Star Wars 0027 - Part VIII - High Council of Castleguard
Randall J. Morrison
A long time ago, in a galaxy
far,
far away . . .
Star Wars 0027
Part VIII
High Council of Castleguard
In the four years since the Battle
of Tau Sakar, both the Rebel Dominion and the ISA expanded to the best of
their ability and have each formed something new to combat the other. The
enormous expansion of Monovial’s new Sith race surprised everyone but
Sabreeth, who is the high commander of them all at STAFF.
As more and more people began to lose faith in the Rebel Dominion, they
sought power rather than freedom, thus strengthening the number of
candidates for Sith training, and weakening the number of potential Jedi.
But venerable Jedi Master Dominic Artemius has set himself the last goal
he could ever hope to accomplish: rebuilding the Jedi Council of the old
Republic.
Grand Admiral Sienar’s supervision of the construction of Planet
Castleguard I has helped speed up the building process. The space station
is made up of ten smaller platform space stations all strung together
around the lifeless planet of Hurcha is held together by the planet’s own
gravity and orbit. All but two of the ten platforms are near completion,
but Sienar isn’t sure how much time they have left before the ISA
discovers Castleguard and attacks it. . . .
Captain
Billy Cygnus piloted the gunboat through the hermetic field and onto the
hangar floor of Planet Castleguard I. He was just returning from Corellia
on a spy mission and had been the only officer in the Rebel Dominion’s
fleet that would volunteer to go with the Bothans to try and find
information regarding the next move of the ISA. However, his trip to
Corellia added nothing but the loss of four excellent Bothan spies and a
blaster bolt embedded into Cygnus’ right leg to the catalog of Rebel
failures.
Those on
the hangar floor, however, noticed that such a thing wouldn’t affect his
piloting skill. He was really the only pilot in the fleet who could land
this starfighter without giving the bottom of it scrapes and dents. For
his jokingly obnoxious personality, Billy could definitely fly a gunboat.
It wasn’t known, really, if the fact that his father designed it had
anything to do with the seemingly innate skill, but it was a hunch.
Cygnus
assumed that his spy mission would end up in a failure. He knew Corellia
fairly well. It was a place full of smugglers and pirates that possessed
a lot of knowledge about the old Empire, but there were only a select few
who knew anything about the ISA. As much as he argued his point, Cygnus
was refused the chance at canceling the mission on an uneducated guess
that it would fail. He would sooner have gone to Corellia’s other
planets. In his experience, they were more popular with the ISA than
Corellia itself.
While he
was there, a fight in some rough pub got started and his four Bothan
companions were shot up by some alien drunks. His efforts to save them
weren’t easy, and obviously ineffective. He was lucky to make it out of
there alive himself, but fortunately he met a window and escaped with
only a few cuts and a blaster wound.
The
exhaust from his landing gears drained out the bottom of the gunboat and
disappeared into the air. The fighter touched down on the hangar floor
and the exhaust stopped. A few other officers and Admiral Mikal Glass
approached the ship as Cygnus released the bottom ramp exit. He hoped
that General Newace10 hadn’t sent the Admiral all the way down here just
to lecture at him for not protecting the Bothans. Their species wouldn’t
be in close contacts with the Dominion anymore if things like this kept
happening.
“Admiral
Glass, pleasure to see you,” Cygnus said sarcastically as he walked down
the ramp from his gunboat. Glass smiled and held out his hand.
“I’m not
here to bother you, Billy,” he said, “I’m here to congratulate you. As
soon as you decide to freshen up and get into some clean clothes, come to
the auditorium with me. You’re receiving an award.” Cygnus’ eyes
widened.
“Pardon
me, Admiral, but I was just sent on a mission that got four Bothan spies
killed. I hardly deserve a medal for that,” he replied. “And if that’s
what you’re awarding me for, I’m not accepting it. You may not like the
Bothans that much, and neither do I, but it doesn’t mean that killing
them is something to praise.” Admiral Glass looked back at him, somewhat
disappointed that Cygnus would even think of him that way. He shook his
head and started escorting him out of the hangar.
“Oh, I
assure you, Captain, you won’t be getting any awards from me for doing
things like that,” he said. Cygnus let out a sigh of relief as they
exited the hangar. “I’m just letting you know that it would be wise to
come. It’ll be your only shot at this.”
* * * *
“Grand
Admiral Sienar, I wish to present you with a virtuous request,” said the
voice of Dominic Artemius as the guards let him by into Sienar’s
chambers. The Grand Admiral nodded and clasped his fingers together as he
leaned back in his chair. “Planet Castleguard I is not completed yet, and
although the design element is, would there still be room for any
modifications, sir?”
Sienar
moved forward in his chair, noticing Artemius’ arm, which held papers
underneath it. “You should know that you don’t have to call me sir
anymore, Dominic,” he replied. “So what is your idea? If it’s a good one
we might be able to sneak it in there.”
Dominic
sat into the chair next to him at the end of the long meeting table. He
pulled the papers out from under his arm and tossed them onto the table.
“This is about six or seven pages of my ideas to re-create the Jedi
Council of the old Republic right here on Castleguard,” he said
excitedly. “I think that now with a substantial amount of the new age of
Jedi, this Council is almost completely necessary.”
Sienar
gave no real expression of the matter and kept a straight face. “That
wouldn’t be easy, Dominic. It would be dependent on which space platform
structure you would like this council to be placed on, I suppose. But I
already have plenty of good plans for the Jedi’s training platforms and
such.”
“As a
matter of fact, I was hoping to fit it onto the main platform,” Dominic
said sheepishly. He could feel a touch of anger coming from Sienar just
by the change of his facial expression.
“The main
platform!” said Sienar, as his eyes widened. “You should know of all
people that this platform is already going to be jam-packed with stuff.
I’ve planned out ten platforms and two of them haven’t even begun
construction. Why don’t you use one of those? The parts for them haven’t
even come in from Fondor yet.” Dominic picked up the papers and flipped
through a few until he pulled out one particular page that looked like a
diagram.
“That’s
what I would’ve said, too, Grand Admiral,” replied Artemius. “But I
worked out the possibility of it happening. It was remote, but that small
possibility quickly turned into a definite possibility as these ideas
just kept coming to me.” Artemius scanned the paper he was holding and
Sienar curiously looked at it from his chair.
“You are
not an architect, Dominic and I’ve never heard of a Jedi becoming a
successful architect before. But I trust you and if your idea is what you
say it is, I’m willing to see it in greater detail,” said Sienar,
standing from his chair. “I have a fairly important meeting in a couple
of minutes, so why don’t you drop by in at the development-research lab
later tonight and we can go over it. That lab holds the blueprints for
Castleguard so we can compare them to see if your ideas check out.”
“Thanks,”
said Artemius as he turned to leave the room. Sienar wasn’t sure as to
what was meant by that conversation but he didn’t expect anything to come
out of Dominic’s ideas. They were too farfetched and the design of Planet
Castleguard I was not something to mess around with right now. They were
so close to completion, Sienar feared that any modification could ruin it
all.
* * * *
Dexxa
turned the corner of the cafeteria and saw Kenneth Harlo sitting alone at
a table far off in the corner. It was quieter than usual in the café.
Everyone was most likely preparing for the awards that Admiral Glass was
dishing out later tonight. Dexxa walked over to the table as Harlo sipped
a bit of his drink. He looked tired and depressed but Dexxa couldn’t
quite figure out why. He sat down in the chair across from Harlo and put
his elbows on the table. “What are you doing here?” Dexxa asked, smiling
strangely. Harlo looked up at him and then looked back at the glass he
held, taking another sip.
“I’m
hoping to get Cygnus embarrassed at his award presentation by making a
speech during extreme intoxication,” Harlo said glumly.
Dexxa
laughed and then asked his question one more time. “What are you really
doing here?”
“Well,
It’s been a disappointing wait for this station to get built up,” Harlo
said, sipping again from his glass. “I’m sick of everything. First you go
and quit your training, which is a disappointment in itself. Then I get
these weird dreams about darkness in the Force. Then everyone decides to
reward Cygnus for being a little---“
Dexxa cut
him off, “Hey, he’s done a lot and deserves this award.”
“I know
that. Maybe it’s because I haven’t slept in a while. I’m just so tired
that everything seems wrong to me,” Harlo replied. “I think I might be
able to cheer you up, though, Harlo.” He finished his drink and looked up
at Dexxa.
“Alright,
how?”
“Well even
though I quit my training, I still think I might be able to beat you in
the sabre training room,” Dexxa said, challenging Harlo to one of the
practice duels they would often recreationally do before he retired from
being a Jedi.
Harlo
smiled for the first time during the conversation. “You know, Dexxa. If
you quit and I keep going, it means that I get better and you get worse.
You haven’t beaten me before, why do you expect to now?”
Dexxa
deviously smiled back at him. “A hunch.”
“Well, as
long as we’re done in time to get to the award presentation, which I
think we will be, I believe we can try our luck at it,” said Harlo as he
stood up from the table, leaving the empty glass behind.
* * * *
After many
financial difficulties in running the Interstellar Sith Allegiance,
Phadrax Monovial finally established enough personal wealth to replicate
his personal starship, the Titan. The Titan 2 was designed
under the predilections of Sabreeth, for it would become his personal
craft. While identical on the outside, Sabreeth’s model had a very
different interior. Whereas Monovial’s Titan was clouded with
training aids, Sabreeth chose a somewhat ecclesiastical atmosphere
instead.
Already,
at the age of twenty-seven, Sabreeth was at the peak of his physical
condition. Never had he been stronger, more agile or more physically
able. Therefore, he devoted the interior of Titan 2 towards his
mental training. Only one room in the ship did not share that same mental
exercise was in the back, where he pursued his hobby.
Sabreeth,
for as long as he could remember, took pleasure in building things. When
he was just a child, he had assembled little things out of twigs and
leaves that performed a function that some machines couldn’t do. It
evolved into mechanical and electronic devices when he first built his
lightsabre, at the age of thirteen.
Now he sat
quietly at a desk, thousands of tiny electronic chips and wires on the
marble surface before him. Laying on a satin cloth in front of him was
his latest technological tool. Lotaan Xta Santau, Monovial’s frequently
hired bounty hunter, had requested that Sabreeth build this for a
reasonable price. Sabreeth had become good enough friends with Lotaan
that he wouldn’t accept his money and build the objects for free.
The design
of these cuffs was mostly Lotaan’s doing. They weren’t handcuffs for
prisoners, but different cuffs that Lotaan would wear himself. The cuffs
actually wrapped around the entire length of Lotaan’s forearm and were
equipped with all sorts of gadgets. The most prominent of which was a
thick, but sharp garrote wire at the wrists. Initially, the garrote is
not attached and hardly a wire at all. The wire coils inside the cuffs
and a small magnet marks the end of the cord.
A switch
is placed on the opposite cuff, which doesn’t hold the garrote wire
coiled inside. The switch activates a powerful magnetic panel on the
second cuff; therefore, bringing the two cuffs together at the wrist
allows the magnetic tip of the garrote wire to connect electrically. When
the two cuffs are separated, the wire joins the two forearms together,
enabling easy access to the use of the garrote. When the switch is turned
off, the magnet releases and the garrote wire coils back inside the
right-hand cuff.
Further up
in the forearm cuffs, a small radio transmitter is built near the elbow
that connects to most comlinks in short range. This enables Lotaan to
gather information about what is going on locally without having to
perform unnecessarily dangerous spy work.
Along the
length of the cuff, a long capsule of acidic gas is connected to a spray
valve in case of getting in close contact with a dangerous attacker.
Pulling a small metal lever causes the gas to spray from the valve; the
chemical in the gas was designed to burn skin and severely damage the
eyesight of any attacker, regardless of the species.
Most of
the cuff’s technology was based in the garrote wire, however, and more
specifically in adding to the strength of the magnet. The electromagnet
built into the cuffs, plus the material that the wire was made of, could
easily hold up Lotaan’s weight and quite possibly several other men
before the magnet would give out.
As an
extension of courtesy, Sabreeth found room on the cuffs to program in a
small infrared screen that could detect the presence of any warm-blooded
being through thick walls. This completed Lotaan’s ensemble of gadgets
and he needn’t anymore for quite some time. Monovial had just hired him
to take on a job that would require the use of high technology, so
Sabreeth’s completion time was impeccable.
Lotaan had
been hired to find and capture the leader of the Rebel Dominion, Grand
Admiral Leonardo Sienar. The problem was not only the security that
Sienar would have around him, but how difficult he would be to find.
Nobody even knew where the Rebel Dominion escaped to, no less a single
member. But Lotaan took the job anyway. Most bounty hunters would try to
avoid this kind of assignment no matter how much pay they would receive.
