Onderin Starlisk

Onderin understood Darex perfectly. He didn't want those people's blood on his hands, especially since he didn't know for certain whether they could be saved. Although intelectually he found it very unlikely that they could simply rip out the Arach'tar implants and the Onderonians would survive, from the Jedi perspective simply killing them was not an option. They were charged with the protection of all life, no matter what had happened to them. From that standpoint, Darex was absolutely right to challenge the position Onderin had taken. It was too bad he still couldn't let himself think the same way. "I'm sorry, Darex," he said, his voice softening for a moment. "I can't be a Jedi and hold command at the same time." I never could, he realized suddenly. There had always been an on/off switch when it came to his duties with the Order. One moment he could be a Jedi Master, sitting in meditation with his padawan and teaching him or her how to be the Jedi they needed to be. The next he could be on the bridge of a starship, shutting out the thousands of deaths in the firestorm around him so that he could hurt the Empire more than they could hurt him. Darex had seen firsthand how willingly Onderin had thrown himself into the path of the Jedi once he had resigned his commission, how well he knew what it meant to be one. And yet here he was, answering the call of the Force by coming here and yet setting aside the ideals immediately to take the action he judged was necessary. He had meditated on this for a long time since the Galactic Alliance had formed. Who could deny that he had been a significant contributor to the fall of the Galactic Empire? Who could deny that his decisions had saved the lives of millions of civilians and soldiers alike? They had cost many as well, but did that mean that he had not fulfilled the will of the Force in these matters? When he looked back over his life through meditation, he saw that he had. Onderin Starlisk wasn't always the Jedi that he had been expected to be, but he was the Jedi that had been trusted with the burden of fighting on a front that no Jedi ever should, and one who had seen the will of the Force accomplished anyway. The Empire was vanquished, the Sith weaker than they had been in centuries. The Force was closer to being in balance than it had been since the end of the First Galactic Civil War. How many Jedi like Kitt Fitt had sat on the sidelines and watched the war as a mystic instead of fighting to see it ended? The sound of starfighter engines could be heard and Onderin looked up as his E-wing appeared overhead and descended to land next to him, controlled by his astromech droid. He stepped up to the snubfighter and unsealed its warhead bay. Reaching in, he pulled out with his hands a heavy, baradium-packed warhead which had been stripped of its propulsion systems. Darex would recognize it as a shadow bomb. "Find a perch and get ready to join the battle, R7," he told the droid. Then he turned back to Darex. "We have to win this battle, no matter the cost. This weapon cannot discriminate between its targets, but if it claims even one Arach'tar, it could stem a tide that would otherwise lead to the entire planet being enslaved just like that small group of civilians are now. "There is nothing good in war, Master. Sometimes you have no choice but to fight them anyway."

Onderin was silent for a moment at the news. The Arach'tar, being unable to reproduce, had begun to build an army from the Onderonians themselves. He wasn't sure what they had done to their captives, but it reeked of the same military efficiency that they had always displayed. Something like only having a few of them would never stop them from conquering Onderon and waging war on the galaxy. Perhaps the time between the invasion and now was simply the amount of time they needed to develop the technology to enslave human civilians and turn them into minions to fuel their war machine. Darex immediately started talking about using stun weapons to mitigate casualties. From a purely Jedi standpoint, if there was even a chance of saving these people, the attempt had to be made. Unfortunately, the Jedi standpoint was rarely effective in a field of war. "No," Onderin said. "We cannot risk using stun fire which may not be effective. The Arach'tar will not be slowed down by it, and if I know them at all, those people are already dead. We actually have a chance of beating them here and now, and should we fail, the entire galaxy could be plunged into yet another war--one that it's not prepared to win since the Galactic Alliance disbanded the fleet." He had always thought that was a bad idea, but so far there had been no chance to prove him right. Now, he would do everything he could to make sure that chance didn't come. "We need to do everything we can to win this battle, and pulling our punches will do us no favors." He kept his eyes on Darex as he said this, wondering if the other Master would challenge him on it.

