptolemy turned in the command couch and looked at Aragorn, ‘I looked for you I was so close to you on Nar Shadaa that I could have touched you if I had gotten there a bit sooner. I was in the infirmary for months after the attack on Tatooine. When I was able, before even left the infirmary, I was looking for you. Your gift was muted some how and I could not track you through the force. I scoured records and news articles looking for you. I spoke with everyone I could in the local government. Every time I would get a lead it would run cold. It is like someone was moving you around keeping you from you. I would sense you and then loose you. I tracked you across the galaxy, Onderon, Dantooine to Nar Shadaa and I lost you there. I know you were there I could feel you. Then you were gone. It was hard enough to find you there; when I lost you I gave up hope.’ Ptolemy Paused and looked at Aragorn pain and memories etched on his face. ‘When your mother died you were all I had left but I was too weak to hold on to you. I never stopped trying to find you, When I stumbled across JvS I was following a lead I found pointing toward the core worlds, I knew you had left Nar Shadaa but I heard of a battle on a planet core ward in which a young man matching the description I had for you, fought and helped defeat an enemy that was very powerful. It was unclear if the man had survived since there were many that didn’t.’

Aragorn nodded and told the story of what happened in the fight to save The Dark Angels from The Trade Federation and the battle against the Sith. His voice caught as he spoke of the sacrifice Kami made for him when fighting the Marauder.

‘Kami has been a big influence’ Aragorn said ‘He was more a father to…’

Ptolemy nodded ‘I have not been there for you, I am happy you found someone that helped you get your head straight.’

Ptolemy and Aragorn jumped as there was a loud crash toward the back of the ship. They looked and saw Sarus cursing the access hatch.

He stood and walked toward the cockpit.

'Buckle up boys' Sarus said 'we are almost there'

Dray was taking a nice rest, on his favourite chair, on his favourite ship, when Dusk aproached him to spoil his wonderous dreams.
"Are we there yet?"

"No, still at least a few minutes."

"Are we there yet'"
"I said No."

"Are we there yet'"
"No"

"Are we there yet'"
"No"

"Are we there yet'"
"NO"

"Are we there yet?"
"NOO"

"Are we there yet?"

"NOOOOO! NOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO!

"Are we there yet"

"Yes."

"Yayyy...."

Dray got straight up on his seat, and said to Dusk:

"Go call Thing, we need to prepare for post-hyperspace. We dont know what awaits us in Dantooine. Call him."

"OOH THIIIIING!"

"You know, if u were gonna just scream his name, i could of done that myself."

From the distance, Thing's voice was heard
"Ye...Yeah?"

"We're almost there, come take care of comms."

At that, Dusk sat on the gunning position.

"Why is his voice so trembled?"

"Uh...nothing, must of been sleeping or something...the lazy bantha."

"Yeah....ok."
Dray grimmed a sarcastic smile, and took care of functioning the controls.
At this, Thing arrived, and assumed comm position.
Dray turned on his connection and spoke.

"So Mr. Cloud, how much till we arrive in our most dearest destination? Im guessing we're not expecting a warm home coming from anyone there are we?"

---------xxxx-----------xxxxx-----------------xxxxxx---------xxxx---

Guthix stirred, on a bed of cold metal. He felt strange, much weaker then normal. He saw a Zabrak looming over him, wearing a similar set of robes to the cultists on the ship, although the way he carried himself seemed to radiate a sense of importance. Guthix attempted to blast the Zabrak away with lightning... and nothing happened. The Zabrak noticed his attempts and sneered. "No use Jedi, we have injected you with a serum concoted from the fur of the Ysalamiri species, temporarily neutralising your force powers. Now, listen to me..." His voice seemed to take on a hypnotic tone, and Guthix wished nothing more then to obey what the Zabrak was saying.

"You are not a Jedi..."

"I am not a Jedi..."

"You are one of us..."

"I am one of you..."

"You will serve us without question..."

"I will serve you without question."

"You know nothing of your past..."

"I know nothing of my past..."

"DEATH TO THOSE WHO APPOSE US!!!!"

"DEATH TO THOSE WHO APPOSE US!!!!"

"Good... henceforth you shall be known as... Letum..."

Letum stood, his face blank, and joined his fellow cultists on a ship to the planet Dantooine.

//OK so I'm not real great at dialog, but I fell like there should be some in between arrival and action time being that we arrive a day before the Retreat so I'm leaving it a little open and I'll start on some of the action sequences for after the dialog is done.

Sarus slid into his seat and fastened the safety belt himself. The next few minutes would be challenging, but if the group could time it right they could pull it off with a minimum of difficulties. Reaching out with his hands he flipped switches on the panel in front and to his right, "We're going to be coming in hot, which is why I wanted the cloak ready. I'm also warming up the two laser cannons now, so if you've got any personal preferences on your targeting systems I suggest you make them now."

"Anything we should know?" Ptolemy asked as he checked the targeting system for his battery.

"Right," Sarus said absently, "five minutes to deceleration."

"I think he was refering to out coming in hot," Aragorn spoke.

"I know what he meant," Sarus replied continuing his preparations, "I just don't like repeating myself."

Aragorn was about to ask what the Chiss meant when a the console in front of Sarus started beeping. Sarus slapped the button and enlarged the screen simultaneously to take up the entire screen. Dray's face appeared in front of the group, "So Mr. Cloud, how long till we arrive in our most dearest destination? I'm guessing we're not expecting a warm home coming from anyone there are we?"

"Depends on if your definition of warm constitutes a barrage of laser fire, Mr. Kury-So," Sarus replied finally looking up.

"I thought this was a covert mission?" Thing asked leaning over to be seen.

"It is, but we can't have them spying on us while we spy on their main forces," Sarus replied.

"An enemy scouting unit?" Aragorn asked looking away from his screen.

The Chiss leaned back to look at the Knight's face, partly to make sure he knew he was being ackowledged and partly to look and see if the man was on the right path. His face said exactly what his voice had, that he wasn't thinking at all beyond what he had just said.

Sarus began to reply but was interrupted by Thing on the view screen, "No, not a scout, a base camp."

Sarus righted himself in the chair, "And the prize goes to our young Knight. The enemy knows our own ships will be better equiped then their own fleet, they also know that they have the advantage of numbers considering the Crusaders span dozens of star systems. Likely, when they heard of this they embarked to establish a base camp with a cloak, so that when our 'Retreat' arrives they can catch them by surprise on the ground, then bring in their fleet and bombard our cruisers to keep them from aiding the ground forces."

"If they're cloaked then how will we find them before they get a lock on us?" Dray asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The information on this JvS Retreat wasn't leaked until right after we left, so with any luck they will just be establishing their camp when we get there, and not have had time to set-up the cloak," Sarus replied.

"That's a big 'if'," Pto spoke shaking his head.

Sarus turned in his chair to look at the man, "It's a calculated risk, and one we have to take." Sarus turned back to the screen, "Now in order to keep suspicions away from the true purpose of this mission we'll need to make this look like a raid. The best way to do this is to hit their comminications and sensor equipment first, then let them chase us off."

"Why would anyone raid a planet with no established settlements?" Dawn asked, speaking for the first time in the conversation.

"That's where the plan gets risky..."

-----------------------------------

The Baby Chikita dropped out of hyperspace and engaged it's shields just in time to deflect a barrage of blaster fire coming from the Just My Luck. The shields flared brightly under the rapid impacts, but held firmly as the ship flipped around and dived at the planet trying to out maneuver the blastboat, but to no avail.