Lotaan was different though. He remained somewhat loyal to Monovial, even
though he hadn’t been treated especially well. Lotaan thought, perhaps,
that his loyalty may have been the reason Monovial seemed to be
taking advantage of his skill.
Lotaan’s
personal starship, Divinity, blasted out of the Super Star
Destroyer House of Lords and sailed off towards Ivinsnale, where
the bounty hunter would examine the remains and try to find clues as to
the whereabouts of the Rebel Dominion.
* * * *
“Captain
William Cygnus,” a voice echoed off the walls of Castleguard’s newly
finished auditorium. A large selection of the Rebel Dominion’s workers
and officers had gathered for the procession. The only ones absent
appeared to be Dexxa and Harlo. Nobody could guess where they went to.
“This evening, I am proud to bestow upon you the rank of Major,” Admiral
Glass continued, “and you will also be receiving the first of the
Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027’s neoteric honors. This,” he said,
holding up a shiny, gold medallion, dangling from a silver necklace, “is
the Conventional Seal of Glory, an award granted for his long-term
service to the Rebel Dominion, and for acquiring bits and pieces of
evidence or information whenever it was needed. Congratulations, Major!”
Cygnus smiled and as he had expected, the applause was loud. Major Rocky
Mylex was whistling in the back of the auditorium and Lieutenant Sari
Newace7 threw some fruit at Cygnus, laughing. It was all fun and games; a
celebration and a kind of happiness that Cygnus hadn’t felt in a long
time.
A select
few awards were presented to a select few legatees and Admiral Glass made
the announcement that such a celebration would occur annually. Since
Harlo and Dexxa had not attended the ceremony, Cygnus noticed immediately
that something was out of the ordinary. Only one place jumped to his mind
where they may have been. Stunsabre training room. They often fought even
though Dexxa, despite his determination, simply couldn’t win. Cygnus
found it quite humorous.
The path
to the training room was a long one, but Cygnus had a good enough supply
of energy for it. It was well worth it to him anyway; Dexxa was usually
taken down in some unusual and embarrassing way. Cygnus would just lean
back and laugh, laugh and laugh.
Planet
Castleguard I was built around a cold, lifeless planet called Hurcha, in
the Churba star system. It certainly didn’t bowl over the planet like
some giant hat in space, but it was built around like the rings of the
planet. The completed design was to be built with ten platform space
stations, each serving their own purpose. One of which was the main
operations of Antioch Fi’s Jedi Academy, which was conveniently the
location of the stunsabre training room, where Harlo and Dexxa were no
doubt having their fun.
What
wasn’t so convenient about it was that Cygnus was at Platform A, the main
station, and the Jedi Academy’s platform was located on platform D. The
conduit train system that was going to be used for quick and easy
transportation between platforms wasn’t completed yet and anyone who
wished to transfer from station to station would be required to walk the
distance of each station, then take a cart through the tubes connecting
each platform.
Thus began
Cygnus’ walk. People greeted him in the halls of Platform A as he made
his way to the centre of the structure where the tube ran through. Sari
Newace7 stopped him just before he entered the conduit. “Congratulations,
Billy,” she said. “I was hoping you would like to join me for a drink in
the cafeteria on Platform B.”
“Well, if
you’re willing to come with me to D, I will happily stop at Platform B on
the way back,” Cygnus said, opening the terminal into the conduit. “I’m
meeting up with Harlo and Dexxa. I assume that they’re at the lightsabre
training facility again. Have you ever watched them duke it out?”
Sari
smiled. “Are they enemies lately? We aren’t talking real
lightsabres now, are we?”
“No, no.
Harlo noticed some sort of Jedi potential in Dexxa a few years back
and it hasn’t been treated seriously ever since. He’s got some weak Force
ability, I guess, but he’s never been able to compete with Harlo. Their
stunsabre duels are real fun to watch, nonetheless. Dexxa got some pretty
good reflexes for a guy of his“
“Which
platform is this? D?” she said, barging in on Cygnus’ sentence.
“Yes. D,”
he replied. “Care to join me?” Cygnus held out his hand.
“Certainly,”
she answered, “if you promise me that drink on the way back.”
Cygnus
nodded and they stepped through the conduit entrance gate. The cart that
was used to transport people from platform to platform wasn’t much of a
cart at all. In most peoples’ minds, a cart traveled much slower. It took
approximately two-and-a-half minutes for the cart to get from one station
to the next; an impressive feat considering the diameter of the planet
compared to Castleguard on a whole.
Sari sat
in a chair opposite Cygnus and a dome closed over the six-seat structure.
The view from inside was worth the two-and-a-half minutes, however. A
cluster of stars that was very near the Churba system could be seen in a
luminous vapor that seemed to light up the sky. The nebula spilled over
into a series of constellations that had become familiar to Newace7 after
her many trips from platform to platform.
The trip
to Platform D ended without much conversation between stops at each
preceding station. When they opened the exit door from the conduit,
Antioch Fi went running by at a speed that just about exceeded the range
of Cygnus’ voice. “Antioch!” he shouted. The Jedi turned around and
jogged back. He was breathing heavily. “What’s wrong?”
“Big crowd
is gathered at the sabre training chamber. Dexxa locked himself inside
with Harlo and the closest anyone can get to them is in the viewing
benches outside the dome! Something is going on and it might be serious!
I have to get down there!” Antioch turned and bolted down the hallway.
Sari and Cygnus followed after and eventually caught up with Antioch.
When the Jedi Knight opened the door, he wasn’t concerned enough with
politeness to let Cygnus and Newace7 in first.
The crowd
was large. Cygnus didn’t care, though. He had been more of a friend to
Harlo than anyone else in this room. He barged through the masses and
violently pushed people out of the way until he could get as close as
possible to the training chamber. The stunsabre training room itself was
made of thick, translucent walls that rose to three metres in height. The
floor was blanketed in rubber mats and several varieties of stunsabres
dangled from hooks along the thick glass walls.
When
Cygnus made it to the wall, he could see very clearly inside, despite the
fingerprints left on them by impatient spectators. Cygnus pressed his
forehead against the wall to see what the commotion was about. Whereas
most of Dexxa and Harlo’s duels were all for fun and pursuing their joke
of a rivalry, this one seemed different.
Dexxa was
attacking full-force and Harlo, no matter how long they had been going at
it, had not adapted to this style. Usually he was smiling, but today he
looked scared. Dexxa had the advantage on him and he wasn’t even a Jedi.
Neither of them appeared happy.
Harlo
pulled his weapon to the side and tried to stop the duel, but Dexxa
continued advancing, swiping high and low. Harlo was able to fend for
himself, but he still appeared frightened or at least shocked. Dexxa
jabbed three times, quick and short. All three Harlo was able to dodge by
shifting his hips. Harlo brought his own blade up and over Dexxa’s head
and struck at his horizontal beam. He was thrown off balance and even
though he had the opportunity, Harlo did not hit Dexxa.
“You had
your chance, Harlo!” Cygnus heard him say. “Too bad.” With all the fury
he could’ve ever imagined come out of Dexxa, the once friendly Rebel
officer charged Kenneth Harlo. Hard strikes smacked left and right into
Harlo’s own stunsabre blade. He misjudged one defense, however, when
Dexxa spun around and transferred his stunsabre to the opposite hand he
was striking with. Dexxa’s fist came crashing into Harlo’s ribcage and
his lungs gave out on him.
Harlo bent
over and clutched his stomach, dropping his stunsabre to the mats. Dexxa
smiled. But it wasn’t a kind of smile Cygnus had ever seen out of him
before. His eyes seemed to glow with a malevolent flare. He gripped his
stunsabre in both hands tightly and drew back. Cygnus saw what was
coming, and Harlo was still hunched over and short of breath. “Dexxa,
no!” Cygnus called, slamming his fists into the vitreous walls. Dexxa
turned his head to Cygnus and smiled even wider.
He held
his stunsabre high over his head and threw the strength of his arms down
and up in one quick motion. The white blade smashed into Harlo’s jaw and
the Jedi’s body was thrown backwards into the wall, unconscious. Antioch
was banging on the entrance to the training chamber, unable to get
through.
Dexxa left
Harlo behind, bleeding profusely at the jaw. He walked over to the
hangings on the wall and casually picked up his utility belt, wrapping it
around his waist. Antioch still waited at the doorway to the training
room as Dexxa unhooked his real lightsabre from the belt. But now it was
different. A black chrome had been painted over certain areas and even
Cygnus could notice this.
Everyone
in the room was silent as Dexxa sauntered towards the controls to open
the door to the chamber. When the switch was pulled, Antioch was
instantly inside, his lightsabre drawn and ready. He attacked first, not
a common thing for the Jedi to do, but Dexxa’s reflexes were evidently
improved. His energy blade was ignited and held up horizontally to defend
Antioch’s powerful downward strike.
His beam
was different, too. Dexxa smiled as Antioch looked straight at him in
awe, then back at the radiant red blade that stopped his attack. Before
anyone could say anything, or do anything, Dexxa had already began
running. He was out of the stunsabre training room in seconds and nobody
even tried to stop him from escaping Planet Castleguard I.
Hours
later, with the permission of Grand Admiral Sienar, Cygnus and Harlo
agreed to the termination of Dexxa’s application in the Commonwealth of
Rebel Dominion 0027, not that they expected he would ever return anyway.
Stlantasmial Dexxa had turned and no one knew what persuaded him to do
so. Everyone felt awkward in the days following and news spread quickly.
Harlo was bewildered for weeks afterwards. Cygnus didn’t talk to anyone
for five days. And Sari Newace7 never got her drink.
* * * *
Schematics
had been laid out on the granite table in Castleguard’s
development-research lab. Dominic Artemius waited patiently for Grand
Admiral Sienar to return with the plans for the two incomplete platforms.
When he stepped in, he appeared distraught. “Something wrong, my friend?”
Artemius asked.
“Just
stress, Dominic. Now,” he replied, “let me see what you have here.”
“Like I
mentioned before the four-day delay of our meeting, I think I can
successfully modify the very main platform station to house the new Jedi
Council.”
“How do
you propose to do this?”
“Well,
look at the layout,” he said, guiding his fingers across some schematics
for Platform A. “The actual sphere in the middle of the platform consists
of six floors, yes? Each of the three boughs that branch from the main
sphere have two floors, most of which is taken up by hangar space. The
bottom floor of the main area consists of the generator used to power
Platform A. The second floor consists of security monitoring facilities
for Castleguard on a whole. The third floor consists of monitoring and
control of the three hangar branches on Platform A. The fourth floor is
the leisure floor, basically. Cafeterias and restaurants and games rooms
and all that. The fifth and sixth floor essentially control Planet
Castleguard I. Controls for the space stations almost fit on to the fifth
floor, did it not?” Sienar raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. We
would either have to remove some of our control to make it all fit on one
floor, or add to the power of Platform A to balance out the floors. We
chose to expand, which is why the sixth floor is now occupied,” Sienar
replied. “But how can you make a Jedi Council chamber out of this?”
“Simple,”
Artemius said smiling. “Create a seventh floor.”
“That’s
not possible, Dominic.”
“Well, not
necessarily an entire new floor, but another level.”
“Level is
synonymous with floor, Dominic.”
“No,
that’s not what I mean.” Artemius sighed and pulled another diagram from
the portfolio he had brought with him. “There is an elevator at the very
extreme end of the sixth floor, right? From the sixth floor, it only goes
down, of course.”
“Yes.”
“Suppose
we modify this elevator to take it up one more level. However, the
elevator shaft would be very small and need virtually no supporting walls
to encase it. I’m not building a new floor, but I would like to build the
Jedi Council area above the sixth floor, if you catch my drift,” Artemius
said, doing his best to word it in a way that would make sense to someone
else. Sienar looked at him strangely and Dominic sighed. “Alright,
picture this, if the diagram can’t help you: build a narrow elevator
shaft at the top of the sixth floor and imagine it connected to
absolutely nothing as of yet. Separately, build a Jedi Council chamber
and a much larger ‘entrance room,’ which actually acts as just one big
gate or bridge to the actual Council chamber. I’ll explain the entrance
room later. Now, on the bottom of the entire Jedi Council structure, put
some supporting poles that connect to the outside of the sphere in the
centre of Platform A. This makes the Jedi Council area hover above
everything else, without building a new floor. The elevator shaft simply
connects itself to the bridge which is in the entrance room, which leads
to the actual Jedi Council chamber.” Sienar thought for a moment and
created a mental picture of what this would look like.
“Dominic,”
Sienar said, leaning back in his chair. “Why are you a Jedi?”
“Well“
“Don’t
answer that.” Sienar smiled. “The point I’m trying to get across is that
you probably could’ve made it as an architect.”