Onderin's first thought was, We can't stay here. We need to get out. The Arach'tar were a foe beyond any of them, and they needed to run or die. But then his military sensibilities kicked in and he checked his assumptions. If there was going to be another invasion, it wasn't going to start with a few towns on Onderon--it would have been a huge fleet assault in the outer rim that likely would result in the destruction of an entire world. This wasn't an invasion, and the previous one had been over for quite some time with no evidence that there were still hostilities. No, more than likely these were just a few survivors, ones who hadn't been able to withdraw after Centerpoint. Maybe their ship had been damaged during one of the many battles that had been fought. Maybe they had waited so long to start moving again because there were so few of them, and there was no Arach'tar army on the doorstep right now. Onderin looked around to get his bearings, focusing on the Arach'tar presence. The Force was with them, it seemed--they were approaching from the opposite direction of the evacuating civilians, so the bulk of the town itself would cover their retreat. He looked at Darex and the civilians that were going to be the closest thing he had to troops. "We might be in for a hell of a fight," he said, "but it's going to be worth it. We're going to barricade ourselves on the outskirts of the town as close to the invaders as possible. We can provide the illusion that the town is going to stand and fight instead of flee, which will keep the attackers focused on us. "But first, we need to know what we're up against. You," he pointed to one of the volunteers who had macrobinoculars around his neck. "You're recon. The enemy is approaching from that direction." He pointed again toward the distant army. "Get to the top of the tallest building in town and examine the approaching force, then come back down and report to me. Go!" Once the young man took off, the former Admiral turned to everyone else. "The rest of us, we're going to start setting up some barricades. The more defensible we are, the better. With any luck, the Onderonian Army is being mustered already--we don't need to destroy the attacking force, only hold out and keep them focused on our position until help arrives. The barricades can be anything sturdy--I recommend landspeeders since they're easy to get into place. Dismissed!" The volunteers started running in various directions to get what they needed. "Darex," he said, addressing the other Jedi Master, "you might want to find a blaster. We should be able to take down Arach'tar with our lightsabers, but don't try to take more than two at a time. Darla would kill me if I make it back but you don't." Then the Corellian Jedi started heading toward the outskirts where the Arach'tar were going to attack. On the way, he commed his R7 unit. "I'm going to need a favor..."

Onderin projected himself into the minds of the quickly panicking populace, wishing for the disciplined minds of soldiers instead of the rabble he'd been given. Tapping into an ability very much like Battle Meditation that he could use without giving it his full attention, he tried to calm all of them that he could in order to make their retreat more effective. The town wasn't enormous, but there was no doubt going to be some heavy traffic if people heeded the warnings. The Jedi Master now quickly had to orchestrate some kind of defense, and the problem was that he still didn't know what was coming. Was it pirates? Thieves? Slavers? If it was slavers, forming a huge line of undefended civilians was like putting everything on a silver platter for them, and they would be better off laying low in their houses. If their possessions were the targets, however, the opposite was true. But Onderin's vision had shown him an empty town, and so he wasn't going to take any risks--they were going to empty it on their own terms. That didn't mean that the civilians weren't the targets, though. "Back in the transports," he ordered the cops that had come with them. "Get at least one outside the comm jamming and call for backup. The rest of you fly cover for the retreating civilians. Get out there and organize them, direct them to head toward the nearest major city. Do whatever you need to do to protect them. Get everyone you can out of the town. Use loudspeakers or kriffing blasterfire if you need to." He turned to the group of armed civilians that were looking for a fight. He was tempted to send them on escort duty as well, but he could feel their determination in the Force. They were here to protect their homes. On one hand he wanted to curse their stubbornness even before bumping up against it, but on the other hand, he wasn't certain how he and Darex were going to pull off what they needed to do. He sized up their group with a critical glance. "You're staying here with me. Wait here until we determine where the attack is coming from, then as a group we will confront it. Stay close to me, and when I give you a target, I need all of you to focus fire on it. No questions asked. If you do, we might just make it through this." Onderin's voice was dead serious. Several of the volunteers swallowed when they realized what they were getting themselves into, but they traded looks and no one decided to make a run for it. "Understood, Admiral," one of them said. Then he started to feel it, on the edge of his sphere of influence, perhaps still miles off. The threat was coming. Slow but inevitable. He squinted his eyes, looking off into the distance, trying to spot what was still too far off to make out. Suddenly he felt what was best described as a presence, a gaze pass over him, then settle upon him. Ikera? he thought. Then he froze as the implications hit him. He'd placed what the enemy was. "Arach'tar."