"Give up now and we'll just abandon you on the planet," Sarus voice spoke over an open channel.

"Not on your life scum!" Dray's voice sneared in response.

The Baby Chikita suddenly leaped forward as Dray hit the after burners, leaving the blastboat behind.

"It'll take more then that," Sarus voice taunted over the speaker as the Just My Luck matched the speed, it's fire slowing, but continuing nonetheless.

Suddenly both ships were hammered from turbo fire coming from the planet and broke in separate directions. The Baby Chikita veering left and up while the Just My Luck broke right and down. The freighter broke through the atmosphere and soared out of Dantooine's gravity well where it immediately activated it's hyperdrive. Right before jumping to lightspeed Dray's voice could be heard saying, "Has the entire Galaxy gone nuts?" Then the ship was gone.

Meanwhile Sarus' voice could be heard issuing a stream of cursing vile enough to shatter bulkheads, "I don't know who you are, but you just made yourself a target," he said after his string of cursing.

The Just My Luck ducked and weaved between and among the turbolaser fire until it was just in range of the Crusader base. On its first pass it spread out it's fire, hitting a few turbo laser batteries and the sensor array. On its second pass it hit a barracks and the command center, but the shields deflected the shots and the buildings were left undamaged. On its third pass it had sustained too much damage to press the attack and made for hyperspace, breaking the gravity well and entering hyperspace just as its shields failed. "I'll be back for you later," Sarus voice spoke, dripping anger and rage.

-----------------------------

Sarus let go of the comm panel and leaned back, releasing a sigh of relief. Aragorn and Ptolemy echoed his relief in their own ways. The group looked at each other and suddenly broke out in laughter, none of them quite sure why, except that they needed a release for the tension.

After laughing for a few moments Sarus hailed Dray, "Scum? Really?"

Dray shrugged, "I have to sound a little respectable, I WAS the one being attacked." He leaned back in his chair, "They fall for it?"

"Like a newb to phishing," Sarus replied with a borad smile.

"O RLY?"

"YA RLY!"

Aragorn put his hand to his face with great force and dragged it down his face, "Our pilots are morons," he said shaking his head.

Pto smiled at the exchange, remembering times when he had been so energetic and care free. He knew those days didn't last forever, but he couldn't bring himself to stop them while they could, Let them have their fun while they can, I sense many hardships on the road ahead, hardships that may harden them to the core.

Thing just rolled his eyes, "Any reason we had to do that?" He asked bringing them back to topic, "Why couldn't we have just cloaked or gone silent?"

"They would have seen our emergence from hyperspace and would have grown suspicious if we cloaked immediately, but since we hit their sensors they won't be able to see us re-enter," Sarus replied.

"But now they know we're here," Aragorn spoke. "We did have a rather flashy entrance."

Sarus spun his chair around to look at Aragorn, "As far as they know we were just a merchant and a pirate, neither of us entered the system on purpose, it just happened to be on route. They fired on us because no matter who won, if one did and they saw the base they may wonder why it was there and investigate. By scaring us off they don't give us time to question their reason for being there, and by the time either ship did ask why they would have the cloak running."

"So, since we hit their sensors we can come back in a few minutes with them being none the wiser," Thing finished nodding. "A haphazard plan, but it does work if you have two ships with enough shield strength to take the hits."

"Speaking of which," Dray said looking at his chrono, "we should probably drop back into normal space and head back now. It won't take them long to fix that sensor grid."

-----------------------------

The two ships dropped back out of hyperspace behind Dantooine's moon. A maneuver not easily accomplished due to the stresses of two potential gravity wells on a ship and that it's orbit varied from that of a planet. But it was a necessary risk, to avoid being spotted. Even with a sensor grid down it is still possible to see a ship decelerate from hyperspace while on the ground, and the Crusaders would have undoubtedly posted spotters until their sensors were fixed.

"In order for my cloak to work on both ships I'll need my ship to be in direct contact with your own Dray," Sarus said across the comm. "I didn't have time to modify your shields before we set out, but I should be able to do so while we wait for the action to begin. In the meantime we'll need to dock and link shields."

"Fine with me, I'll see you at the docking hatch," Dray responded reaching to shut off the channel.

"I don't think I will need my safety harness for a docking procedure," Aragorn said jokingly with Sarus.

"My son," Ptolemy said fastening his own harness, "you have learned nothing."

"Oh come on dad," Aragorn replied looking at Ptolemy as if he was insane, "this is a simple procedure, I don't think anyone could make this extreme."

"He's got a point Pto," Sarus said over his shoulder. Then added, "Of course I never got why people used those things for anything but combat and crashes."

With that Sarus powered the blastboat forward and then shut off one thruster to flip the ship over, then cut off both and hit the dorsal thrusters to power the ship into the docking clamp, slowing down at the last second so as not to damage the hatch. Meanwhile, Aragorn had spent the seconds flying left out of his seat then right to the back of the hall and finally straight into the ceiling, eventually falling back to the deck as the hatches locked in place. Ptolemy just shook his head at both men and climbed out of his seat once the hatch was open.

Sarus got up and saw Aragorn lying on the floor face up. Sarus looked down at the Knight, shook his head and walked to the hatch himself. Not bothering with the ladder he dropped low and Force Leapt into the ship and landed in the middle of the room. He noticed Thing and Dusk in a corner playing a game.

Thing moved his Rancor forward and it swallowed Dusk's Vornskr, eliminating Dawn's last defending piece on his Beast Rider, "Aha, I win!"

Dusk looked at the bored, frowned and waved his assassin droid over, "Jax, disintegrate him for me."

"Yes master," the droid responded enthusiastically, "will that be into molecules or atoms?"

"Atoms, less mess," Dusk replied after a moment.

"Oh boy," Thing commented as he ducked a shot from the droids rifle.

"You're mine now, meatbag!"

"Oi!" Dray yelled entering the room and flipping the switch on the back of Jax's neck and shutting him off, "I said no damaging my ship."

"We wouldn't have if Thing would have stayed still," Dusk replied.

Dray just shook his head and walked towards Sarus. "I find one more scortch mark and I jettison you both," he called over his shoulder. He stopped in front of Sarus and opened his mouth to speak but noticed something behind Sarus, so the Chiss turned to see Aragorn clambering out of the hole shakily.

The Knight pulled himself the rest of the way up and sat on the deck with a sigh. He noticed the two men staring and said, "Next time I drive." With that he stood and walked off, presumably to either find a refresher of Ptolemy.

"What's his problem?" Dray asked once Aragorn had left the room.

"No idea," Sarus replied with a shrug, "Pto seemed fine. Maybe he's just particular about how people fly."

"Back seat pilots, I hate those." Dray responded with a grin, "So what's this cloak you were talking about?"

"Well I figured out a way to turn a shield into a cloak a few years back. It's not perfect, and it does lower the strength of your shields, but you don't need Stygium crystals for it."

"Really?" Dray asked drapping his arm around Sarus' neck, "And just how do you do something like that?" He asked as he lead Sarus to the Engine room.