“Does this
mean you’ll do it?”
“You build
the Council and I’ll build their bedroom,” Sienar replied and chuckled.
“Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
* * * *
Phadrax
Monovial’s dark cloak was plainly visible in the daylight on the planet
Iridium. Located just outside the Churba star system, it made easy access
for his newfound information source. One week prior, Monovial had
colonized Iridium under the name of the Interstellar Sith Allegiance
personally. Brute force won his position as despot over the land on
Iridium and one person stood in the way.
Stlantasmial
Dexxa had been assigned the project of preventing Imperial colonization
efforts of Iridium when the first distress signal came in to Planet
Castleguard I. When he arrived, Monovial had already begun his rampage.
Such was the skill of Monovial to be able to take on a mediocrely strong
army by himself. Dexxa was the only surviving witness.
It
impressed him. The fact that Phadrax Monovial’s skill had grown to the
point where he was able to defend himself and the entire Imperial
colonization squadron against the Blaster fire of more than a hundred men
was very impressive indeed. Dexxa knew this and perhaps that hinted
towards his plan. He claimed that his position in the Rebel Dominion
wasn’t fulfilling enough and he wanted more. Or maybe he just wanted to
train under one such as Monovial and learn his ways. Dexxa could do a lot
with a power like that. All of who he thought to be his friends deserved
punishment. Or at least this is what he believed.
The
shuttle came in at dusk. Dexxa had escaped Planet Castleguard I on a
Tyderian Shuttle from Platform D. The arrangement made one week ago had
Monovial make a rare exception in sparing Dexxa’s life, because he too,
as Harlo did, saw much potential in his abilities. Unlike most registered
members of STAFF, Dexxa would, along with his training from Sabreeth,
receive personal, one-on-one training from Monovial himself.
Dexxa
stepped off of his shuttle and approached Monovial. He was very direct
before saying anything of relevance. “How shall I address you?”
“Whatever
you think suitable,” Monovial replied. “I do suggest, however, that your
addressing of me is one of respect. I will not be easy on you, Dexxa.
Understand that now. If you can’t handle what I’m going to throw at you,
you will be killed here and now.”
“I am
ready,” Dexxa said firmly.
“Ready
isn’t the key. How did you get ready?” Dexxa didn’t answer. “You didn’t,
did you? Nobody gets ready for anything. You just assume that you have
the resilience and the endurance to live through the training I am going
to give you the burden of.”
“I am
ready,” Dexxa repeated slowly.
“I have
attempted to train over a dozen apprentices, Dexxa. One of those
apprentices has survived my training. It’s not a matter of being able to
endure my training. You have to survive. I repeat this once more: all but
one of those who have taken up this training has died!” Monovial
seemed angry and had no reason to be. Perhaps he was doubting Dexxa, or
perhaps he was making sure Dexxa didn’t doubt him. “Tell me now, Dexxa.
Is this something that you can handle? Are you willing to die trying?
Tell me now.”
Dexxa
draped a dark cloak over his own shoulders that he had folded over his
arm throughout the duration of the conversation. He ran his hand through
his black hair and the cloak rippled in the wind. “Master,” he said
quietly, “I say once more…I am ready!”
* * * *
Dominic
Artemius had done his research. It took time and patience and probably
summed up to the most difficult mission he had ever assigned himself. Or
at least the most difficult peaceful mission he had ever acquired. Grand
Admiral Sienar allowed him to obtain the use of a ship and all the fuel
necessary to find what he hoped to be ten Jedi Masters that had retired
from the Academy even before Antioch obtained presidency.
His first
target was the Adega system, known for the prominence of Jedi Knights
ever since the ancient Jedi Order. It is likely that the Jedi have a
history here due to the origin of Adega crystals, used in the making of
ancient lightsabres. In present day, the crystal is usually replaced by a
different natural jewel, or sometimes even artificial. Nonetheless, the
Jedi still remain bountiful on the main planet of Ossus.
When seen
through the viewscreens of the ship, the Adega system was unique in
comparison to most. Eight planets resided in the solar system and orbited
the twin suns in a figure-eight trajectory. Ossus itself continued to
grow larger in through the viewscreen and Artemius had prepared for his
hunt for the Jedi Masters of the galaxy.
He wasn’t
sure where to go first. He once thought that the Great Jedi Library would
be a good place to look at first, but then changed his mind. One of the
oldest Jedi buildings from thousands of years ago was still standing. It
was an old Jedi meditation chamber. The gates to the yard that was built
around it creaked, but it seemed as though it were visited frequently,
nonetheless.
The stone
structure that encased the chamber was a victim of erosion. Several holes
were visible in the walls and some of the foundation had crumbled to the
ground. Artemius felt something. It was definitely a strong emission of
the Force from somewhere. He didn’t doubt that the feeling was coming
from inside that chamber.
Dominic
had never seen a Rodian Jedi before, nevermind a Rodian Jedi
Master. As he opened the door to the chamber, the first of its
kind was right there before him. Artemius wasn’t sure until now if the
Rodians even had a Force ability. The one cloaked before him was hovering
cross-legged in the centre of the chamber, beams of light shining just
past his body from the holes in the walls.
The Rodian
had his head bowed, but noticed Dominic regardless. “Schiquito verran
loweria, sirra,” he said in his own language. Dominic didn’t speak
Rodian, but hoped for the best through metaphysical communication.
Artemius
sent a series of images and universally understandable pictures through
ripples in the Force so as to introduce himself. What he got back could
only be translated as another peaceful introduction. But then came a
surprise. “I also speak Basic. Perhaps that would be easier for you,” the
Rodian said. Dominic smiled and nodded. “My name is Slei-To and as you
have no doubt conjectured, I am a Jedi.”
“I need to
know of any Jedi Masters residing on Ossus. I assume that you would have
ties to some that have retired from the Jedi Academy, do you not?”
“Many.”
Slei-To’s Basic was accented heavily, but still discernible.
“I
would’ve looked at the actual Academy before coming here, but it seems
that no Jedi Masters still train there. All of them have retired to their
own planets.”
“Why do
you seek Jedi Masters, may I ask?” Slei-To asked, bringing himself to his
feet.
“I intend
to rebuild the Jedi Council of the old Republic.”
“There is
no Republic for a rebuilt Jedi Council to work under,” the Rodian
replied.
“I
disagree. The Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027 has the Jedi Academy
working on their side, and that leaves them no reason not to assist in
giving a home to the Council. This will also win them support from a
number of planets throughout the galaxy. The Rebel Dominion may have
power yet. It is an everlasting war, you know,” Artemius explained.
“True.”
Slei-To didn’t say a great deal more, but did escort Dominic around
various villages and townships that housed a few Jedi Masters. None were
stable enough and fit the characteristics that he was looking for,
though. Only one. One Jedi Master was responsible enough and fitting
enough for a position on the new Council.
Slei-To
had officially become the second member of the rebuilt Jedi Council by
the end of the day. They left Ossus in the morning and made their way
towards Ord Mantell, a planet that many of the other Jedi of Ossus had
mentioned when asked about their peers.
* * * *
Lotaan’s
job was made easier thanks to Monovial’s latest apprentice. Stlantasmial
Dexxa knew where the Rebel Dominion was located and knew exactly where
Grand Admiral Sienar’s quarters were. Now the problem was getting into
Planet Castleguard I.
The
Divinity was small, but still equipped with a cloaking device that
had cost him a fair amount. It was probably the most he had ever spent on
his ship, because he preferred to rely on a more direct means of getting
inside of places.
He was
only two kilometres away from Castleguard and so far had not been
detected, even by the fighters and freighters that passed by him and into
the hangars of the space station. It was an obscure sight to see. Eight
platform space stations that were connected by long conduits between each
station surrounded the entire dead planet of Hurcha. The ring around the
planet was not completed, which suggested that there could be a few more
platforms to build yet.
Lotaan
thought it best to pilot his ship to the other side of the planet, where
the remaining platforms were being constructed. It seemed to be the place
on Castleguard that was not so tight on security. The ring formed by the
conduits from each platform was nearly complete and another platform
space station was being built around it. Only the core appeared to be
completed and Lotaan didn’t see any place to land his craft. Not until he
fell into Hurcha’s orbit.
The
trajectory of Hurcha’s orbit pulled Lotaan’s ship on the inside of
Castleguard, where he could see the incomplete platform from another
angle. At this angle, he could see one of the hangars that they had begun
to build. How fortunate, he thought, and then the Divinity
pulled out of Hurcha’s orbit and moved in towards the hangar.
Dexxa had
offered to come along on the bounty hunter’s trip to Planet Castleguard
I, but Lotaan turned him down. He preferred independence in his work. It
gave him less to worry about. And in a place such as this, there was no
telling how many other distractions there were to be paying attention
to.
Two Rebel
officers were watching as the Divinity touched down on the hangar
of the ninth platform, which was far from completion. So far from
completion that the entire platform, or what there was of it, appeared to
be no more than a small bowl with an even smaller spoon projecting from
inside.
When the
landing cycle was completed, Lotaan knew that he had to dispose of the
Rebel officers quickly if he was going to make it to Castleguard’s main
platform unnoticed. These two were the only security that the platform
had. The rest of the workers were all on construction. Lotaan thought
poorly on the part of the Rebel Dominion to make this so easy for him.
The Rebel
officers were armed and waiting at Lotaan’s exit ramp on the
Divinity. When it opened and nobody came out, they knew something
was wrong and began taking slow steps backwards. The two officers looked
at each other and nearly instantaneously, one of them lost sight of the
other as Lotaan’s throwing knife went from his hand and into the
officer’s left eye. The remaining officer turned to run as his partner
dropped to the ground. Lotaan sprinted out from the shadows behind the
exit ramp and after the officer.
As he ran,
he quickly hit the switch on his left forearm cuff and heard the hum of
the magnet activating at his wrist. He separated his hands, catching up
speed and making sure the garrote wire didn’t attach sooner than he
hoped. The Rebel officers was only two metres ahead of him and tried one
last attempt at surviving the encounter with Lotaan.
The
officer turned around and fired blind shots with his blaster, hoping that
the path of the gun was accurate to the path of the shots. But Lotaan had
jumped. Lotaan jumped higher than he had in a long time and turned upside
down in the air, half-twisting as he looked at the ground below him. For
just one brief second, he was eye-to-eye with the officer, despite the
fact that he was upside down. Before he could flip the entire rotation,
Lotaan connected his wrists and the magnet pulled the garrote wire tight.
As he completed the rotation, Lotaan wrapped the wire around the
officer’s neck and pulled. He landed surprisingly softly on the steel
ground, but used all of the strength in his arms to tighten the grip that
the garrote had around the officer’s neck.
When the
officer stopped struggling, Lotaan let go and the body fell to the floor.
He turned around, holding that same officer’s blaster in his hand. All of
the construction workers that had witnessed the two assassinations were
looking at Lotaan, some crying and the rest frightened. All had their
hands held high in the air.
* * * *
Bounty
hunters were commonplace on Ord Mantell, but Artemius, nor anyone on the
planet, could ever remember seeing a Jedi. Slei-To accompanied Dominic
through various villages and the light in the evening was plentiful due
to the numerous moons that surrounded the planet. The villages were
usually where a Jedi Master would reside to slow life down, but they were
forced to check the cities anyway.
A wealthy
city called Erennie in a southern continent of Ord Mantell seemed to be
where Artemius’ intuition guided him. The city was recognized by its rows
and rows of estates that belonged to the richest on the planet. The homes
were all white in color and were built up the side of a mountain that the
rest of Erennie was built around.
As he did
on Ossus, Dominic’s sense of a strong presence in the Force increased and
decreased wherever he went. But when it got stronger, it seemed like a
haze was around him in the atmosphere and he felt cold when that haze
disappeared. Slei-To followed that same instinct and they made their way
to a school yard, probably the place they lease expected they could end
up.
Artemius’
first thought was that the presence they were feeling was that of some
child Jedi prodigy and that they definitely shouldn’t ignore it. The
school yard had all kinds of kids playing with toys and on a playground
with electric swings taking them back and forth as they giggled. One
child caught Slei-To’s eye.
She wasn’t
in the school yard, but she was standing outside of the school property,
leaning against the fence and looking in at all of the other children.
She looked to be about six or seven and appeared particularly poor for a
resident of this city. What stood out is that she was crying. In a place
where everyone was having such a great deal of fun, a little girl was
crying.
One
teacher who was supervising the area came and met up with Dominic and
Slei-To. “Can I help you two?” he asked. The man was just taller than
Artemius, but evidently older as what remained of his grey hair rippled
in the breeze.
“Do you
know anything about the little girl over at the fence there?” Slei-To
said, pointing over at her.