Onderin unhooked his lightsaber from his belt. "It always is," he said, then popped the speeder door and stepped out into the town of New Suthre ahead of the security volunteers that had come along for the mission, putting himself into combat mode. He completely shut himself off from his nerves, his biases and his suspicions and became a neutral being who would gather information and react as was appropriate. Still, he took a step back immediately when he recognized his surroundings upon exiting. He recognized the buildings from his vision, and when he looked up at the sky to check the location of Dxun, everything fit perfectly. But something very significant was different. There was a growing crowd of people looking curiously at the armed formation of police speeders that had just set down in the middle of their town. Onderin blinked. Everyone was still here. He turned to the officer that had come out of the speeder behind him. "I don't understand," he said. "How can everyone be here?" He stretched out with the Force and confirmed that the people he was seeing were no illusion. He stood for a moment in confusion. Whatever his vision had been trying to show him, either it hadn't been meant to be taken literally... or it hadn't happened yet. Onderin suddenly pulled his commlink off his belt and thumbed it on. Only static answered him. He turned to Darex. "Communications jamming as a precursor to invasion. Everyone's still here because the attack hasn't happened yet."

Onderin had never liked riding toward an unknown threat. Over his long career he had constantly been running toward danger, throwing himself at the enemies of the Rebel Alliance, New Republic, Galactic Alliance and Jedi Order. Once a battle had been joined, he found himself calmed, at peace, donig everything in his power to make sure that his side came out on top. Although battle was chaotic, he felt like he had some measure of control over things, and that he was qualified to lead his forces and there wasn't anyone that could have done it better. But riding into battle was the worst thing, not knowing what was going to be on the other side or if he would even walk away with his life. This was no better, so he took his mind off the threat. He looked at Darex. "I trust Darla is well?" he asked the Grand Master. "As well as your... children?" He hadn't forgotten all that had been said in the presence of Julio Wartide. It hadn't really been outright confirmed that Darex and Darla had become parents, but it had been heavily implied by both sides. At the time, Onderin hadn't really thought it was his business. But now, with so few Jedi Masters left and this one following him into battle, he didn't think they could really afford to have many secrets between them. It was difficult to think about the fact that Darex could now be facing a threat he and Onderin couldn't beat. For Onderin, death would hold little sting. He had lived a long life and seen the end of the war. He had accomplished more than he had ever hoped to in his youth, and he would depart gladly if it should come. But now Darex had children, a very good reason to fight as hard as he could to stay alive. Onderin had brought him into this, and so he felt responsible for the outcome, even if Darex was a Jedi Master quite capable of taking care of himself.

Onderin nodded. "It'll be slow work, but--" he was interrupted by his commlink. He flashed Darex a brief smile before answering. "Starlisk." He listened for a few moments, then thanked the man on the other end and shut the device off. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then took a deep breath and turned back to Darex. "Three towns within close proximity to each other didn't respond to the emergency call test. The government is deciding to keep it quiet until they can investigate what's going on so that they don't start a general panic." Thankfully, he thought, they had seen fit to tell him about this. Onderon may have somewhat soured toward the Republic after Onderin himself had made the wartime decision to barter it temporarily over to the Mandalorians in order to secure them as allies, but it seemed that they had either not known his role in the decision or had decided not to hold it against him given that he had just brought to light what could amount to a serious problem. "They're going to mobilize a police force to check it out, and they said we're welcome to come along." It would be useful to have more people on hand, even if cops had a peculiar way of doing things that sometimes eschewed efficiency for bureaucracy. Something about what he was feeling in the Force made Onderin apprehensive about what they were going to find, and even with the Force as his ally it made him feel vulnerable. Like launching an attack against a fleet with only a squadron of E-wings--it didn't matter how well he could fly, it just wasn't a fight. "I say we take them up on their offer. I'm certain they could use our help, especially if the disturbance tends out to be something along the lines of the Sith." He didn't think it was Sith, though. If possible, it was even more sinister.