Ptolemy chuckled and stepped over Aragorn and climbed up the ladder to the freighter he had been firing at a moment before. And headed to find a quiet place to meditate before the planning begins. He wondered the ship past a deactivated droid that looked like it was holding a blaster. Interesting defenses if that was a battle droid you would think they would want the beast active. Ptolemy shrugged and moved deeper into the ship and turned into what looked like a cargo hold. After a brief look around he found a clear spot and sat on the floor cross legged on the floor. Dray and Sarus walked by on their way back to the engine room. A minute later Aragorn looked in to the room saw Ptolemy on the floor, as he watched Ptolemy grasped his staff in both hands and twisted in different directions. There was a faint click and Ptolemy pulled the two ends apart each end measuring about a meter and a half. Ptolemy picked up a tool sitting by his knee and popped open a small panel and proceeded to clean the inner workings. He popped the panel back on and worked a small lever and a short handle swung out stopping at a 90 degree angle intersecting the staff about a half meter from one end. Satisfied, Ptolemy repeated the process with the other side of his staff.

Ptolemy stood and grasped his weapons by the handles and began practicing patterns striking and blocking weaving a pattern of death and defense. Aragorn watched in silence and began to appreciate the skill with which he was wielding the weapons. The speed of the patterns increased and became more complex. Ptolemy flipped the weapons around the handles swung back down into the staffs and he began wielding them as if they were twin sabers or short staffs as his grip on them shifted from one end to the other and even to the middle of the weapons. Then the staff was whole again and the patterns became familiar as he worked his staff thrusting and striking at invisible opponents. Suddenly Ptolemy tossed his staff to Aragorn and began practicing unarmed patterns and katas striking open hand and closed fist, kicking and sweeping with his legs. Then Ptolemy froze, legs shoulder width and in a half crouch right arm curled over his head hand formed into a fist. Left arm stretched out to his left side hand open.

Slowly Ptolemy lowered his arms and stood up and looked at Aragorn sweat glistening on his forehead and a little winded.

‘Been a while since I have gone through the entire sequence.’ Ptolemy said as he took the staff that Aragorn handed him ‘a lot of work in a short period of time’

‘I would be concerned of vibroblades or light sabers not to mention a blaster.’ Aragorn said.

‘I would agree’ Ptolemy said and turned toward his weathered kit bag ‘I will be wearing this when we get to the place we will be fighting.’ And tossed Aragorn what looked like a metallic shirt. Aragorn looked close and the metallic sheen came from an extremely fine mesh of circular metal rings.

‘Chain mail?’ Aragorn asked confused

‘In an age where armor is rigid and hinders movement this allows unencumbered movement and protection against cuts from vibroblades and lightsabers.’ Ptolemy explained, ‘not as useful against blasters but it will disperse the bolt to the point where, while it will hurt, will not do a lot of damage. Add the gloves and the fact that the tunic will hang down to my knees… I will be fairly well protected.’

‘What about the Force?’ Aragorn asked ‘I do not wear armor, in part at least, because it inhibits force use.’

‘This does not.’ Ptolemy said ‘it was created using a similar process as my staff. Not quite as effective but toughens the material a bit.’

There was a short silence broken by Aragorn ‘I cannot afford to be distracted by the fact that you are my Father, I need to focus on the task at hand and...’

‘I understand’ Ptolemy interrupted ‘the fact that you were able to put the pieces together so quickly is a testament to your ability to think critically and come to the correct answer. Come sit I would like to teach you something, the first thing my Father taught me. I believe it will be of use to you.’

"Why are we holding geo-sycrinus orbit?" Aragorn asked, leaning over his console to adjust the settings, "It's hard enough to do this with just one ship."

"It's... complicated," Thing replied after a few moments.

"It's not like we have anything else to do," Dusk spoke from the passenger chari behind Thing.

"This work is arduous, not complicated Thing," Ara continued.

Thing scratched at his head, "I'm not really good with words. Ptolemy could probably explain it better then I."

"I don't even understand it myself," Pto replied from the chair behind Aragorn, his feet propped up on an inactive console.

Thing sighed in resignation, "Well it's like this: Bazariel knew that the Crusaders would set up a base on the planet so that they could catch our members on two fronts and force us to split our forces. He also believed it was likely that they would using a cloak to keep from being seen, give their troops as much of a surprise on ours as they can, more bang for their buck and all." Thing leaned back in his chair, "Obviously we would need to know the location of their base to keep our members safe, but once we came in cloaked we wouldn't be able to send out a message without being detected."

"This next part is where they lost me," Pto interjected without looking down.

"Well Sarus developed a means to use shields as a cloak on ships smaller then a cruiser, the only problems were that they had to modified extensively and the shields would have less power if you had to drop the cloak. And then Bazariel earned his title. Because shields run on frequencies, and the cloak was just a modified shield he got the idea that by altering the sensor frequency to the shield frequency they would be able to see us, and it worked. The rest was simple, once we had figured out the position of the enemy base we would take up an orbit around the moon that would coorespond to the coordinates."

"Huh?" Dusk questioned confused.

Thing sighed, "OK, we know the base is located at 54 degrees longitude and 35 lattitude and since we know that we can take up a syncronized orbit orbit around the same coordinates around the moon. The cruisers can see us because they know our shield frequency, so by reading our position on the moon they can learn the position of the base on the planet."

"I think I understand," Aragorn said with a nod.

"And by that you mean?"

"Not a clue," Aragorn replied shaking his head.

"I do now," Pto spoke, "more so then I did before. But I can't blame you for being ignorant Aragorn, it's not your job to think of strategies like this, or even understand them."

Aragorn shrugged and turned back to his console, "I'm just glad I chose to be a Gatemaster. Combat is much easier to understand."

"Gatemaster?" Dusk questioned leaning forward, "I thought only Padawans did guard duty."

"Gatemaster not Gatekeeper," Aragorn replied.

"There's a difference?"

"Gatekeepers are Temple guards," Thing replied correcting the ship's course once again, "Gatemasters are responsible for Temple security but are only called in if there's a serious issue. They're essentially a professional combatant."

"So wait, we have professions other then being Jedi or Sith?"

Thing turned to stare at Dusk in disbelief, "Yeah, we have responsibilities for our Order. Sarus is a Shadow, or a spy. Aragorn is a Gatemaster, or a Temple guardian. I'm a Jedi Commander, I do real time strategy. Dawn was a Knight he should know this."

"I do," Sawn said inside Dusk's head.

"He does," Dusk speaking for Dawn.

"Then shouldn't you? Don't you share the same mind jst with different personalities?" Aragorn asked.

"No," Dusk replied flatly.

Thing and Aragorn looked at each other confused then shrugged and got back to work without another word.

Dusk turned in his seat and yelled back, "Jax!"

The assassin droid came out from behind an acceleration couch and approached with a sigh, "Yes, master?"

"Take a memo for me," Dusk responded turning back aroudn and clearing his throat, "'Look into a job when I get back to JvS.' Read that back for me?"

"Get off your lazy ass," Jax said with a voice that perfectly mimicked Dusk's own. Dusk turned around and stared at the droid, "Sorry master, I was paraphrasing."

----------------------------

"Any way to make this an easier switch over?" Dray asked leaning against the engine core and standing over Sarus.

"Only if you sacrifice 30% shield power," Sarus replied pushing himself out from under the engine and levering himself up. "Each time you want it it will take an hour to modify, and another to modify it back to normal," he continued grabbing a towel and cleaning his hands off with it.

"Hmm," Dray said thinking. The two had already begun walking back to the cockpit before he said anything again, "What if I modify only the back-up shield generator to be a cloak then alternate between them as I need each?"

The Chiss shrugged, "It's possible, if you can manage to switch between them fast enough, and if you have the equipment, but it will place a stress on the shields if you switch too often."

"Would I really have need of a cloak often enough to break the generators?" Dray asked, "I mean it can't be so fragile as to not be able to alternate at least once a day right?"