“Hmmmmno,
I don’t think I do. By the looks of it, though, that appears to be her
mother.” Artemius hadn’t noticed the woman standing on the street. She
seemed to be completely ignoring the girl and he wasn’t sure how the
teacher made such an assumption. “I’ll be right back.” The teacher walked
outside of the gates to the school yard and over to the little girl.
Artemius and Slei-To followed.
The
teacher walked over to the woman on the street and tapped her shoulder.
“What?” she said quickly, spinning around to face him. She seemed awfully
jittery and apprehensive about something.
“Is this
your daughter, madam?” the teacher asked. She nodded and then looked
behind her, down the street and back at the teacher. “She seems to be
crying over something. Does she go to school?"
“No, she
can’t.”
“Why not?”
“II have
too much to worry about.” The woman looked down the street again and
nervously glanced at her daughter.
“More to
worry about than her education? She seems to long for the chance to go to
school.” The teacher was being as polite as he could on the subject and
managed to stay away from sounding too intrusive.
“I have to
worry about her life,” the woman told him. “How is she supposed to get an
education without a life, huh?” The woman looked down the street again
and a speeder was heading her way. “Oh, no,” she said to herself, running
past the teacher and picking up her daughter, who was still crying. “He’s
late, he’s too late!”
“What’s
the matter?” the teacher asked.
“I need a
place to hide! Please, find me a place to hide!” she started yelling. The
speeder came closer and closer until it became noticeable that there was
more than one speeder. In fact, there appeared to be a train of five or
six.
“To hide
from what?” he asked.
“No time
to explain, I just need a place to hide!” Artemius and Slei-To were both
alarmed and they knew that something was most definitely wrong. “Get all
of the kids inside!” All of the children weren’t in such a panic as she,
but her fright had caught their attention, and every single child that
was playing in the school yard were all leaned up against the small fence
that the girl had been looking through. It was made of a wire mesh and
very little material that could count for getting them inside. “Get them
inside!”
The
speeders all came to a sudden halt and some swerved into a position that
revealed their true nature. Through the open windows and mounted on the
back were blasters of every kind and they began firing immediately.
“Run!” the teacher shouted, but the woman was too late. The very first
shot that was fired hit her in the back and she fell to the
sidewalk.
Blaster
fire began blanketing the school yard, seemingly trying to hit the
children, but more specifically the child of the woman who had been taken
down. And while the laser fire did try to get through, Dominic Artemius
and Slei-To were there already, and not one shot got by them. Both of
their lightsabres defended the entire school yard and they moved back and
forth to deflect shots at an immeasurably fast speed.
With an
enhanced ability to discern everything around them, both Artemius and
Slei-To noticed something, but not even they could truly tell what it
was. A blur, even faster than the two Jedi Masters whipped by and through
the school yard, then disappeared into the school. Then it came again,
and it seemed that the children were starting to disappear. It became
clearer to them when they paid attention to the path of that blur.
Someone was helping them rescue the children and get them inside.
Artemius
and Slei-To continued defending the position of the school yard until the
children could be brought inside the school and away from the danger.
When the last child had been brought into the school, Artemius and
Slei-To moved closer to the speeders and tried to get more on the
offensive side of things.
The two
Jedi Masters were given an extra hand by another who had his lightsabre
ignited and ready as soon as he returned from rescuing the children. The
teacher, whom they had spoken to before, was now fighting on their side
and using a weapon of their kind. It was no child prodigy after all.
Slei-To
disabled three of the speeders by himself and the teacher took the
remaining two. Artemius defended both of their positions as they did so.
When everything slowed down and it was quiet again, the proper
authorities were called to apprehend those attackers that survived the
strife.
Crowds had
gathered in the streets, wondering what was going on and some worried
about the children in school, especially their own. What gathered more
attention than the destroyed speeders or police cars was the three Jedi
standing over the wreckage, lightsabres still ignited. All of them were
breathing hard and sweating profusely. Artemius turned to the teacher and
asked, “who are you?”
The
teacher smiled. “I’m Linx Freewayler and I’m a teacher at South Erennie
Elementary School. Who are you, and who were they?”
“Well, we
know that you are more than just a teacher, Linx,” Slei-To said.
“We are two Jedi out searching the galaxy for people like you.”
“What are
you looking for? Teachers? Or other Jedi?”
“Jedi
Masters, to be specific,” Artemius said. “We know that there is no code
to go by right now that can discern whether that title of Master
really means anything. We just assume based on the power that we can
sense. You, sir, do fit that category.”
“And why
are you looking for Jedi Masters, then?”
Artemius
deactivated his weapon and held out his hand. “I am Dominic Artemius, a
Jedi under the service of the Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027 that
have provided me with the opportunity to be leading an operation to
rebuild the Jedi Council of the old Republic. I invite you, Linx
Freewayler, to join us and become the third member of our reborn
Council.”
It took
Linx four days to finally decide to join Dominic and Slei-To. He had
established a prestigious reputation as a teacher in Erennie and the
entire process of bidding farewell to everyone he knew took half that
time.
The group
of five speeders that attacked were a terrorist group out of Ord Mantell
known as the Lacerotte. They were hunting down the woman and her
daughter after they accidentally lost control in the street, causing an
accident between their speeders. The woman originally offered to pay any
damages, but the Lacerotte weren’t happy about it and nearly
killed her on the spot just for vehicle damages. She had been grabbed by
the throat but eluded the original attacker and quickly got inside her
speeder. In self-defense, she accelerated forward and hit the
Lacerotte member as he drew up a blaster rifle from his side. The
man was killed on the impact of the ground and since then, the
Lacerotte terrorist group had been after her for days. She
couldn’t even go home. Now that they were apprehended, she had moved into
the home that Linx once lived in.
Linx
Freewayler obviously didn’t wear his cloak, nor his lightsabre, in
public. It wouldn’t be too customary for a teacher to do. However, he
kept his lightsabre in a hidden drawer underneath the desk he taught
under, just in case.
The three
Jedi Masters left Ord Mantell for one of the planet’s small spaceport
moons for a day of rest, and then they were back on their feet, in search
of more potential candidates in the field of mastery in the Jedi
arts.
* * * *
The
conduit cart system that interconnected the platforms of Planet
Castleguard I was a useful and efficient system. However, Lotaan again
pointed out in his mind that it was not secure. Not a single security
device was inside the actual carts, nor did anyone patrol the stations at
which it stopped. It made his trip ambiguously easy.
His
original idea as to getting into the main chambers of the Grand Admiral
was through the ventilation shafts, a plan which he had outlined on the
blueprints while at STAFF discussing his mission with Monovial. However,
it now seemed that to be an unlikely procedure, as the ventilation shafts
were far too narrow for him to get inside. Lotaan always had a backup
plan resting in the back of his mind somewhere, though. He took the
mundane approach.
A gate
that separated the conduit from a hallway on the main platform of
Castleguard housed no security, as he had come to expect. He hid himself
behind a convenient wall where he could see everyone in the corridor and
they couldn’t see him. When the hall had cleared, only very briefly, one
person remained in the passage. Very quickly, Lotaan slid out of the
conduit’s miniature lobby and gripped the Rebel officer by the throat.
The man couldn’t speak or make any noise whatsoever to assuage Lotaan’s
strength.
The bounty
hunter threw the officer sideways and into the cart of the conduit tube.
He sat there, helpless and disheveled at blaster point. When Lotaan
fired, he thought he heard the Rebel officer start to scream as the
blaster bolt exploded on his skull. But it was quiet in no time at all.
When
Lotaan emerged into the hallway again, he was dressed inconspicuously as
a Rebel officer of a low rank, and the cart was making its way around
Planet Castleguard I with not a singe living thing inside.
* * * *
STAFF had
grown in popularity at a rapid rate, and more and more people who
disliked the Jedi Academy’s methodical, taut ways had turned. Sabreeth
gave freedom to his students and those students appreciated that. But
this was only freedom in the variety of things that they wished to train
for. It was less systematic than the Jedi Academy, but far more strict.
He
expected that maybe one day, when word got out that far, perhaps some of
the Eleven would join him. He thought that they would be excellent
trainers for a facility such as this and since they followed his same
style, they would adapt well to the job and be able to teach all of the
students the very same objectives that the position called for without
bending their original ways all that much.
Phadrax
Monovial had a different style, though. As much as he had trained
Sabreeth, never had any of Monovial’s own technique rubbed off; Sabreeth
had only improved, not changed. Monovial came into STAFF’s large training
area long after the hours of its closing and the Sith Apprentices that
worked there had gone to their respective sleeping chambers. The
difference on one particular evening was that he was accompanied;
accompanied by Dexxa.
Sabreeth
never knew what to think of Stlantasmial Dexxa. It wasn’t jealousy. He
wasn’t jealous, and never had been before, never intending to be in the
future. Sabreeth, over a long term of being loyal to Monovial, had
acquired a position of his personal guardian. When Sabreeth wasn’t at
STAFF, he was with Monovial, rarely saying anything, but simply
there.
Dexxa and
Monovial had the entire gym to themselves to work on practice of the dark
side of the Force. Sabreeth stood at the head of the gym and watched at
the visually smaller figures work on various offensive Force techniques.
Monovial
appeared to be doing this not only for the training of Dexxa, but to get
his mind off of other things. He had sent Lotaan Xta Santau to Planet
Castleguard I and had probably be worried about that. He didn’t fully
trust Lotaan; bounty hunters only stayed where the money was. And
although it was unlikely, it could’ve been possible that the Rebel
Dominion would offer him a greater payoff for confidential Imperial
information. But Monovial thought that not even an expanding organization
such as this commonwealth could afford to exceed Monovial’s substantial
credit prerogative.
As the
first Sith Master in his reborn race, Monovial had planned many things
involving a permanent extinction of the Jedi Order as well. His life
didn’t completely revolve around operating the Interstellar Sith
Allegiance, although he sometimes wished it did; it would make him much
less busy. He had always kept a curious eye on the progression of STAFF,
hoping that it was a good investment. He kept a close eye on the training
of Dexxa, hoping that he would become the powerful ally that he had hoped
for. He didn’t expect that his talent would exceed the skill of Sabreeth,
but if he strived for it, Dexxa couldn’t possibly do poorly.
Unlike
such rivals of the past Galactic Civil War, Phadrax Monovial couldn’t
care less about the whereabouts, personality traits or decision-making
methods of Grand Admiral Leonardo Sienar. He had felt a stronger rivalry
towards the Empire’s previous leader, Militiades than he had to Sienar.
Monovial just didn’t want to find time for it. He had more important
things to think about than meaningless competition.
Monovial
did truly believe that he had improved over the system of the former
Empire. The ISA had created a great expansion in starfleet technology and
the quantity of those working under Imperial control. Strangely, Monovial
claimed to have respected his workers and all of those that were under
him, but he didn’t care if any were killed right before his eyes, or even
by Monovial himself.
This is
what made Phadrax Monovial unique to everyone around him. He was unlike
Sabreeth, but they made an admirable duo despite their differences.
Monovial intentionally trained Sabreeth to be different. He was out to
prove that creativity did exist and not everything had to be taught to be
learned. This is also what he hoped for Dexxa. He was training Dexxa with
the same training methods as Sabreeth, but a different attitude towards
it all. If Dexxa could turn out to be different than Monovial and
different than Sabreeth, he had succeeded. Monovial hoped for four
different types of exemplary Sith Lords, but for the time being had only
his trio.
He trained
with Dexxa for the next eight-and-a-half hours. Both were tired when they
finished, but both were also proud of their efforts. I hope to see you
again, Dexxa thought to himself, smiling. I beat you once, Harlo,
and I can do it again. Except this time we won’t be playing with
toys.
* * * *
Forty-one
years after it had been used to end the Galactic Civil War, Jacen Solo
had happily made a home out of Endor. High above the forest floor, he had
built a long, wooden bridge that strung from branch to branch in trees
that extended fifty metres off the ground. When Luke Skywalker had
retired from the leadership of the Jedi Academy, the position was offered
to Jacen, but he didn’t accept and decided to move on with his own
training in seclusion. Before then, he had never visited the sanctuary
moon. Now he lived there.
In truth,
Jacen Solo had not seen another human being in nearly a year. Multiple
types of species had come in and out of his territory, and he had begun
documenting them, hoping to publish a unique corroboration through the
HoloNet to a library on Coruscant. Being without human contact for this
long made the appearance of three Jedi, of all people, seem out of
place. Jacen spotted them dressed in the appropriate cloak while reading
along the bridge for the afternoon.
Dominic
Artemius had gone through a lot of trouble to find out where Jacen
resided. Those left in the Rebel Dominion who had especially strong
contacts with the Solo twins and their younger brother didn’t even know
where he was. Dominic ultimately found out from Anakin Solo, whom he
found through Admiral Cygnus10.