Onderin returned Darex's bow in greeting. "Unfortunately, my comm was vague because so was my vision," he answered. "But indeed, how could we call ourselves Jedi if we failed to answer the Force's bidding just because it didn't give any clear direction?" Following the Force was about faith and trust. Especially as a man with a military background, sometimes Onderin liked to believe that he could plan everything, that he could know what the Force wanted him to do at all times or that he could operate autonomously and still accomplish its will. One of the most important things about being a Jedi, though, was putting everything aside for a moment and just going somewhere without asking any questions, trusting everything to work out in the end. There were definitely times when he had done it even during his military years, such as wandering the lower levels of Coruscant and trusting the Force to lead him to a homeless boy named Sabian Devanus who was even then under attack by merciless thugs. That boy was now the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Alliance. But only now that he had put his commission aside and given himself fully to the Jedi could he fully embrace this practice--going where the Force bade him was now his full-time profession. "In my vision," he continued, "I was in a town. I noticed it was on Onderon because of the moon overhead. The town was deserted, and there were signs of a fight but no bodies. I found an unusual footprint, but know little more. Since I've arrived, I've checked in with the local authorities; they said initially that there have been no reported disturbances yet, so I asked them to check in with various cities across the planet. They have an emergency network for such things, and the calls are in progress." It wasn't like there was some kind of automated check-in process like the military used for its installations. Those locations were used to coming under attack and it wasn't uncommon for communications jamming to keep them from sending out a distress signal. But these were just civilian cities in a time of peace on a backwater world. Onderin hadn't heard of any ongoing Beast Wars that would put them on alert, and those wars were out-of-season--the moon wouldn't be close enough for beasts to cross over for a few more weeks. He stretched out with his feelings again, felt that same general unease. There was something familiar beneath it all, like some dark presence he'd felt before. "Can you feel it, Darex? Whatever this threat is, I've faced it before, but I cannot place it..."

-- Incoming transmission for Grand Master Darex Trevelian -- "Master Trevelian. The Force has beckoned me to Onderon to investigate a disturbance that I have felt there which may have resulted in the deaths or captures of hundreds of civilians by an unknown threat. The planet is not yet on alert, so I have only my vision to go on, but I can't help but feel something is about to happen. Any threat large enough to cause this sort of disturbance I would rather not face on my own, and CoreSec has no presence here. "I was wondering if you would like to come along, or if you could send a few other Jedi Knights in your place. "Onderin Starlisk out." -- End transmission --