"Even once a day is pushing it," Sarus replied passing through the doorway out into the corridor. "Remember those emitters aren't meant to handle a cloak, and while they can adjust it still strains them."

"So how many times do you think I could switch in the course of a day before they would completely burn out?"

Sarus blew out his breath as he thought, "Three if you're lucky, and before you ask yes that means three times using each, but using it twice in one day will damage the emitters to varying degrees."

"It might just be worth it," Dray responded still deep in thought as they passed through the doorway into the cockpit.

There they found Dusk and Jax rolling around on the floor in a struggle, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to the two. Dray and Sarus carefully stepped over the two as they fought and approached the left seat where Thing was sitting, "What's with them?" Dray asked sliding into the front seat.

"Do they ever have a reason?" Thing proposed.

"Good point," Dray said with a nod.

Ptolemy looked over at the two then back to the rest of the group, "A week ago I would have questioned the possiblity of anyone being foolish enough to wrestle with a droid. Now it doesn't even phase me," Pto rested his head back again, "I've yet to figure out if that is a good thing."

Dray laughed and looked over at Aragorn who was unusually silent and concentrated on his work, "What no hand to the face Aragorn?" He asked jokingly.

Aragorn looked up slightly confused at Dray then glanced at Dusk and Jax, then back at Dray, "I only do that when I expect intelligent decisions." With that he turned back to his console.

"Cold," Sarus replied eyebrows lifted.

"Right now you're probably wondering why he suddenly became so cold," Pto spoke, "but what's really going to drive you nuts is figuring out if he meant just Dusk or all of us."

"I think I can guess," Sarus replied with a smile. Then he turned to Thing and leaned over the back of the chair, "How long until they show up?"

"Any minute now," Thing responded.

As if on cue the two JvS cruisers decelerated from hyperspace and took up orbit around Dantooine. Sarus noticed a reading on Dray's console that said their position was being scanned then watched as the cruisers altered their orbits ever so slightly to be on either side of the Crusader base. It wasn't long before the hanger bays opened and the transports started descending en masse, each carrying three to four groups of four. The shuttles were old Corellian Star Shuttles, they had an oval passener and cockpit with a tri-ion engine in the back that could give it a boost of speed should the vessel come under attack. The two cruisers themselves were formidable vessels, much improved over the ones used during the Dark Angel Raid. Having learned the importance of being well armed in battle the two Councils had collaborated and raised enough funds to commission two Pellaeon-class Star Destroyers. Each cruiser was large enough to carry a company of troops as well as the normal crew complement, and each was armed with two dozen assorted turbolaser and ion cannon batteries as well as 3 starfighter squadrons of M-wings. They were shaped like a semi-flat pyramid and the bridge on each was in a different area to confuse bombers.

The cruisers were powerful, probably able to take on four lesser cruisers and still win, but Sarus also knew that the Crusaders could overwhelm them purely through force of numbers. It was something he had not managed to get through to the Alliance Council, and a short coming he still regretted.

Dray looked over at Sarus' face and noticed the serious look, "You alright?"

Sarus was brought back from his thoughts and looked over, "Yeah, just reiewing some things in my head."

Dray nodded as if he took the statement at face value, but his expression said other things. Nonetheless he didn't press the issue, "So what's our job?"

"Watch and wait," Sarus replied.

-------------------------

"'Be careful,' what kind of advice is that?" Bg asked retorically from the tree he was laying in.

"The mystical kind?" Border replied, eyes closed as he leaned against the tree Bg was in.

"One does have to wonder what we're doing here," Wolfyx spoke from a rock he was sitting on a few meters away. He was in a meditation pose trying to glean information from the Force.

"We're here because the Dark Lord told us to be," Xzavier responded to the group as a whole, "and until one of you becomes powerful enough to overthrow the man I expect you to keep your opinions to yourself." The Marauder continued as he walked back down from the hill he had been scouting from.

"Oh come on master," Bg whined sitting up on the branch, "even you have to be wondering why we're here. There's nothing here we can learn from, the lessons history could teach us here are drilled into us the moment we choose to follow the Sith path."

Xzavier glanced away. In truth he had been wondering why Spanish would send them here. There was definitely dark Forces around them, but none of considerable power, and none they could tap into. There was no lesson here they hadn't already been taught dozens of times. Then there was the warning, 'Be careful,' what could that mean? There hasn't been any native life of this planet in centuries, and no settlements in decades. There weren't any signs of life other then the occasional kath hound, and there were no artifical structures, no even any from previous settlements. So why do I still feel a sense of foreboding?

"I don't know Bg," Wolfyx said from his meditation stance, "I feel like there's something wrong here, something amiss, something we're not seeing."

"I've had the same feeling," Border spoke opening his eyes to stare at the ground, "almost a darkness, but yet not a darkness that I've felt before. It's not like the dark side, the dark side is harsh, and white hot, it greets you if you can stand it's intensity, but this." The Dark Jedi shook his head.

"It's cold," Xzavier finished. He could feel his mind working to make sense of what he was sensing, but he couldn't find it. He knew the result, it was in his head, but it was still out of his reach. "Like a desire for destruction but without the emotions, without any emotions. A pure destructive instinct..."

"I thought that was unnatural," Bg replied sliding off the branch to land on the ground beside border. "Sith teachings say that destructive instncts and emotions are natural, and that we should embrace them, but that it's impossible to have one without the other."

"It's possible, just not naturally," Xzavier responded still in deep thought, "you have to brain wash someone to achieve that end, you have to break them mentally."

"But you yourself said there's no one here," Wolfyx said getting up from his stance and walking over to the rest of the group. "So what are we sensing?"

"I don't know," Xzavier said looking up at the horrizon and narrowing his eyes, "and that's what worries me." He turned to look at the group, "We're moving out," he turned back to the hill. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen soon, "Stay close to me."

----------------------------

"So when exactly do get my Trials?" Arc asked from behind Muigi.

The Master sighed and dropped the macrobinoculars he had been using to scan the horizon, "You'll get them when you're ready for them Padawan." He turned around and hopped down from the ridge, "Patience is a virtue my friend." He patted Arc's shoulder then nodded to an empty rock near the two other Padawans, "Now take a seat, the lesson is about to begin."

The Padawan sighed in resignation and took up a meditation pose beside Soul Cast and across from Nihil. Muigi walked over and sat down in front of the semi-circle, "Close your eyes. Feel the planet, feel the ebb and flow of time. What do you sense?"

"The Force," Nihil replied.

"Beneath the Force," Muigi urged.

"Events," Soul spoke.

"Beneath the events."

"Death," Arc said.

"Before death."

"Life," Nihil continued.

"Before life."

"Nature," Soul resonded.

"Before nature."

"Potential," Arc finished opening his eyes along with the rest of the group.

Muigi smiled, "Good. Now what can we learn from this?"

"Life is a cycle," Nihil answered.

"All that lives will die, and all the dies will become one with the Force," Soul continued.

"This is an inevitable aspect of the Force," Arc said.

"It is something we should not mourn," Nihil continued.

"It is something we should celebrate, the continuation of the cycle we know as life," Soul finished.

"Very good," Muigi replied with a nod. "Close your eyes again. Feel the Force, feel how it intwines people and places. What do you sense?"

"Darkness," Nihil responded.

"Beaneath the darkness."

"Light," Soul spoke.

The Master opened his eyes, "What does that tell us?"

"That behind every shadow is a light to cast is," Nihil replied.