Linx
Freewayler and Slei-To insisted on accompanying Artemius to the surface
of Endor. When they reached the tree that supported Jacen’s home,
Artemius was the first to look up. “What can I do for you?” Jacen said,
peering over the edge of the bridge near his house.
“An
invitation into your home would be a good start, Jacen,” Dominic said and
smiled. “The strain that these kinds of conversations can put on
someone’s neck is incredible.” Jacen was compliant and he slung a rope
ladder over the bridge. Minutes later, Slei-To, Linx Freewayler and
Dominic Artemius were all sitting in crafty, wooden chairs and in
conference with Jacen Solo.
“No one
has looked for me in fifteen years,” Jacen said. “And even then, it was
someone who was looking to kill me. Why are you here?”
“Very
direct, aren’t you?” Linx said. “First, I suspect that it would be better
for such strangers as us to at least introduce ourselves.” Jacen nodded
and began fiddling with a small stone carving in his hands. “My name is
Linx Freewayler. I am a Jedi Master from Ord Mantell and I was united
with my two companions only a few weeks ago.”
Slei-To’s
green skin stood out against the dark wood that the chair was made of.
When he spoke, Jacen was also surprised to learn that he spoke Basic. “I
am Slei-To, from Ossus in the Adega System. I joined this trio just
before Linx.”
The roots
of Dominic’s graying hair could be seen as a sudden gust of wind blew
through the patio where they all sat. “I am Dominic Artemius, a Jedi
Master that has worked under the order of both the New Republic and the
Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027. Before you had even become famous
around the galaxy, Jacen, I had taken on an apprentice that you may
recognize by name if you’ve done your research. When you were eight years
old, I began training Ilyssis Pico“
“That name
does ring a bell!” Jacen said. “I must’ve read about him somewhere.
Apparently, he was quite the Jedi. I sort of lost touch with what was
happening around the Jedi Order later on. He was one of the last people I
read about.”
“The word
that he was around did spread quickly. After he freed the slaves on Alzoc
III he became quite popular with everyone.” Dominic smiled and looked up
at the sky.
“So, how
did he do? How is he now?” Jacen asked.
Artemius
was hesitant and he let out a long sigh before looking back down at
Jacen. “I assume you are familiar with Phadrax Monovial, yes?”
“Aren’t we
all?”
“When he
was twenty years old, Pico died at the blade of Phadrax Monovial...”
Jacen fell silent and even Slei-To appeared to be unaware of this
information. The word of Pico’s death didn’t spread like Artemius had
expected it to. Good news was more popular it seemed.
“Well, I
thank you for the introduction,” Jacen said slowly. “And why did you come
here, again?”
“I haven’t
gotten to that.” Artemius stood up from his chair. “I have sought and
obtained permission from the head of the Rebel Dominion, Grand Admiral
Leonardo Sienar, to rebuild the Jedi Council of the old Republic. For the
past month or so, I have been searching around the galaxy for members to
join“
“Wait a
minute,” Jacen interrupted, “are you going to ask me to join? I don’t
think so. I am not a Jedi Master. I never pursued my training far enough
to be granted that honour of being on a council, of all things.”
“I didn’t
think so, Jacen. However, your sister has relayed some much more valuable
information to us. You trained a Jedi known only as Spurlhio, who
eventually trained herself to be much better than what you became. Am I
right?”
“You are,”
Jacen replied, interested in the effort that this trio of Jedi had gone
through to search him out. “Spurlhio comes by here everyday because she
believes that she is indebted to me for life.”
“How
skilled did Spurlhio become?”
“I
honestly don’t know. The last time I have seen her work with the Force
was about a year ago. It is unquestionable that she has improved since
then. But even then, her skill exceeded my own by, oh, maybe thirty
percent.”
“Would you
call her a Jedi Master?”
“I
wouldn’t doubt it. But there is no real test for that sort of thing, is
there? Nobody can officially classify a Jedi Knight as a Jedi Master
anymore.”
“That is
why this Jedi Council is being rebuilt. We’ve lost some of the
organization that we had in the glory days of the Jedi Order.”
Linx
Freewayler stepped into the conversation. “Do you know where we can find
Spurlhio?”
“Like I
said,” Jacen told them, “she comes by every afternoon. She is very proud
of being able to speak Basic, I think. That is part of her eternal debt
to me it seems. I taught her Basic over a gradual period of time.”
“I was
under the impression that Spurlhio was a human,” Slei-To said curiously.
“Oh, no.
Definitely not a human,” Jacen said chuckling. Everyone looked
confused now. It is true that not much was ever revealed about Spurlhio.
Artemius doubted that even Jaina Solo knew what species Spurlhio belonged
to.
“Alright,”
Linx said. “Enlighten us.”
“Spurlhio
is very unique for a Jedi, I assure you.” Jacen mumbled slowly.
“Are you
delaying this on purpose?” Linx said, then laughed.
“Alright,
should I really enlighten you?”
Artemius
chimed in. “We are looking for Jedi Masters and I certainly am not biased
to a certain species. If they are smart and if they are skilled, any such
Jedi will suffice.”
Jacen
smiled and stood up. As if on cue, a rustling noise came from the leaves
in the trees that surrounded and supported Solo’s house. Jacen nodded,
recognizing the noise. “Spurlhio, my curious Jedi friends,” Jacen said
slowly, “is an Ewok.” Slei-To did the best gasp a Rodian could accomplish
and Linx Freewayler’s eyes widened in surprise. Artemius sat further back
in his chair and smiled.
Just then,
a figure emerged from out the leaves of the trees and jumped on to the
railing of the bridge. Proof was before them now that Spurlhio was
an Ewok. She dressed in an intriguing rendition of the traditional Jedi
cloak, covering two-thirds of her charcoal-colored fur. Artemius had
originally thought that an Ewok in a Jedi’s uniform would look abstract
and funny, but Spurlhio emanated a strong presence.
“How much
of this conversation have you heard already?” Artemius asked the Ewok,
who seemed to grin at the question.
“When did
it start?” Spurlhio replied.
“It
started with the formal introduction of these three Jedi Masters,” Jacen
said. Spurlhio hopped off of the bridge railing and looked up at
everyone.
“Then I
guess I’ve heard all of it,” the Ewok said. “I’ve been hanging in the
tree for awhile now.” Her voice was distinctly female, another
characteristic that Artemius didn’t expect in an Ewok.
Linx
asked, “So do you understand that you have been invited to be a part of
the reborn Jedi Council, Spurlhio?” She nodded and began doing cartwheels
along the bridge railing after jumping upon it once more.
“A bit
hyper, no?” Artemius said, turning to Jacen. He nodded and laughed.
Suddenly,
an ear-piercing screech, louder than anything Artemius had ever heard
clouded the sound barrier. Slei-To, being more sensitive to noise due to
his species, fell over in his chair, clutching the sides of his head in
pain. His ears bled after the twenty seconds of noise permeated the
atmosphere.
“What was
that?” Artemius shouted. Spurlhio was climbing higher into the trees,
making her way to the canopy. “And where is she going?”
Jacen
looked dumbfounded. “If that was what I think it was, Dominic, you are
going to get a two-for-one deal on your search for Jedi Masters!” He
seemed very excited about something, and nobody else knew what. Linx
wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on now. He was tending to
the care of Slei-To, whose ears still bled profusely.
“What do
you mean?” Jacen started climbing the trees, following after Spurlhio.
Artemius followed as he began to talk.
“That was
a very distinct sound. It was a cry of help. Kind of like a distress
flare or something like that. The creatures of the Arcona species are the
only species that can do it and I know of only one individual of that
species who has ever even been to Endor.”
“Who?”
Artemius said, almost slipping on a loose vine in the trees.
“His name
is Sivolte Fan, and coincidentally, he is a Jedi Master!”
“Why would
he be calling for help?”
“Sivolte
Fan got lost in the Arbo Maze two-and-a-half years ago. Everyone thought
he was dead.” Jacen started speeding up and swinging from vine to
vine.
“The Arbo
what?” They reached the canopy of the forest and met up with Spurlhio,
who was already getting the best possible view of the top of Endor’s
forests.
“The Arbo
Maze. Look over there.” Jacen pointed to an area of trees about a hundred
metres beyond Jacen’s home. When Artemius saw it, he thought his eyesight
defied him for a moment; as if it were an optical illusion. What he saw
was the most tangled mess of trees that he could have ever dreamed of.
They intertwined as if they were manufactured, all seeming to be grown
together so tight that a dome of wood and leaves covered the entire area.
“Every single being. Every Ewok, every human, every insect that has ever
gone into the Arbo Maze, has never come out! If Sivolte Fan survived the
Arbo Maze, it will definitely be something to brag about. Where did that
call come from? Have you seen any sign of him, Spurlhio?” The Ewok shook
her head.
“I tried
tracking the noise down to a square area, but it is just too vast. I
don’t know where it came from,” Spurlhio said. Jacen was looking through
a pair of macrobinoculars for any sign of Sivolte Fan when the sound came
again. Artemius clutched his ears and Jacen winced, but Spurlhio,
although having equally sensitive hearing, continued tracking down the
sound through the macrobinoculars.
Just as
the sound ended, a beeping noise came from a small speaker in the
macrobinoculars. Instantly, Spurlhio dropped the device and it tumbled
through the branches below. The Ewok quickly dashed across the canopy
from branch to branch, not once slipping up. She disappeared beneath one
tree and the rustling of leaves was all that could be heard. She emerged
once more near the end of the forest’s canopy that led into the top of
the Arbo Maze. “Spurlhio! Don’t go in there!” Jacen shouted, but the Ewok
leapt off of her feet and dove straight down into the tangled mess of
trees that was the Arbo Maze.
Jacen
scaled the trees of the forest downwards to the moist soil at the bottom.
Artemius followed after him as he made his way to where the Arbo Maze
began on the forest floor. When they came to its start point, Dominic saw
again what the terror of this maze must’ve been. The intricate labyrinth
of branches and tree trunks formed what could almost be considered a
wall. A network of vines created a web with very little openings. If the
Arbo Maze was anything like this on the inside, he could understand why
nobody ever came out. Chances are it was worse on the inside, only
without much light to see.
Jacen
looked very distraught when he heard the sound of an animal. It sounded
vicious and roared with such a ferocity that Artemius thought the noise
even more awful than the cry of Sivolte Fan. He heard the tearing away of
branches and what could’ve been a scream. Dominic knew nothing of the
Arcona species, so he couldn’t distinguish what a scream of terror might
sound like.
Jacen Solo
reached under his tunic and drew up his lightsabre, igniting it with an
aggressively fast flick of a switch. He ran forward and gained speed
enough to run up the wall of trees a short distance, then swiping his
weapon into the wood five or six times. The blade went barely went
through the thick wood, but eventually Jacen had created a tiny passage
that he was just able to fit through. He dove through and Artemius heard
more smashing of the blade of a lightsabre into branches.
Inside the
Arbo Maze, the only light was very limited and came from the opening
Jacen had put into the tree behind him. It didn’t help much though; his
vision was blocked by more and more trees, anyway. It wasn’t hollowed out
at all. The sound of the animal he had heard did give off the impression
that it was large, but there wasn’t much room for any large animal at
all. Ahead of him, another beam of light stood out in the darkness. It
was either the energy beam of Spurlhio, or perhaps even Sivolte Fan. In
any case, the weapon was swinging wildly back and forth, seeming to be
trying to ward away something.
Jacen
swung from branch to branch, watching carefully as the lightsabre blade
got nearer to him. When he was close enough, it turned out that it was
the blade of Spurlhio and Jacen assisted her in driving away a giant
insect-like creature, known as a Mantic, from harming the reptilian Jedi
Master, Sivolte Fan, who lay badly injured on a nearby branch.
Outside of
the Arbo Maze, Dominic Artemius had already begun making his way back to
Jacen’s home very quickly. He didn’t bother using the canopy, as he found
it easier to navigate the series’ of trees that led to the rope ladder of
Solo’s home. He scaled the ladder itself faster than he could have any
tree branches. “Linx!” he called. Linx Freewayler was on the patio and
Slei-To seemed to be feeling a bit better. “I need the help of both of
you. Jacen and Spurlhio are inside that Arbo Maze fighting something and
they are doing it blindly. They need some light. Come with me!” Despite
his recent hearing disability, Slei-To was perfectly willing to help and
the three Jedi Masters were at the wall of trees to the Arbo Maze in less
than minute. All of them took deep breaths and blocked out the noises
from inside.