When Onderin's E-wing popped out of hyperspace, he immediately glanced to the right of his cockpit and saw Dxun looming over the planet below, so close that their atmospheres touched for a few months per year and the moon's infamous flying beasts could cross between worlds. It was exactly the same as from his vision, though from a different perspective, and he took a deep breath. He didn't know what danger was portended by what the Force had shown him, but he knew that such visions were never without purpose. The Force had brought him here for a reason. And he would rely on it to guide him the rest of the way. A planet was a big place, and since Dxun orbited Onderon, he couldn't tell from its position during his vision which part of the planet he sought, particularly since what the Force showed him could have taken place in the past or indeed might not have yet come to pass. He stretched out with his feelings, pushing his sphere of awareness out well beyond the limit most Jedi had. When using the technique of Battle Meditation, Onderin had been required to get a complete sense of an entire battle which could be spread out across a system. The sensation was at first overwhelming to the point where he could accomplish nothing but marvel at the complexity of the networks of human thought and emotion, but slowly he had mastered being able to untangle the strands and create a map that made sense in his own mind. It was rather like a mosaic of beads which didn't make sense when one beheld it from inches away, yet when they stood back, they saw what the artist had intended to depict. Now Onderin used that talent to attempt to root out where the disturbance was. And he did feel something, but it was... diffuse. There was no particular location around which the tremors were focused, but rather just a general, subtle stress. He frowned and directed his starfighter down toward Iziz. Surely an abandoned town would, as long as its emptiness was known, at least generate a news report he could hunt down. Once he had at least a town name, the investigation could proceed. Onderon would recognize the Jedi Order and make sure he had the access to get where he needed, but CoreSec had no foothold out here. From that perspective, the Jedi Master imagined he could use a little backup. Anything that could empty a town was more than a match for a single Jedi. He let R7 land the ship while he sent out a comm to someone he hoped would be as intrigued by the case as he was....

As he rested, the Force prompted Onderin through a vision, as it often did for this particular Jedi Master. He stood on a dirt road on an unknown world. It was late morning. The town around him showed signs of industrialization and standard architecture, so he couldn't immediately identify it. But there was something definitely amiss about this place. He started to walk down the road slowly, his mind buzzing with disquiet. He stretched out with his feelings, trying to understand what was happening and where he was. It only took him a moment to realize that he was alone. And not just alone as in unaccompanied; the town was deserted. There were signs of struggle in parts, but they were subtle, as if the conflict had either been exceptionally brief or that both sides had gone to great lengths to avoid collateral damage. Onderin had walked across many battlefields, and he knew the kind of destruction and carnage that they left behind. And yet when he touched the Force, the memory of the place was strong. Something very bad had happened here, and he had no idea what. There were no bodies. There were no discarded weapons. There were no teams of local authorities roaming the area, investigating all the missing people. As he continued to walk, he felt another tingle in the Force. Onderin immediately stopped walking and focused on the sensation. There was a clue nearby, perhaps in the spot where he was standing. He knelt down and examined the ground. There was an unusual footprint preserved by a patch of damp ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the Force flow freely through him. Much to his surprise, it was his sense of smell that picked up something familiar. He sniffed again and the smell came through more clearly. It was faintly mechanical, but also organic. He had smelled it before, but he could not place where. As he took a third breath, he felt his grasp of the Force vision starting to slip away. Frantically, he looked around, hoping to find some way to identify the planet he was on. When he looked up, he was relieved to see a huge, looming forested moon, one he could identify unamiguously. Dxun. Onderin's eyes snapped open and he worked moisture back into his mouth. He stretched and found his injuries gone. "R7," he said. "We need to get to Onderon." Minutes later, he'd checked out of his hotel and was aboard his E-wing heading for deep space.

Onderin had to admit, he hadn't expected the trap to be so potent. When he considered the task that it had been designed to complete, of course, it made sense that it would take enormous amounts of Force energy to destroy a body and soul and purge Ares' corruption by the Dark Lord or whatever power had transformed him. Even now he sat slumped against a tree, taking deep breaths as the storm passed--it was unlikely that he would have held up at all without Aryian's help, drained as he was by the fight. He was a little disappointed when Aryian faded away before they got a chance to talk about what had transpired, but it sounded like this wasn't over. When he had responded to the call on Mon Calamari, he had been hoping to capture a Sith Lord who would give him the locations of the Sith Order's key temples. He considered the redemption of Aryian Darkfire a greater accomplishment, but if the man still held Ares' memories, the whereabouts of those temples would not remain a mystery, and Onderin could accomplish his original goal as well. But right now, what he really needed was a chance to recover from his injuries. With them slowing him down, he couldn't exactly pursue the Sith anyway. Climbing back into the cockpit of his E-wing, Onderin flew over to the city of Ashla. He didn't think he could make the walk to the Temple in his condition, so he checked in at a local hotel with his droid, R7, and went up to his room for a healing trance, telling the droid to wake him up if something happened that required his attention.