"That every person has the capacity for both good an evil, light and dark," Soul expanded.

"Our actions bring either the Light or the Dark to the surface, but it's opposite is still within us," Nihil continued.

"What makes us Jedi is our ability to resist those Dark urges," Soul added.

"And what makes us human is to have those Dark urges," Nihil finished.

"Correct," Muigi replied. "The lesson Dantooine teaches is both harsh and comforting. The events here were tragic, but they still teach us, but what do they teach us?"

"They teach us that history, no matter how tragic, and no matter how evil the intentions precipitatin it were, can still give a us a valuable lesson," Nihil responded.

"It teaches us that good can come from evil, even if only in hindsight," Soul finished.

Muigi nodded and was about to continue the lesson when he noticed that Arc hadn't moved, hadn't said a thing for a while, "Padawan Wolf, do you have an opinion on any of this?"

"It's cold." Arc replied, brow furrowed.

Muigi had never seen his Padawan so quiet, or so concentrated. It took a lot to rattle the young man enough to stop him from goofing off, but this had gone beyond serious, the Padawan looked almost frightened, "What's wrong Padawan?"

"It's beneath the Light, it's darkness, but not a darkness I've felt before. The Sith Darkness is dark, but it's also hot, like fire, but this," he paused, his face going pale, "this is different. It's cold, it's all the destruction of the Dark with none of the potential for redemption. It's puredarkness, and it's coming."

Muigi didn't know what the Padawan was sensing, but he knew that if he didn't calm him down soon the young man might have a mental breakdown. "I'm sure it's no-" The Master's head snapped around. He had felt it too, just for a brief moment, but he had felt it, and knew in that moment he was sensing exactly what Arc was sensing. He stood and pulled the lightsaber off his belt, "Get ready," he said over his back as he started walking back up the ridge.

"Is something wrong Master?" Nihil asked getting up and looking around.

"It's probably nothing," Muigi answered trying to comfort the Padawans, but he knew the words were hollow. They may have been mere learners, but they would be able to sense the aggitation he was feeling. He could sense a storm coming, a force that would test their mettle and their intelligence, a test many would fail. "Fall back to the shuttle," Muigi ordered turning and walking back down the ridge.

"But why?" Soul asked, helping Arc to his feet.

"Don't argue with -" Muigi was cut short by a premonition from the Force. He turned and launched a Force Push at three men who had just jumped over the ridge. The Push shoved them away but not the other five that ahd jumped the ridge as well, "RUN!" Muigi yelled activating his lightsaber and charging the group of enemies.

The Master ran straight at the center man and swung, allowing his blade to come up short. The Crusader retaliated with a two-handed right sweep and feel into Muigi's trap. The Jedi side stepped left and swept up with one hand, chopping off the man's arm then stopped the swing and swept right decapitating the man before he could even let out a scream. But there was no time for celebration. Muigi ducked a swing from behind that would have taken his head off and swept though the man's feet and decapitated the foe as he fell.

The Master turned to the remaining three foes and lifted his hand. With a grin he waved them forward. Two rushed forward, one attacking high, the other low. Muigi leaned back and flipped between the blades, landing outside and bringing his lightsaber up to fend off a flurry of swings from both Crusaders. Bringing up his other hand he focused on blocking the strikes while trying to provide a counter block powerful enough to send one of the two off-balance, but the Crusaders were trained in the Forms well and knew to vary the strength of their blow to keep that from happening.

Muigi sensed a danger from behind and without thinking backfliped and Force Pushed his ambusher into the blades of his comrades. The Master had expected his friends to deactivate their blades and catch their friend, giving him a chance to catch-up to his Padawans and get off the planet. So he was surprised when, instead of shutting off their blades, the two men chop through their comrade and continued their attack on the Master.

Muigi met the two head-on, and started blocking again, but instead of keeping both enemies in front of him he placed himself directly inbetween the men. He continued blocking the blows back and firth, high and low, until he saw one man get frustrated and swing hard at Muigi's head. The Jedi blocked the opposite man's blow and forced it aside, then ducked the hard swing from the enemy behind him, letting his enemy kill his comrade. The man didn't flinch, or even give notice that he had chopped off his friend's head, and instead pressed the attack, but it was futile. With only one enemy to face it was child's play for Muigi to parry and swipe in low with Makashi, then plunge his lightsaber through the Crusader's heart.

The entire battle had taken mere minutes, and by the time Muigi removed his blade from Crusader's chest the other three were already leaping over the ridge, with more on the way behind them. The three ran at him, not phased by what they saw before them, not appalled, no emotion at all, only a desire to kill. The Master knew he could take out the three that were attacking him, but if he did their reinforcements would catch up. So he did the only thing he could, he ran...

---------------------------

At first it was only a blip, a small dot on the sensor signallying a hyperspace anomally, but soon it grew in number until it triggered an alarm...

"By the Force what is that racket?" Ptolemy asked, shocked from his rest by a sudden blarring from the ship's intercom.

Dray quickly slapped it silent, "It's a hyperspace emergence alarm. One I only set to go off if it detected at least ten hyperspace disturbances," Dray explained bringing the sensor board up to the main viewport and shocking everyone in the ship to silence in the process.

The alarm had had a reason to go off, in fact it had had several reasons to go off. Just 50 million kilometers away from the planet a fleet had dropped out of hyperspace, a fleet consisting of two Galactic-class Star Detroyers, four Victory-class Cruisers, eight Acclamator-class Frigates, and 36 Skipray-class Blastboats, and as they watched the ships disgorged litterall hundreds of starfighters of mixed design and age.

"And so it begins," Sarus said walking to the viewport to get a good look at the fleet, "the death of ignorance, and the threat of total darkness."
_________________

The two Star Destroyers, wich didnt look well polished, had definitly been relics or trash these Crusaders picked up from drifting space. All their ships seemed to be restored ancient ships, wich meant that their firepower and defenses were inferior to nowadays Armory, but sheer numbers more then compensated for that factor. These mosnters had been planning this and gathering for years, restoring slowly what would be their mighty armada. Everyone in the ships orbiting, stood silent and in awe at the massive fleet they summoned for one attack. It would take members on the ground by surprise.

"Death by ignorance.....death by arrogance. Now we can only hope that our comrades on the ground will be able to hold their own, at least until theyre able to fall back. There is no way they can win this battle"

"Give them some credit Sarus....i know many of the people down there, and i know
they are capable of holding their ground, but...im afraid you are right. This battle doesnt have a winning option for them."

Dray stood serious, with a face that he had never put on. A face of sadness, as if he was looking directly at death itself.

"Isnt there anything we can do? i mean, look at it! they are gonna get run over!"

Thing was exalted, disturbed by what would happen to his friends on the ground and on the cruisers. Surely the JvS cruisers were able to knock out and fend off most of their firepower, but it would take a sever toll on our ground troops.

"No, we cant do anything Thing. Even if we joined, we would just be adding ourselves to the death list. If you wanna do something for your friends, then you will be part of this team, and help track down those Sith spits to their home."

"DAMN" said Dusk "Im missing on all the fun! Look at it! So many lil necks to cut off Sad" Dusk wanted and was eager to join the battle. "No can do Dusk, we have orders, as painful as they are, we must follow them"

Jax retorted "Supplication: Master, my behaviour core is tingling and my circuits are firing. I need to join the battle master, Please!"

"You heard the man Jax...we cant go"

"Warning: I tell you now blue meatbag, we better get some targets soon enough, or ill get some myself!"