Artemius
stood in the centre and all of them were already sweating with deep
concentration. Just moments later, the trees started to bend. The wall
was very strong and it required the power of the Force from all three
Jedi Masters to bend them. The trunks started to break and twist,
creating a gully in the Arbo Maze that let in all of the daylight that it
could hold. Artemius looked inside the Arbo Maze and he could see
Spurlhio waving her lightsabre about. The silhouette of an insectoid
creature was trying its best to avoid the energy beam.
The Mantic
made one wrong move around a tree trunk and Jacen Solo got on his other
side, hacking into the insect’s side. The giant creature tumbled through
the branches and towards the bottom of the Arbo Maze. Spurlhio and Jacen
emerged from the much larger opening in the former wall of trees carrying
a bipedal reptilian of about two metres tall. It was Sivolte Fan, badly
beaten around the face and arms. He bled copiously and Jacen brought him
back to his home, treating the Arcona with all of the medical skill he
possessed.
Slei-To,
Linx Freewayler and Dominic Artemius stayed at Jacen’s home for a few
more days until Sivolte Fan was on his feet again and in good shape.
Dominic issued the Jedi Master with a new cloak and parts to rebuild the
lightsabre that he had lost in his time trapped in the Arbo Maze.
Three
months of seeking out Jedi Masters for the new Jedi Council had brought
Dominic five people to join him: Slei-To, Linx Freewayler, Spurlhio,
Sivolte Fan and Kabel Willard, a dwarf human who approached Artemius
shortly after the incidents on Endor. Four more positions on the Jedi
Council remained open and Dominic began moving into the Outer Rim
Territories of the galaxy map.
* * * *
Lotaan Xta
Santau had created a viable life history for a man named Wesley Drox, the
Rebel officer he had disguised himself as. Of course, in actuality,
Wesley Drox didn’t exist. Lotaan, however, had created this person to try
to get to Grand Admiral Sienar. When he came to the doors of Sienar’s
chambers, “Wesley Drox” was in a situation where he had to get by the two
guards that stood securely beside the entrance. “Hello,” Lotaan said in a
cheerful voice. “Is the Grand Admiral busy right now?”
“Why?”
“I was
told to come to him directly so I can officially register under the Rebel
Dominion. My application was lost somehow,” Lotaan said and shook his
head in a false disappointment. Wesley Drox seemed awfully disappointed
that he had to go through all this trouble to register. “So, may I please
get by if he isn’t busy right now?”
“Have you
been scheduled an appointment?”
“No. Like
I said, I was supposed to be registered an hour ago, but they have
misplaced the application. I have to come here and make sure that Grand
Admiral Sienar has record of my application. If not, then I’ll need to
write up another one. But I know that even if applications are misplaced
here, they always have record of it being gone through the system. Sienar
is the only one who has these records. So, is he busy? I can wait if he’s
busy. But if not, would you mind just letting me by?” Lotaan had never
sounded so weak in his entire life. Whereas he usually spoke boldly and
strongly, today “Wesley Drox” was acting especially trivial.
“Which
officer has been dealing with your application?” It came to Lotaan’s
attention that neither of these guards were answering his question, but
merely asking more of the.
“Admiral
Mikal Glass,” Lotaan said confidently. Now the guards were sure that this
Wesley Drox was not a fraud. Not many people knew that Mikal Glass was
the head officer who dealt with the applications of new Rebel Dominion
recruits. Except for Lotaan.
“Alright,”
the guard on the left said. “The Grand Admiral is in a meeting with
another officer right now. But he’ll be out shortly.”
“Do I have
to disarm myself to go in?” Lotaan asked, pointing to the blaster that
slung from the holster at his side.
“Of course
not. The Grand Admiral carries a weapon just like it, sir.” The guard
smiled and unlocked the door for when Sienar finished his meeting.
Ten
minutes later, the doors opened and Lotaan stood up, ready to go in and
do what he was sent to do with Grand Admiral Sienar. One problem made his
entire plan backfire. Everything went wrong when the officer who had been
meeting up with Sienar beforehand noticed Lotaan dressed in a Rebel
officer’s uniform. Major Billy Cygnus emerged from the doorway and his
eyes widened when he saw Lotaan standing before him.
Immediately,
Cygnus’ hand went to his side and he drew quicker than Lotaan did.
However, the bounty hunter had never been held at gunpoint. For the
moment, Lotaan forgot everything his mission had called for and he
remembered defeating Billy Cygnus at the Battle of Tau Sakar.
Lotaan
whipped the blaster pistol from his side past Cygnus and fired at the
Grand Admiral who ducked behind his desk just in time. In just a few
moments, Lotaan would be the target of every officer in the Rebel
Dominion. The guards that were at the door had turned their blaster
rifles on him already. Lotaan leapt into the air and sent his right foot
into Cygnus’ stomach. Turning in the air he brought his left foot up into
the face of the guard on the right. Grand Admiral Sienar drew a small
pistol from the desk and shot at Lotaan. The shot grazed the bounty
hunters forehead, but didn’t quite hit as Lotaan jumped off of his feet
again, flipping backwards in the air to kick the one standing guard in
the chin.
He was
forced to roll out of the way before Cygnus and the guards could stand
up. He began charging down the corridor. Several Rebel officers appeared
out of three doors in the corridor and shot at Lotaan as he ran by. He
jumped and twisted in the air to avoid any of the low shots. When he
landed he shot three times in less than three seconds and in three
different directions. Three officers fell.
Cygnus
began running after Lotaan, shooting in a blind rage. Lotaan turned the
corner of the corridor and hugged against the wall. Cygnus would be
turning shortly, and more Rebel officers started appearing in the
hallway. Lotaan shot left and right to defend himself, and fortunately
for him, his reflexes weren’t disappearing with his youth.
Cygnus
whipped around the corner, expecting that Lotaan had gone further down
the hallway, but he was right there. The bounty hunter rolled in behind
Cygnus, who skidded in his tracks and spun around to shoot. Lotaan had
the perfect opportunity to kill him there, but was distracted by a sound
of an air expulsion behind him. Through the corner of his eye, Lotaan saw
a the white blade of Kenneth Harlo’s lightsabre. He swiped at Lotaan’s
feet, but the bounty hunter had already jumped. While in the air, one of
Cygnus’ shots skimmed across his leg. Lotaan shot over Cygnus’ head and
hit one of the Rebel officers that shot at him from behind. He had time,
before landing, to deliver a sharp elbow to Cygnus’ chest. He didn’t have
time, however, to avoid another shot from one of many Rebel officers that
had lined up at the other end of the hallway. A blaster bolt struck him
in the shoulder, where he did have light protection from blaster fire,
but it still burnt his skin. If he winced at the pain, though, he would
be a dead man. There was no time for pain.
Lotaan ran
underneath the blade of Harlo’s lightsabre and turned another corner to
the hallway and made his way through another empty hallway. It wasn’t
empty for long. A cloud of ten Rebel soldiers lined up and aimed at
Lotaan. At the same time, Harlo turned the corner striking at Lotaan with
his lightsabre. He jumped and ducked at the strikes and just dodged a jab
that sent a hole through the wall behind him.
Lotaan
ducked and swung one of his legs underneath the other, kicking Harlo’s
kneecaps at the back. Harlo’s legs fell out from underneath him, but he
was back on his feet again. Harlo thrusted his hand out forwards and sent
a ripple through the Force. Lotaan knew it was coming and he felt himself
sail backwards, but in the air he turned his body vertically and instead
of plummeting into the wall, he braced the landing against its surface
with his feet and lunged off of the wall, right back at Harlo.
He kicked
Harlo’s lightsabre out of his leaving him able to block a surprisingly
large amount of Lotaan’s attacks with his forearms. However, when Harlo
misjudged one of these punches, Lotaan whipped underneath his arm and
backhanded the other side of his neck. Harlo fell forward and Lotaan was
running again. He had to jump over the brigade of Rebel soldiers that
still fired frenetically at him.
Another
blaster bolt sailed into the opposite shoulder as he found cover against
the wall around another corner. This time, the shot wasn’t protected by
any armour, however. The pain in his shoulder was awful, but again, he
had no time to even pay attention to it. More Rebel officers were coming
from every corner. He was surrounded, and when Cygnus spun around the
corner, Lotaan was in even more trouble.
Gathering
all his courage, Lotaan quickly mapped out the most dangerous thing he
could possibly attempt in his head. Everything around him seemed to slow
down when he finally enacted it. There were three directions he could go.
The metal corridors were all alike. The one he had come from was the
longest, and Harlo was surely still waiting for him back there, with
possibly twenty more soldiers aiming at the direction he would be running
from, provided he took that path. The hallway to his right had about
fifteen Rebel guards, some on their knees, some standing up, all pointing
their blaster rifles at him, ready to fire at the first sight of
movement. The hallway to his left was the clearest of them all. Perhaps
five Rebel officers, and now Cygnus occupied the space. They seemed to be
more skilled in some way and looked as if they didn’t intend on losing to
this one person. However, there was no end to this hallway. It was a dead
end. Almost.
The metal
wall that appeared to be a dead end was about half a metre thick and made
of a durasteel alloy. The level of this platform that he was on stood
about fifty metres above the hangar, and the hangar was just past this
wall. He had no explosives that could put a hole through this wall, nor
did he know exactly what he would land on if her jumped the fifty metres.
It would be all too likely that he would be killed from the fall. A lot
of dangerous equipment was in that hangar.
Lotaan
felt something. He didn’t know what it was, and didn’t expect to ever
know. He just knew what he could do with it. It was a sensation that made
him feel faster than everyone and made everyone seem slower than him. He
dropped the blaster pistol he was carrying and took a deep breath as the
Rebel officers began to fire. The feeling that made a fluid energy
transmit through his body.
Faster
than even Harlo could see, Lotaan bolted over to the dead end wall. He
stopped in front of the wall and felt it again. The feeling was getting
stronger and he saw the shots come to him. They seemed so slow. And he
seemed so fast. Lotaan gave a half-smile and looked at all the guards.
Cygnus saw that look and it frightened him. Never before had he seen
someone look so powerful, so bold.
Cygnus
drew his blaster and pulled another from a latch in his boot. He stood
only three metres away from Lotaan and he was firing madly, screaming
over the sound of the overly abundant laser fire. Lotaan looked right at
Cygnus and smiled wider. All of a sudden, that feeling that had engulfed
his body completely took over and for just a moment, Cygnus thought that
the bounty hunter disappeared. But he didn’t.
Lotaan Xta
Santau had turned into a blur. He moved from side to side in the three
walls that surrounded him in the hallways. No one could even make out his
figure. Laser fire plummeted into the wall behind him and the plan that
Lotaan visualized in his mind just seconds earlier began to take effect.
Cygnus
stopped firing and nearly fainted as Lotaan’s figure bounced back and
forth at lightning speed. He could see more than one figure of the bounty
hunter. Occasionally, Lotaan would stop for only a brief second, and his
static figure would shift positions and effectively dodge every shot that
came at him. When one came especially close to him, Lotaan blurred again
and lunged from wall to wall as the blaster bolts began to gradually melt
away the wall behind him.
He didn’t
feel well. He didn’t feel well at all, but he kept moving; lunging back
and forth from wall to wall, completely unable to concentrate on what he
was doing. He wasn’t being guided by anything at all, and was actually
moving back and forth at his own will. But he didn’t know how. Never
before had Lotaan been able to move even a fraction of this speed.
Everyone who was watching him thought that he was very aptly in tune with
the Force, but nobody in this room had ever even seen a Jedi Knight move
this fast. Plus, his speed continued to increase as more shots were being
fired.
Cygnus
stood up again and decided not to be afraid anymore. “Stop!” he shouted
to everyone who was taking shots at Lotaan. The entire brigade of Rebel
officers stopped and looked at him curiously. Lotaan had stopped as well,
also mindlessly gazing at Major Billy Cygnus. Cygnus was smiling
devilishly now, the heavy backpack that he wore began making energy
generation noises.
The
backpack was nothing more than a generator of power that connected
through a heavy tube to a blaster pistol which he pulled from a latch on
the back. He had designed this as the Cygnus Spaceworks G2 Omega Blaster
Pistol, the fastest handheld weapon in the Core Worlds. The generator did
nothing more than create just enough power to overload the pistol, and
the energy it built was put into a rapid plasma generator inside the core
of the pistol itself. When activated and when that trigger was pulled,
this generally small pistol fired ten shots per second.
Lotaan
stared at him and Cygnus stared back, both of them were confident that
they were going to win this battle. Cygnus knew that Lotaan was fast, but
a spray of ten shots per second, according to previous experience, could
flush a room of two hundred stormtroopers out in less than thirty
seconds.