Two craft popped out of hyperspace over Tython--an E-wing registered to Onderin Starlisk, and the Blur, the personal craft of Aryian Darkfire and then Darth Ares. For the moment, Ares was incapacitated and secured, and Onderin felt like the end of a chapter of the man's life was at hand. It had been a long road so far, and Aryian had gone from aspiring Jedi to one of the Order's finest warriors to a husband to a Sith Lord. It was still a mystery why he had fallen away from the path of a Jedi, but everything was in place to bring about the conclusion of his time lost in the dark and back to the good man he once had been. And then... then he would have to face everything he had done, and see where the Force would lead him next. The two ships descended through the planet's atmosphere not toward Ashla or the hidden Jedi Temple, but to a seemingly innocuous place in one of the world's vast forests. As they approached, however, Onderin could feel the energy radiating from the place in the Force, a powerful phenomenon that almost made him uncomfortable. The Force was powerful, more powerful than even he could comprehend, and it was only through power that Ares' madness be purged and his body reunited with his true self. Finding a nearby clearing, the two ships set down. Ares was still unconscious, but the drugs were beginning to wear off, and he would come to in mere minutes. Onderin lifted the man with the Force, determined to have Ares in the trap before he awoke and had to be defeated again. Honestly, in such a condition as he was after their last fight, Onderin wasn't sure he could do it a second time. He would need to spend a few hours in a healing trance as soon as this was over. Using the Force to guide him because his eyes would not detect the trap that had been laid, Onderin walked into the forest, Ares' body in tow.... ((You can take it from here.))

Onderin felt a strong aura of light emanating off the ghostly form of Aryian that appeared to him. The spirit resembled the Aryian he had known, and did not have the marks of heavy dark side use that Ares bore. Had he been a skeptic, Onderin would have suspected a trap, but when it came to matters of the Force, he followed his gut. He needed to reunite this spiritual Aryian with the body of Ares, and Tython was a place strong in the Force and devoid of the dark side. There was some risk of Ares escaping and finding the Jedi Temple there, but he didn't intend to take a Sith Lord anywhere near it. Then there were Mon Calamari response teams everywhere. Thankfully, they recognized Onderin without difficulty--a byproduct of their heavy involvement in the war and the amounts of time he had spent in their shipyards. "Darth Ares has been neutralized," he told them when they approached him. "I am taking him and his ship into the custody of the Jedi Order. I recommend you tend to the injured in the ruins." Unfortunately, not everyone had gotten out, despite Onderin's attempt to drive them clear of the battle through the Force. Innocents had died, and any judicial system would put Ares in a maximum-security prison center for the rest of his life, or perhaps submit him to the death penalty for this offense alone. And yet he was going to be let off the hook if he could turn away from the dark side. The idea offended Onderin's practical senses, many of the senses that had gotten him through the war. And yet, following the will of the Force often came at odds with practicality and intuition, but still to it alone he owed his allegiance. No, Onderin would put aside his thirst for justice and try to win the greater battle, not only putting this Sith Lord to rest permanently but also regaining a staunch ally. As the Mon Calamari dispersed, he asked one if he could borrow some restraints capable of holding a Force user and a hypo to keep him unconscious. The on-scene medics were able to provide the hypo and the security had some stun cuffs, and together Onderin suspected they would be able to keep Ares out for the trip to Tython. Soon he carried the Sith's body aboard the Blur and addressed the AI. "You did everything you could. It's time to put this to rest. Interface with my R7 and receive the instructions on how to get to Tython." R7, it seemed, also had some additional information for the Blur's AI. He kept himself plugged in to the Eternal Vigilance's main computer when they weren't charging around the galaxy, and thus he had picked up specific coordinates that had been posted for the trap that Aryian's spirit form had addressed, as created by Dahar. These coordinates were also given to the AI, and they had their destination. Moments later, the Blur winked into hyperspace, followed closely by Onderin's E-wing.