Sarus ignored the bot, and was too busy minded trying to calm himself down, witness to the events going on below.
He sensed all the feelings of revolt and anger he had when he faced the Council, coming up again to the surface. He thought responsibility of this massacre was on him. Guilt was on him.

"Calm yourself down, remember what i told you that night Sarus...Dont dare pun these deaths on you." Dray stood up, and headed out of the cockpit.

"Where you going?"

"I....i need sometime alone, i need to meditate. This battle...it will take a great toll on me. I dont wish to witness any more. it may bring me unforeseen consequences."
At that Dray headed to the sleeping quarters, and proceeded to go into a meditation stance.

"Whats wrong with him?" asked Aragorn.

"I believe i know. Dray has a carachteristic that is both a blessing and a curse" spoke Ptolemy.

"You speak as if you have seen it before." responded Sarus, emotionless in his face.

"Maybe i ha-" suddenly, a explosion came from the sky. One of the Victory-class cruisers had just go plometing into the planet, possibly being hit by surprise by one of the JvS cruisers.

"YEAH! At least we are taking some of them with us!" Exalted Thing.

"Dont go ahead of yourself. There's still a lot of enemies out there, and i doubt we will have much more success..."

-----------------------------------------------------

In the quarters, Dray stood, seemingly nervous, as if something was smothering him on his mind, he started sweating too, breathing deeply.

"Death..."

Ptolemy Looked out the view port at the battle that was unfolding, the ballet of death both beautiful and deadly. Both of the JvS cruisers had disgorged their full compliment of fighters and they swept into the fight. The fighters swirled around each other looking all the world like competing schools of fish. Force energy seemed to crackle through space as the fighters clashed, passed through each other and sweeping back to engage darting and dodging. The M-wings of the JvS forces were out numbered 3 and 4 to one but were holding their own and a little bit of the other guys. If the crusaders were going to win this fight it would cost them dearly. Add to that the criss crossing bolts from Turbo Laser and blaster turrets and the picture is complete. A beautiful and deadly dance punctuated by the explosion as a fighter fell prey to their opponents weapons.

Ptolemy could feel the death that surrounded the planet the taint of the dark side was unmistakable much like the taint that was in the control compartment with him in the form of Dusk. This was a little different; there was no emotion, no rage to fuel the power, no pain to focus on. There was just the dark side. It was as if they were locked in combat with someone whose only goal was… destruction. Almost instinctively Ptolemy wrapped him self in a force cloak and all but disappeared from the command couch.

====================

The JvS cruisers were doing well focusing the fire from their capital weapons on enemy ships and the smaller blaster turrets were tracking the fighters locked in a struggle for survival. Jmaczek struggled to calm himself as he piloted his M-wing through the maelstrom there were literally so many targets that almost anything that flew across his sights was an enemy. He a destroyed dozen ships and damaged a hundred more as he threw his fighter into turns and maneuvers it was never meant to withstand. Jmaczek rolled left to evade a laser bolt from a fighter that had somehow gotten on his tail and pulled up and rolled back right narrowly missing a Crusader ship. He skimmed the surface of the Crusader ship blaster bolts and missiles impacted its surface, some from the JVS cruisers but most, Jmaczek felt, were meant for him.

‘These guys do not care what they destroy as long as they are destroying something’ Jmaczek thought as he rolled and pulled to the right to get closer to the star destroyer, sniping at towers and exposed conduits as they flashed by. ‘These guys are doing more damage to them selves than we are to them.’

Jmaczek flinched as blaster fire stitched down the left side of the fuselage. A quick systems check showed armor damage, no damage to anything important, which was good because it was not like he could take time out to fix it. He pulled back on the controls of his fighter and fired his weapons again destroying an old TIE fighter that looked like it was held together by adhesive strips, one of the solar panels split away and the fighter spun in and impacted the bridge of the Star destroyer he had just attacked. It looked as though the Bridge of the vessel decompressed as there were several bodies that flew from the hole that the fighter created. The shields of the vessel flared and faded and Jmaczek let out a war whoop as he dove back in targeting the Forward shield emitters. A couple of well placed missiles reduced the emitters to slag.

‘That should help a bit’ Jmaczek thought as he beat a hasty retreat and reentered the dog fight swirling above Dantooine.

==============

Age of the equipment and obvious lack of skill of the opposing pilots was being negated by the sheer number of enemy. The Fighters of several Jedi had been destroyed and while the ratio was over 10:1 enemy to jedi or sith, Bazariel felt every one. He stood on the battle bridge of the heavy cruiser Balance watching the battle through the force. Feeling the ebb and flow of the battle and feeling every death. He directed fire at a cruiser as soon as the enemy made the transition from hyperspace and scored the combined fire power of the JvS cruisers battered the ship there was no time for celebration as the ship nosed into the planet burning into the atmosphere. Fighters had launched and the battle joined. That seemed like hours ago as the battle wore on. Some damage was getting through the shields but the shields were holding. The only reason they were taking damage is the sheer volume of fire coming from the aged ships and their weapons. The destruction on the Crusader's forces was appalling and on the JvS side more so because JvS does not have as many forces to loose.

Across the battlefield, Bazariel saw the shields fail on one of the Star Destroyers as a M-wing fighter darted away from the Huge ship.

‘Target that Star Destroyer!’ Bazariel shouted weapons control. Almost instantly, both JvS Cruisers shifted fire and pummeled the Star Destroyer, vaporizing armor and drilling deep in to the bowls of the ship. The weapons of the ship fell silent and the barrage continued. The ship lost power and began drifting away from the battle field propelled by the force of secondary explosions. Satisfied, Bazariel directed fire back at the original target and ordered the fighters to concentrate on clearing a path for the shuttles to be able to recover.

‘Signal the landing partys to recover!’ Bazariel said looking at the Communication officer, ‘there is no way we can hold off this assault..’

\\Alright i will leave the rest to you guys...

The Padawans slid to a stop in front of the shuttle and looked around. They could feel death and detruction all around them, a mass of emotions competing with a purely destructive force, had they not seen the Crusaders attack in person none of them would have believe they were actually fighting sentients, much less Force-Sensitive sentients. Despite the dire situation most, if not all of the Retreat was in, the group of Padawans saw no sign of others who had tried to fall back to the shuttle.

Soul took his lightsaber off his belt and kept it ready in his hands, "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe we're the first ones to make it back?" Nihil suggested keying in the security code to open the shuttles loading ramp.

"They may not be able to," Arc responded scanning the horrizon. The area they had landed on was a small hill flanked by broad plains on the south and east, a steep 50 foot cliff to the north, and a sheer cliff down into an ocean on the west. "We were lucky enough to have sensed their prescence before the attack, and lucky enough to have a Master as our guide. Most other groups had only a Knight as a guide."

"You really think it made that much of a difference?" Soul asked skeptically.

"Let me put it this way," Arc began turning to look at his two companions, "would you be so quick to sacrifice yourself for your students?"

Both looked down, clearly uncomfortable with the thought that Muigi may have sacrificed himself for them. "He may not be dead," Nihil spoke, "he is a Master."

"I hope he is still alive as well, but we have to be prepared to leave without him," Arc replied turning back the horizon and narrowing his eyes. He could feel something coming closer, but he couldn't pin down it's location, nor could he see it, an experience he didn't enjoy feeling, especially given the suddeness with which the Crusaders had attacked. He reached for his own lightsaber and unclipped it from his belt.

Soul Cast noticed the motion and tensed, "You feel something?"