As Cygnus
pointed the barrel of the pistol towards Lotaan’s chest, the bounty
hunter broadened his stance and shut his mouth tight, grinding his teeth
together. The veins in his forehead were bulging and sweat began to
stream down his face. Cygnus was still confident, however, and he hadn’t
been this angry in a long time.
The shots
began. Lotaan became a blurred silhouette and the spray of laser fire
triggered the only sound in those hallways. And the only sound in those
hallways was that of thousands of blaster bolts exploding on the wall
behind Lotaan Xta Santau.
Cygnus
felt like he was choking, but he kept firing, hoping that one shot would
not miss. Wishful thinking, but he knew that it was hopeless and he
couldn’t believe it. No!, he thought, getting even redder in the
face, That is not possible! It isn’t possible!! When Lotaan
stopped moving, the bounty hunter was noted as not having a single mark
on him that he had not had before facing Cygnus’ weapon.
Lotaan was
getting afraid, though. His plan was working, but he didn’t know if he
could do it. He was unsure of himself, but knew that there was no turning
back now. He could either get shot by one of these insignificant Rebel
officers, or he could suffer the worst physical damage he would ever
experience.
The plan.
It had been running through his mind, and somehow he could still focus on
dodging thousands of blaster bolts in such a congested area. It would
take a lot of courage to make it through this, but he made the final
decision.
After
being hit with so many blaster bolts, the metallic wall behind him was no
longer half a metre thick. It was probably reduced to about ten
centimetres, and this ten centimetres was soft and almost liquid from the
blaster fire. The wall had been gradually melting away as Lotaan dodged
laser fire; now it had effectively been turned into a molten wall. The
durasteel that made up the wall had mostly melted off, and Lotaan’s
courage was necessary now.
Cygnus
gestured for all of the Rebel officers in the room to step up beside him.
All of the soldiers raised their blasters, as did Cygnus with the Omega
pistol. “Fire!” he screamed and then it began. It was now impossible to
dodge this many blaster bolts, so Lotaan took a deep breath and did it.
He lunged
off of his feet backwards into the molten wall with all of the force he
could’ve put into a jump. It was soft. The metal on the wall had
virtually melted away, and now that Lotaan had jumped right into it, the
liquid durasteel molded to his back, triggering a burning sensation that
shredded every muscle in his upper body. Lotaan screamed in agony and the
muscles in his back completely gave out and exploded at the heat of the
molten metal that he had willingly dove into.
He
couldn’t put all the pain behind, but a fraction enough of it to focus on
the drop of fifty metres to the hangar floor of this platform space
station. Lotaan hit the wing of a shuttle face first. He had broken
several of his ribs, he didn’t know how many, and not a single muscle in
his upper body worked for anything. All he had left were his arms and his
legs. Not even his arms worked all too well from the shots he had taken
in the shoulders.
It took
him awhile to realize that the shuttle was moving, and that could make
his plan seriously backfire. He heard someone yelling commands and
shortly thereafter, more blaster fire was coming. Fortunately, it wasn’t
coming near hitting Lotaan because of his elevation. Someone had sent
more soldiers after him. Even in the hangar he was being chased.
Some of
the molten metal had hardened on his back muscles after melting through
his skin and the rest of the strength he had was put into his arms and
legs. Using that remaining strength, he slid his body along the surface
of the shuttle, watching as it got closer and closer to leaving the
hangar. Lotaan knew that he was about to injure himself even further, no
matter what he did to try and prevent it.
He rolled
further and further on the hull until he reached the engine area. Judging
by the distance and speed that this shuttle was traveling in order to get
out of the hangar, Lotaan had about twenty seconds to survive. The
blaster fire from the surface of the hangar wasn’t a problem, although
several shots from Billy Cygnus, who had made his way down to the hangar,
nearly hit him.
Lotaan
looked directly at the engines and he could feel the suction from them
already. Behind him, the front end of the shuttle exited the airtight
force field. Then he made his move. Cygnus fired several more shots, two
of them plummeted into Lotaan’s legs. He let out another short scream of
agony and threw his own body over the edge and towards the engines.
Cygnus could not believe it.
Lotaan
became prey to the vacuum of the bright engines, which were each twice
his size. The engines pulled on his body and the bounty hunter was sucked
inside the shuttles mechanical machinery. And he was still alive. The
machinery burnt him even further into the skin, but the actual mechanics
were large enough and widespread inside the engines so that nothing cut
him too severely.
Major
Billy Cygnus dropped his blaster with his eyes wide as the shuttle
departed. Everyone in the hangar was in shock, especially those who had
directly attacked Lotaan and failed. One person survived an onslaught of
more than two hundred different Rebel officers, all armed. In the end, it
turned out that the bounty hunter had only actually killed four of
those hundreds.
Lotaan Xta
Santau had picked a fight with Castleguard and won.
* * * *
Eight
months had passed and Dominic Artemius had his Jedi Council. In those
eight months, Planet Castleguard I’s construction was completed, and ten
Jedi Masters waited as the construction of the chamber, and the entrance
room that preceded the chamber, were just being completed.
Dominic
Artemius headed the new Jedi Council, but only took the title because it
fit the occasion. He didn’t believe himself to be the strongest of those
who sat with him on the Council, but he did make the effort to re-create
it and everyone else had voted him to be the Council President.
Linx
Freewayler was appointed as one of two Senior Council Members.
The second of the Senior Council Member positions was granted to Luke
Skywalker, the Jedi Master who had retired long ago, but was still
credited with keeping the Jedi knighthood alive.
A third subdivision in the Jedi Council was that of at least seven
Council Members. Such was the position of Slei-To, the Rodian Jedi
Master.
Spurlhio accepted that position as well, jokingly referring to the idea
of resigning from the Jedi Council if the chairs weren’t comfortable
enough.
Kabel Willard, the dwarf human seemed to be the most compliant of any of
the Council members. This was likely because of his choice to voluntarily
join the Council. He felt indebted to Artemius for being accepted, and
therefore didn’t complain about anything; not even jokingly.
Sivolte Fan, the Arcona Jedi Master that was recovered from the Arbo Maze
on Endor, had fully recovered and then some by the time Castleguard
construction workers were finishing the Council chamber area.
Gormacs Gormeesh, a Quarren Jedi Master from Calamari, took very little
of Artemius’ time in deciding if he was skilled enough for a position on
the Council. Gormeesh was particularly skilled in the operation of his
lightsabre, which had a unique blade, yellow in color. Spurlhio was the
one who truly discovered him on Mon Calamari when Artemius was relaying a
message from Grand Admiral Sienar to Admiral Ackbar, who had retired to
the water world many years ago.
The ninth chair of the reborn Jedi Council was offered to Mara Jade, but
her skill with the Force had weakened over time do to disuse of her
power. The second effort to fill that seat also backfired. Former Jedi
Academy student, Tenel Ka, joined Artemius and helped find whoever would
become the tenth member of the Jedi Council, but she resigned after
noting the complications of this type of a Jedi Order. Therefore, Dominic
decided on not looking for recognizable names to fill the ninth seat
because he had had more luck when he wasn’t searching for any particular
person.
So, Artemius continued his more traditional method of search and
discovered Celes Taleva, a thirty-eight year-old Jedi Master from Ferros
VI, accepted the position, but it took her three days to do so. It seemed
that day in and day out, something would always interrupt the
conversation that she carried out with Dominic. One of those such things
was the death of her mother, giving her reason enough to leave the planet
that she had never lived on for any other reason than her mother.
The final position on the Jedi Council was granted to Advocalacca, a
wookiee from Kashyyyk who left the planet hesitantly because of the large
family he was leaving behind. Advocalacca was know throughout nearly half
the planet for saving a large wookiee populace during the ISA’s
devastation of planets.
According
the Jedi Pandect that Artemius wrote, his Jedi Council consisted of ten
Council Members, which was merely the optimum number. If necessary, the
Council could operate at nine members, or could be expanded to eleven or
twelve.
Dominic
Artemius stood over the crystal bridge, walking across the structure with
his Jedi robes trailing behind him. Just behind those robes was the
remaining nine members of the new Jedi Council, all lined up single-file
and following their leader. The entrance room to the Jedi Council chamber
was more than just the crystal bridge that beamed under the artificial
daylight. Artificial sky lined the ceiling twenty metres above the
bridge, and twenty-five metres above the dirt floor underneath that
sprouted numerous exotic plants. The lush green spread from the floor
just high enough to be seen from the bridge.
The bridge
itself extended from the door where Artemius had entered and came to an
intersection, where the option was left up to whoever was walking to turn
left, turn right, or continue forward to the Jedi Council chamber. Taking
both the left and right extensions of the bridge led to a ring that
encircled the entire area and was firmly cemented into the wall.
The
circular path was well shaded by the trees that fell high over the
bridge. The path also extended underneath the two waterfalls that draped
over either side of the main bridge. Two more waterfalls fell over the
other side of the crystal ring near the entrance to the Council chamber.
When viewed from above, the entrance room appeared as four equal slices
from one giant circle, green with the hundreds of trees and plants.
The
entrance room was actually seven times larger than the actual Jedi
Council chamber in area. In volume, the difference was even more
phenomenal.
All ten
members of the Council had finished their first glimpses of the
powerfully beautiful room. It was finally complete and Dominic
smiled at the thought of having finally completed his mission. He
led the Jedi Council into their chambers.
The silver
doors were decorated with gems of all different colors, the most
prominent of which was a dark purple that was mounted above the two
handles. The doors swung open very quietly and not even the breathing of
those who stepped into the room could be heard. The circular room was
size enough for a council of ten to twelve members, and the ten that were
available had enough space to look around the room comfortably.
It was a
dome with walls intricately designed with embossments carved into its
marble surface. The walls only took up a small space, however. Most of
the domed surface was that of the windows that looked out into the
artificial sky. They were positioned so that anyone who was on the
ring-like bridge in the entrance room could not see inside the actual
chamber without opening the doors.
The
crystal floor that the bridge was made of changed totally when the
chamber floor began. The floor was entirely glass, and beneath that glass
was water. In that water lived all kinds of small fish from all over the
galaxy. Sand and various underwater plants waved back and forth with the
low current of the pond.
This same
decorative tactic was used in the design of a wide chandelier that hung
from the domed ceiling. The glass structure also made a home for nearly a
hundred small fish. It was shaped like the bud of a flower and the little
motion in the water made the daylight shining in from the windows glimmer
in the corona.
Each of
the ten chairs in the Council were made of a soft, velvet fabric that was
burgundy in color. In the centre of the room, part of the aquarium in the
floor had been removed and replaced with a circular, marble area where
whoever was addressing the Jedi Council could stand.
The ten
members of the new Jedi Council sat in their respective chairs, beginning
their first discussion together as a group. With the completion of the
construction of Planet Castleguard I came an improved Rebel Dominion and
a new Jedi Order, both ready for the ISA and STAFF’s Sith Order.
* * * *
The news
of what had happened to Lotaan many months ago nearly sent Phadrax
Monovial over the edge, but when the completion of Planet Castleguard I
was reported as “flawless,” he didn’t bother making a plan. Monovial
instead assembled a fleet of Imperial ships, led by the House of
Lords, to deliver an all-out barrage of warships against the Rebel
space station.
The planet
Hurcha was fairly remote, but Monovial had no trouble supplying finances
for the fuel required to get all of these ships there. He lead the entire
strike from the main port on the House of Lords and ships
belonging to the Rebels started appearing as soon as the fleet made the
drop out of hyperspace.
They were
sparse at first. Only the X-Wings that the Rebel Dominion had updated
technologically since they held the name: the New Republic. Monovial
dispatched TIE Fighter squadrons and they began attacking the opposing
starfighters.
In short
time, the area between the House of Lords and the ten-platform
station of Planet Castleguard I was filled with red and blue laser fire.
Explosions lit up the darkness of space and disappeared as the vacuum
swallowed the debris left from the destroyed fighters.
Monovial
handed the leadership of the operation over to Grand Moff Cadime and left
for the hangar. He didn’t intend to participate in this battle, but he
felt safer in the Titan than he did in the House of Lords.
It was just too big for him right now.
When he
did get out into the open, Monovial found his way out of the battle area
and found a convenient place to simply watch and stay out of a lot of
danger. The battle had created a great excuse for the Rebel Dominion to
test out their new resources.
When they
came bolting out of the hangars on Castleguard, Monovial didn’t even
blink. And all of a sudden, he had lost confidence in being able to win
this battle. But he kept watching them anyway.
* * * *
Commander
Kenneth Harlo, the leader of the Carmine Squadron of B-Wings, was
one of four leaders of the brigade of starfighters sent on a mission to
destroy the Imperial Super Star Destroyer, House of Lords. It was
the largest squadron the Rebel Dominion, or any of the alliances that it
had spawned from, had ever dispatched. Four hundred and twenty-five ships
kept blasting out of the hangars and spraying the protective layer of
TIEs with blue laser fire.