Things seemed to go as planned. Onderin had a good head for tactics and a trust in the Force that had brought him through countless situations that seemed otherwise impossible. There had been a lot of hard lessons over the years as he had come far from winning every fight, but now that he had given up his commission and become a full-time Jedi Knight, the Force was with him in a deeper way than it ever had been before. Now, he was an instrument of its will, and it was about to give him victory over Darth Ares. But just as he realized this, he also knew within himself that killing the man would accomplish nothing. Somewhere, behind layers of madness, Aryian Darkfire still lived. And so, blade drawn, Onderin covered the distance between himself and the Sith Lord, who had taken nearly the full blast of the concussion grenade but was still somehow on his feet. He struck with his lightsaber blade, disarming his dazed opponent with a swing, then hitting him with a Force push that slammed him into a nearby wall. Onderin winced when he heard a bone break, but Ares dropped in an unconcious heap to the ground, and that had been the intent. The battlefield fell silent for a moment except for the crackling of a nearby fire and the distant alarms of approaching emergency response teams. With a start the Jedi Master realized it was his own robe that was on fire and shed it before getting burned, closing down his lightsaber. It was clear that he needed Ares to get Jedi attention as soon as possible. If they were going to dig out the man he had once been and banish Ares to the shadows, it was going to take people that were familiar with him, like Kirlocca and Armiena. Unfortunately, Onderin's starfighter couldn't carry both of them. He grabbed his comlink, getting an idea. "R7, contact the Blur. Inform it that Ares is unconscious and that I would like it's help to get him to the Jedi." It was a bit of a gamble, but he had the feeling that the Blur could have vaped him in a moment during the fight and chose not to. He doubted that it had followed Ares' orders exactly, and that meant that it was a potential ally.

Onderin was not surprised that Ares had no trouble defending himself against the blaster bolts, as was the plan. In the mind of a man whose principle battlefield had been among fleets, what he was doing with a blaster right now was exactly how he would use the long-range guns on a capital ship. Regardless of how little damage just a few shots would end up causing, being able to attack without danger of counterattack was an advantage that had to be answered. And so distances were closed in order to bring more guns into play and things turned into a brawl. But the important part was that the brawl happened on the terms of the fleet that drew the other in. As Ares drew closer, step by step, he neared the grenade Onderin was still gripping with the Force. Suddenly, though, Onderin had another problem on his hands--the technique that his opponent was now employing. He hadn't seen anything like it before, but when the Force created a visual display, it almost always meant trouble. Whatever attack was coming, it had a chance to end the fight right then and there. At the same time, Ares was now dividing his attention between summoning the technique, deflecting the incoming blaster fire, and speaking about some sort of deity pulling the strings of fate and controlling their destinies. Just like that, Onderin knew the fight would be decided in the next few seconds. The Corellian Jedi switched his blaster suddenly over to stun and sprayed one more barrage before the globe of air came flying toward him. Ares would not be able to deflect stun bolts with his lightsaber, and even if only a lucky shot would find a chink in the Sith's armor, it would at least serve to distract him. Then Onderin leapt from behind his cover with all of his remaining strength, his left shoulder throbbing and his head still aching. The Force came to his aid, giving his leap strength even as he called on it to push the concussion grenade the last couple of meters to Ares' location before finally letting go of the dead man's switch. Both the grenade and Ares' bomb exploded at the same time, and Onderin was buffeted by the latter's shockwave. The extremely humid Calamari air superheated around him and he was pretty sure his robe had caught fire, but for the moment he had to make sure that Ares went down first. Discarding his blaster pistol, he called his lightsaber to his hand, landed on his right side to favor his left shoulder, then rolled to his feet and lit the blade, turning his attention to his opponent to see how he had fared. ((3. Good fight, man. I'll request a ruling.))