"Possibly. Nihil," he said looking back at the Padawan, "prep the ship for lift off, and be prepared to lift off at a second's notice." The Padawan, scared as he was, nodded and headed inside, he knew he didn't need to obey Arc, but it seemed like the best choice at the moment, given that he was the calmest of the three.

Arc switched his attention to Soul Cast, "You stay here, guard Nihil as he prepares our departure."

Soul looked as if he wanted to argue, but reconsidered, "What will you be doing?"

Arc gave him a lop-sided grin, "Playing hero of course," he said then Force Jumped over the lip of the hill to the north and disappeared out of sight.

-----------------------

Arc landed at the bottom on the hill and looked forward, immediately spotting a pair of Jedi engaged in combat with a group of four Crusaders. The Padawan thumbed the switch on his lightsaber to keep it on then threw the lightsaber with as much strength as he could muster and sprinted after it half a second later. The blade spun through the airin a beautiful yet deadly spin, and impaled itself in a Crusader's heart, a second later Arc jumped up and spun a kick that landed on another enemy's face, knocking him back and off balance. Arc landed and reached out to grab his still active lightsaber from the first Crusader's body which was only now falling to the ground.

Flipping the blade around in his hand he swung at one of the Crusaders who was pressing the attack against the unknown Padawans. The Crusader blocked his swing, but left himself open and the second Padawan, after elbowing his own opponent in the face, turned his blade around under his shoulder and punged backward, skewering the Crusader. The two Padawan changed positions, the first taking up the block for the second, and the second jumping over Arc and the dead Crusader and stabbing down at the prone Crusader.

Arc tore his attention away from that scene, already knowing the outcome, and instead double teamed the one enemy still on his feet. With the two pressing him, Arc using Ataru and the other Padawan utilizing Makashi, it was just a matter of time before he made a mistake, and when he did both took full advantage. The unknown Padawan defetly swept his blade in a figure-eight with one hand, taking off both his enemy's hands, and Arc finishing the job with a swift swing to decapitate the man.

The two turned to talk to their comrade, but were surprised by the scene they saw. The Padawan and Crusader had impaled each other when the Padawan landed, and both were still stuck in the positions in which they had died. Both faces were contorted in a mixture of anger and agony, both had died with the only though on their mind that of death. It was a sad and disturbing site, and one that the two would never forget.

"Dammit!" The remaining Padawan yelled punching the ground in frustration, "Why did you all have to die?" He asked tears steaming down his face. His Force prescence was a whirlwind of emotions, spiraling between anger against the Crusader, joy for his friend that was now one with the Force, depression about lossing a person he obvious cared about, and acceptance that the Force had a reason for everything it did. He didn't stay on any one emotion for more then a second, and that bothered Arc.

Arc felt for the Padawan, but at the same time he knew they couldn't stay here. More would be coming to see if their comrades had finished the job, and if they had not they would finish it themselves, "I know it's hard, but we have to leave," Arc said resting his hand on the Padawan's shoulder.

The Padawan batted the hand away, "I'm staying. These bastards will be made to pay for what they've done."

"You can't hope to take them all," Arc pleaded, knowing how perilously close the Padawan was to falling into darkness, "we must leave! Your friends gave their lives to get you this far, to die now would mean their sacrifices were in vain."

Both looked up, they could feel more Crusaders approaching fast, "Come on we have to leave now!" Arc yelled trying to drag the Padawan with him, but the boy had firmly cemented his feet to the ground. With a gesture he threw Arc back seven meters, just as the group of Crusaders appeared above the hill in front of them.

The Padawan glanced back and smiled, "Tell them I died for my brothers, tell them I had to do this, tell them I was a Jedi, to the very end." He looked back and Force Leapt at the group of enemies, swinging as he fell.

Arc watched in horror as the young Padawan forged ahead, dispite the knowledge that it was a futile effort. There was no hope for him now, there hadn't been the moment Arc allowed himself to be shrugged off. He had known the Padawan was unstable, that the rapidity with which he flipped through his emotions was not natural, no sentient could accept the death of someone close that quickly unless they forced themselves to do so. And yet he hadn't stopped the Padawan. He should have tried harder, he should have used the Force, remove a limb, something, anything, to keep him alive, but he hadn't.

Arc activated his lightsaber, and was about to join the Padawan, to atone for his mistake by helping the young boy, perhaps if he fought alongside him they could win, stranger things had happened in the past, and when the Foce had a Will it was seldom ignorable. Maybe it was his destiny to help the boy, and maybe together they could win, save the Jedi, and Sith on the planet, with the Force anything was possible! Arc leaned low to prepare a Force Jump, but before he could execute it he felt himself being lifted and pulled back by the Force.

"What are you doing?" Muigi's familiar voice asked, "I told you to get back to the shuttle!" The Master was pulling him along in a Force Grip as he sprinted back to the shuttle which was now surrounded by a cloud of dust, a tell tale sign that it was lifting off.

"But, but-" Arc stammered looking at the Padawan still fighting in the midst of the Crusaders. Arc tried to force open Muigi's Force Grip on him, he wanted to join Padawan, he needed to join him, but the Grip was simply too strong for him to break.

Muigi's Force prescence grew somber, and Arc knew he needed to explain no farther, the Master already understood the situation, "I know it's sad, but there's nothing we can do for him right now."

"But we can help him!" Arc almost screamed, "You're a Master, I'm almost a Knight, maybe if we stay and fight we can win!"

Muigi just shook his head sadly, "I wish that were true Padawan, I really do."

The two crested the hill to see the shuttle already hovering ten meters off the ground, and a group of over fifteen Crusaders rapidly closing in on the other side of the hill. It was a staggering number of enemies, and all of them, not desiring destruction, but hungering for it, like they needed it to live. Arc felt his body tingle as Force energy crackled around him and then suddenly found himself being flung through the air and into the shuttles open loading ramp. He twisted through the air and landed hard on his a**e then saw Muigi alight on the ramp himseld and yell, "We're in, take us out of here!"

Suddenly Arc felt himself sliding backwards in the shuttle and felt his back ram against the bulkhead as Nihil kicked in the afterburns and sent the shuttle flying up through the atmosphere at a speed for which the Enertial Compensators had a hard time keeping up with. Then they escaped the atmosphere and the Padawan felt the pressure lift. The others on the ship had had a similar experience and were now hunched over to catch their breath, but Arc had other things on his mind.

The Padawan crawled over to a viewport and looked out, hoping beyond hope that he would see the Padawan that had given all for revenge, hoping that he would see the boy alive, but to no avail. They were too high to be able to see something so small going on below, and with all the emotion and death going on down on Dantooine, it was impossible to sort his Force prescence from the others, if it was even still there at all.

"It wasn't a purposeless sacrifice," Muigi said when he saw Arc staring out the window, "if he hadn't done what he did, we would have had to leave you behind." The Master stood behind the Padawan and put his hand on the young man's shoulder, "He saved your life, without his efforts to delay the Crusaders, that group would hvae been upon us before we could lift off. He may have saved some of the only Jedi left alive on Dantooine."

"And now I can never repay that debt," Arc replied not taking his eyes off the planet, not even diverting his senses in case he found some trace of the boy who had given his life for Arc's own.

"There is a way," Muigi said with a warm smile. "Remember him, remember what he did, and tell his story to future generations."

Arc finally looked back and up at the Master, "I don't even know his name, how can I tell his story?"

"The name matters not, it is the story that you must remember. Do that, and his sacrifice will not be forgotten, even if his name is."