Harlo
eased up on his throttle and several of the ships that were behind him
began to create a protective layer for the Carmine Squadron. Sari
Newace7’s ship pulled up beside Harlo to his left and Cygnus to his
right, piloting another Assault Gunboat to fool the ISA, who also had
several of the Gunboat squadrons of their own available.
Nobody
could even hear the immeasurably short intervals between laser shots; it
all sounded like one constant blast, but looking out the viewscreens of
his ship, Harlo could tell otherwise. The black ISA TIE Fighters exploded
in a blue mist of miasmic heat.
“Carmine
3, I want you to break left when we come near the peak of the
House of Lords, alright?” Harlo said into the headset built into
his helmet.
“Yes,
sir,” came Newace7’s voice.
“Carmine
2, you follow me and Cyggie-Boy, over there and“
“Hey!”
Cygnus shouted and laughed. “I resent that!” Harlo finished his
instructions and the whole Carmine Squadron complied just in time.
The wedge of the arrow-shaped capital ship came closer and closer. Harlo
watched as Newace7 and several others broke off to the left and
disappeared behind the structure of the House of Lords. He then
re-directed his focus towards his own flight path.
“Watch the
turrets alongside this thing! They’re very large!”
“Really?”
Cygnus said. Harlo rolled his eyes and didn’t reply. The Gunboat and four
of the Carmine B-Wings rolled underneath the Super Star Destroyer,
evading the turrets temporarily. More were on the surface underneath, as
well, however.
“Alright,
remember the briefing? Well, I’m going to change a bit of it right here
and right now,” Harlo said. “Instead of getting inside the machines of
this thing through the back entrance of the primary tractor beam, I want
you to follow me. We’ll take that same entrance, but won’t turn on the
inside. Instead, we’re going to make our way towards the mechanical parts
to the secondary tractor beam.”
“Why,
Commander?” said the voice of Carmine 7.
“The
primary tractor bean is hauling something in right now. We’ll crash right
into it if we don’t take an alternate course. It will all be taken care
of by the time we make it from the secondary tractor beam, back to the
primary one.” No more questions came through the headset, and Harlo
increased speed on the throttle.
A swarm of
TIE Fighters tried to interfere with their pattern. Cygnus’ Gunboat took
care of most of them, and by the time they could’ve posed any threat, the
Carmine Squadron was inside the shell of the House of
Lords. Inside was a mess of tubes and wiring that made it difficult
for the X-Wings to make it through.
One pillar
that supported the shielding systems of the House of Lords was too
much for Carmine 7 to weave around, and the pilot’s ship smashed
into it. Harlo kept focused, despite the fact that one other ship didn’t
and also was lost in the machinery behind him.
“Here’s
where we dip into the tractor beam; ready?” Harlo said, and then quickly
jarred forward on the control stick in the X-Wing, causing the nose of
the starfighter to fall forward and the entire ship, followed by the
remnants of the Carmine Squadron, to emerge from the secondary
tractor beam unit. The operation that was pulling a freighter in on the
primary tractor beam was just about over and it gave Harlo time to sort
things out.
Cygnus’
gunboat seemed to come out of nowhere. He hadn’t followed the Carmine
Squadron into the Super Star Destroyer because the alternate path
they had chosen wouldn’t have allowed him to come out alive. “Now?”
Cygnus asked.
“Now
what?”
“Now, are
we taking the right path?”
“Yes,
follow me.” Harlo’s X-Wing shot back towards the Star Destroyer, and he
pulled a small switch that was above him in the cockpit. “Alright, close
your S-Foils, everyone. This might be a tight squeeze. Cygnus, are you
sure you can make it through there?”
“Of
course,” Cygnus replied. “After all, I take a lot of risks, but at least
I’m not crazy. I am, however, stupid.”
“What
theoh, nevermind! Just follow me!” Harlo said.
Newace7
and the three other X-Wings that followed her emerged from the other side
of the Super Star Destroyer and formed single-file in space. Sari’s ship
went up into the tractor beam first and her three companions followed in
uniform. Cygnus then made sure that he was at the back of the line of the
five ships that remained in Harlo’s sub-squadron.
The four
X-Wings sped inside the one narrow opening of the tractor beam with
little difficulty and Cygnus’ Gunboat barely made it through, but it was
broader on the inside and far easier to pilot. “We’re too big, Harlo!” he
shouted.
“What do
you mean?!”
“We’ve got
nine ships here, that’s too much to follow!”
“Okaywhat
do you mean?!”
“How long
is it before we turn?”
“Not long,
why?”
“I’m
slowing down and if you don’t get ahead of the rest of those X-Wings,
you’re going to get crushed!” Cygnus slowed the throttle and watched as
the other eight X-Wings got smaller and smaller in the viewscreen.
Harlo was
just about in a panic. Cygnus didn’t usually act serious about anything,
and when he did, it had to be important. The tunnel that the Carmine
Squadron was maneuvering through was getting smaller and as the ships
in front of Harlo started to struggle, he realized that Cygnus was right.
It was too small for this many ships.
He pulled
left on his control stick and then made a last minute switch as two thick
bars appeared in an awkward position in the tunnel. He extended his
S-Foils to an attack position again and they just avoided the bars. The
ships in front of him and behind him wouldn’t be so lucky, though. He
didn’t have time to warn them.
Harlo sped
up to avoid the explosion behind him that engulfed the three X-Wings that
trailed. His reflexes kicked in when the same thing happened in front of
him. He was just fast enough to pull off to the left and disappear
beneath the clouds of smoke and fire. When he emerged, there was an
immediate turn and he scratched the fuselage on the ship to make it. But
he was still alive. One X-Wing had gotten ahead of him and was still
intact.
“Harlo?
You made it out?” It was Sari Newace7.
“No, I
didn’t make it, sorry,” Harlo said, taking on Cygnus’ sarcastic attitude
for just a moment. “And I’m sure everyone back at Castleguard is gonna
miss you, too. Sorry to see you go.” The path was a lot easier now that
there were only two ships filling the tunnel.
“There
were quite a few good pilots lost back there, Commander,” Newace7 said
quietly. “I was never really acquainted with any of them but they did
make it this far. What about Cygnus?”
“He was
the smart one,” Harlo replied. “He dropped from the back of the line long
before the explosion. Actually, I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t warn
me.”
“Why
didn’t I hear it?”
“I’m sure
that he just set his communications for a one-on-one conference. Can you
imagine the trouble we would’ve had if everyone tried the same thing that
I did? Nobody would be left right now.”
“Do we
turn or go straight through up ahead?”
“Keep
going. That takes us to the closest we can get to the main reactor,”
Harlo said uneasily. “I hope we can do this without help. Cygnus’
warheads would be nice.”
“We have
warheads.”
“Yes, I
know. But he’s got heavy rockets on board that thing. It seems so much
easier that way. Just some wishful thinking, sorry.” Newace7 smiled and
nodded to herself.
The two
X-Wings bolted through a tunnel that got even narrower and required
numerous intricate twists and turns to get through. The tunnel got wider
and wider towards the end and transformed into a large shielded chamber
at the centre of the House of Lords.
“Cygnus,”
Harlo said. “You still there?”
“Yeah! Is
it time?”
“Clear the
path, Cyggie Boy. This is it!” Harlo pulled a lever near the control
stick and switched the weapons to proton torpedoes, set at a dual fire.
“You first, Sari.”
“Thank you, kind sir,” she replied and from the base of her X-Wing, two
torpedoes sailed simultaneously out of the warhead chambers. Another two
came just seconds after that and Newace7’s ship flew around the main
reactor, where the torpedoes plummeted in to.
Harlo
followed a small figure eight pattern with Newace7’s X-Wing and sent four
more proton torpedoes through the ray shielding of the main reactor. The
structure began to collapse on the inside and small clouds of flame began
appearing all over. The two X-Wings headed back for the tunnel and sped
up to avoid the explosion, which continued to get larger and larger,
tearing into the machinery that kept the House of Lords aloft.
Cygnus
loaded up two heavy rockets from his Gunboat’s warhead chambers and fired
them into what was left of the fuselage at the end of the tunnel. A
visible hole was in the tunnel now and he could look through it and see
the space battle on the outside of the Super Star Destroyer. “The path is
cleared!” he shouted into the headset. “It should be big enough for you
to fit through. One at a time please.” Cygnus smiled and piloted his ship
through the hole at the end of the tunnel and began making his way back
to the hangar of Planet Castleguard I.
Newace7
and Harlo found it more difficult to maneuver through the tunnel now that
they had increased their speed thirty percent since they had originally
come through. However, now there were no other ships in the way and they
found the hole that Cygnus had violently created for them to escape
through. As the two ships emerged from the hole, a ball of orange and
yellow gas shot out from underneath the House of Lords. “Hurry!”
Harlo shouted and accelerated to full throttle. He switched his
communications headset to a frequency that got through universally to all
Rebel starships. “Everyone, get away from the ship! It’s a goner! Move
it!”
Hundreds
of Rebel starfighters cleared the area as random explosions could be seen
on the surface of the Super Star Destroyer. It began to dwindle in
space and the entire capital ship appeared dead. It appeared to be
falling and tilting as the explosions on the surface became more and more
profuse.
And for
just one moment, the entire blackness in space was brighter than the
daylight of any planet. The House of Lords, an Imperial capital
ship that had been in service for thirty years, was then reduced to space
debris, and a sound louder than the explosion came through the flight
deck of Castleguard. Celebrations from all of the pilots rattled the
speakers and Grand Admiral Sienar and Admiral Cygnus10 applauded from
their stations at the flight deck.
Sienar
checked the scanners one more time and saw the hundreds of Rebel
starfighters heading back towards the hangars. All but one ship shared
that direction. One Imperial craft was moving faster and faster away from
Castleguard. He activated the threat display while the officers behind
him continued their celebration. The craft was heading for a hyperspace
jump point, and Sienar caught the name just as it disappeared from
sensors out of realspace.
The
Titan. As long as Monovial was still alive, there would still be
the ISA to combat. They hadn’t defeated them wholly, and Sienar knew
this, but it was a victory. One step closer to bringing a free way of
life for the citizens of the galaxy.
* * * *
Zethro
Molt had held a lot of anger inside of him and never let it out. He
couldn’t. He was a Jedi Knight and every day he would be scolded for
being angry about anything. Of course, being angry was something he could
avoid. This didn’t mean that it didn’t build inside of him, though.
The Jedi
Council had its first traumatic conference on the day that Molt decided
to approach them. He asked about the ways that Dominic Artemius’ Jedi
Pandect could possibly get the anger out of him without sending him over
the edge. Sivolte Fan offered advice that he had based on personal
experience. He had once held a lot of anger in and let it all out one day
by simply clearing his mind and taking a rest. Molt knew this didn’t
work. He had tried every possible rendition of that tactic and never had
it done him any good. In fact, it made him worse.
The
Council started speaking advice to him from every single chair and it
irritated him. Too much information was coming at him at once. Anger
began to swell up inside of him, but they wouldn’t let him speak. They
just kept on giving and giving. All kinds of useless methods of releasing
anger that had no basis whatsoever.
The
Barabel Jedi once had a lot of respect for what this council was going to
become, but he lost all confidence in it that day. He couldn’t take so
many people trying to talk to him at once and it all turned into an
irritating static. Zethro ignited his lightsabre right then and there,
quieting the Jedi Council. He made the effort to attack before they could
do anything about it. Zethro Molt had never moved so fast when he swung
the gleaming green energy beam at the Ewok Jedi Master, Spurlhio.
He didn’t
see the doors to the chamber open behind him, but they did. He didn’t
expect Spurlhio to defend herself, but she did. Zethro’s anger stopped
instantly and turned to confusion when his lightsabre blade involuntarily
stopped two centimetres before Spurlhio’s forehead. The Ewok looked up at
him with her large eyes and tilted her head to the side. Then, before he
could even realize what was going to happen, he was already out of the
room as a blast from the Force sent him through the open doors. Molt
landed hard on the crystalline bridge and the doors to the Jedi Council
chamber closed.
One day
later, Zethro Molt joined STAFF. The anger he held inside of him made him
a very worthy student of Sabreeth’s. Phadrax Monovial later appointed
Zethro as the third-in-command of his Sith Order. A prestigious title, no
doubt. Considering the little effort that it required to achieve that
title, Molt greatly preferred the way of life of a Sith Lord. Never again
would he become a Jedi. But he hoped, that one day, the Jedi Knights
would be exterminated for good.
Zethro sat
down with Phadrax Monovial and Sabreeth one evening and began planning.
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