Xzavier stared at the hill wanting to move, driven by curiosity to discover what the group was sensing but held back by fear of the unknown.

"Are we moving out,Xzavier" asked Bg anxiously

"Yes, just have patience" Xzavier sighed

"You have been around Aragorn to much, Sith dont have patience." Bg replied

Xzavier facepalmed "Your right, I spent to much time with Aragorn... but what I said still stands, dont be eager for something you have no idea about"

Xzavier and the group started walking at a slow, deliberate pace towards the hill. Their senses screaming to stop and turn around, danger ahead but they all pushed their senses aside and pressed on. These monsters needed to be stopped to save the remaining force users, Jedi and Sith alike. Curiously enough, this didnt bother anyone that Sith and Jedi were working as a cohesive force, there is something to be said for people when it comes to being threatened with extinction, they will do anything to keep it from happening and thats the problem. Xzaviers mind wandered over these things, thinking of what to do if they encountered a problem and hope that his fellow Sith wouldnt give into their instinct and turn the fight into a every man for himself.

"Lets not be stupid guys" Xzavier mumbled

"What?" replied Border

"Nothing. Come on we are almost to the top of the hill."

The group stood on top of the hill and looked over what looked like a valley. The hills kept rolling for it seemed like an eternity. The grass was a yellow color like it is on most places on Dantooine, with some intermingling of green grass. Xzaver looked up and noticed smoke coming from the distance. It looked like a fighter had crashed or something.

"Come one, lets check out this fighter that crashed, it may house some information." Xzavier said skeptically.

They walked for another five minutes and they could finally see what it was. Part of a cruiser, the bridge it looked like, from these Crusaders. A glimmer of relief rushed through Xzavier but he pushed it aside because if he lost focus for one second, that's all it could take.

"Search it. It looks like the bridge so it may nav charts and important tactical information. Bring out everything that you think is relevant." Xzavier said

"Should we split up?" asked Border

Xzavier looked at the bridge. It was good size even for just a bridge, splitting up seemed the best but he felt weird about it. Confusion wrote itself all over Xzaviers face, paralyzing his thoughts and actions.

"Xzavier" Bg said

"Yeah, split up but be careful." Xzavier warned

They entered the section of the cruiser together and then split up. Xzavier going down the middle, Bg to the right, Border to the left and Wolfy followed another corridor.

Wolfy unhooked his saber to use it for light. The blade glowed a crimson red and lit the way decently. He looked long and hard for anything. He scavenged corpses for anything useful. Key cards seemed to be the preferred security mechanism but all the doors were either blown open or sealed shut by debris. Wolfy reached a circular room that housed a computer. Wolfy tried to get any information off of it he could. He began to rummage through what bit of the computer survived only to be greeted by the computer exploding, throwing smoke in the air. Smoke filled the room and it became hard to breathe. He used the force to clear the smoke, once he did, an unfamiliar face greeted him.


Border's journey was short. He ventured through the corridor and saw scorch marks and holes that lead outside. He came to the edge of the corridor and debris blocked the way. He tried to move the rocks with the force but something was resisting him, like somebody was holding it down so he couldnt move it. He heard rustling behind him, he whipped around dodged a lightsaber attack, activated his two sabers and dropped to an Ataru stance, ready to fight.


Bg took to his task with the up most seriousness because he knew the danger and he felt somehow connected to it. It was something he didnt understand but he felt like his actions weighted this search mission more heavily than the others. His mind was racing, unnaturally, with ways he could screw up, things he could miss. He pushed these thoughts away and continued to search. He found the main area of the bridge. The glass was all broken and the computers where somewhat intact but highly unlikely to be accessed. He found medical droids and mouse droids that were destroyed. He went to the best looking computer, sat down and got to work.



Xzavier was worried, he felt a dark presence here that he couldnt explain. It was cold like he felt before but this time it wasnt still, it was moving. They were followed he assumed and he unhooked his saber, ready for anything. He carefully proceeded down the middle corridor, with busy eyes, he looked every direction he could analyzing and observing everything he could hear,feel and see. Then something changed, the cold went away. It wasnt still, it wasnt moving, it was gone. Xzavier stopped and reached out with the force and he couldnt feel anything. He couldnt feel wolfy,Bg or border in the force. He quickly activated his saber looking around for an explanation, but none was given. He kept looking and still he found no trace of anyone anywhere, in the physical or in the force. Xzavier stopped and just listened, he heard heavy breathing. He slashed his saber towards the heavy breathing and he was met with another saber. The cold feeling returned and he could feel everyone elses presence. I must have distracted him long enough for him to break his spell. Xzavier had heard of Sith Sorcery but never experienced it first hand, until now. Images of fallen comrades and of the Enclave appeared in his head driving him mad. He fiercely slashed everywhere but he couldnt hit anything. Suddenly, the images went away. He opened his eyes to see Bg attacking the Sorcerer. Xzavier sprinted over to Bg and engaged in the fight. it was Djem-So and Makashi vs Niman. Strength and precision is a deadly combination but this crusader knew the forms all to well and dropped into a Soresu stance. Xzavier had experience with Soresu from fighting Aragorn, but this was a more refined form almost an unnatural implementation of it. Bg attacked low and Xzavier high but the blows were all deflected away. Xzavier over extended one of his blows and the crusader deflected the saber into the wall. Xzaviers saber hilt hit the wall and spun out of his hand. The crusader turned his attention on Xzavier to try for an easy kill but Xzavier used grip to momentarily paralyze the man. The Crusader laughed and broke the grip only to be met by saber through his chest. The man dropped dead and the room fell silent.

"You find anything?" asked Xzavier out of breath

"Yeah, I found out where they are trying to expand to. Dantooine is just the beginning."

"We need to find wolfy and border" said Xzavier

They heard a scream of pain and ran towards it.



Border rushed the crusader and switched from Ataru to Sokan to try and throw him off. He ran the wall and sliced at the Crusaders head, but missed and nicked his shoulder. The man screamed in pain and became unnaturally angry. Border smiled and went to Makashi, but was quickly met by a flurry of Djem-So moves. The moves where so powerful, Border couldnt contain the strength even with both sabers, he had to deflect the blow. He analyzed the sequence and found an opening. He plunged his saber towards the Crusaders chest but was blocked by a force push, in mid sequence. Border hit the debris and hit the floor hard. He was almost knocked unconscious but still remained aware. He decided to play possum and try and use tricks again to land a more powerful blow. The Crusader approached Border and stuck his hand out to electrocute him when Bg's saber came out of nowhere and cut off the hand while Xzavier cut off the Crusaders head. Xzavier helped Border up and they ran to wolfy


Wolfy looked at the face in fear. The eyes where bright yellow and horns stuck out of this persons head. He looked like a Zabrack and a mean one at that. Wolfy slashed at the face but it dodged. Wolfy continued with assault after assault and nothing would hit. Finally, he resorted to the force and tried to electrocute it but still nothing happened. Wolfy heard a scream and the face went away. Sith Sorcerers still exist? How? Wolfy thought. He had seen it before only in the history books. He remembers the story of Darth Bane and how his apprentice became a Sith Sorcerer, powerful enough to hide their presence and drive Jedi Masters to claim their own lives. It has always interested wolfy, but its no longer taught in the Sith academy. Wolfy ran through the corridor and met with the rest of the group. They reconvened outside and relayed what had happened.

"I need to radio somebody with this information Bg found. If we can cut them off, we should be able to deal a massive blow." Xzavier said as he switched on the comlink.