Unfortunately, Ares had managed to close some of the distance between them before the concussion grenade blew. Just as the dark sider was knocked back by the blast, so Onderin felt its energy resonate through his body, his hearing fading for a moment and his head suddenly throbbing in a sensation very similar to shell shock. Thankfully he was given a chance to recover when Ares took a moment to do the same, and as his hearing came back he realized that the man who once had been Aryian Darkfire was speaking. Questioning the meaning of it all and claiming to have found purpose in the galaxy. Onderin held his blade in a defensive stance as he called on the Force to refresh his body, fade the ache in his joints that had been unsettled by the proximity of the concussion grenade, suppress the pain that wracked his head. They had just began this duel, and it was far from its conclusion--he couldn't have his body giving out on him yet. Suddenly the building behind him was taking fire, and the Jedi Master set his jaw, knowing what had happened. Ares had taken advantage of the pause to get his ship in position to renew his attack. He also knew that the man's skill with Force barriers would likely be enough to shield him from the rubble. Unfortunately, Onderin had no such talents, but his fighter-pilot reaction times and officer's battlefield sense would come to his aid in their place. The Force accelerated his movements and he dashed away from Ares and to the side of the slabs of falling rubble, covering tremendous distance in a very short amount of time. Even still the rubble started to fall around him, and it was too plentiful for him to evade all but the largest chunks. A jagged rock fell and impacted with his left shoulder, causing him to stumble until he found an outcropping he ducked under to weather the rest of the storm. As he ducked under the impromptu shelter, he quickly clamped down on his Force presence so that he would be difficult to locate through it. Soon the cacophony had died down, and Onderin spoke while examining his new wound and trying to gauge how much it would limit his performance. "I remember the day that I performed the wedding ceremony of Aryian Darkfire and Armiena Draygo," he said loudly. His voice echoed off the rubble around him, making it difficult for Ares to guess his location. "Aryian had melted down and destroyed his lightsaber, a Jedi's most valuable possession, to make the ring for his bride. I was struck by his willingness to do this." Strapping a bacta patch over his shoulder wound to keep it from bleeding, Onderin then pulled out his other concussion grenade. "Aryian was a man who knew what it meant to serve the Force, and one who would put down his weapon because he knew that the truth could never be found through violence." Setting the grenade down armed with a deadman's switch, Onderin gripped it with the Force, allowing his presence to once again be felt. He then stood up so that Ares could see him and retreated several steps to another large chunk of rubble that would give him some cover, then clipped his lightsaber to his belt and pulled his blaster with his right hand--his left would be very limited due to his injury. "You have forsaken who you were and destroyed a good man, and I will fight to see that Darth Ares will never take another innocent life!" Setting the blaster to full power, he opened fire on Ares, trying to take nonlethal but incapacitating shots, drawing Ares toward his location and maintaining his hold on the grenade. If Ares took the bait and closed the distance between them, it was unlikely that he could detect the grenade among the rubble, and when he was close enough, all Onderin had to do was let go. ((2))

Onderin's blood seemed to freeze when the dark man revealed his face. He had, of course, heard that Aryian had fallen to the dark side and was masquerading around as Darth Ares, but part of him had refused to believe it. He had hoped that perhaps his fellow Jedi had gone undercover, or perhaps that Ares had been someone else altogether. As long as he'd known Aryian, he had known him to be among the staunchest in the Order, the most unyielding against the pull of the dark side even as he worked relentlessly to destroy evil through such organizations as the Augury. It stung to see one of the best of them fall. Onderin began to consider the implications and what the stakes were for this fight when Ares attacked, cutting off his train of thought to allow him to focus on survival. Only with a clear mind could he let the Force protect him. There was an incoming lightsaber as well as one in Ares' hand as the Sith Lord charged. Onderin decided to treat them both as real and stepped forward, bringing his own blade across his body to intercept and bat aside the incoming weapon and at the same time building momentum for a strike at his opponent as that man came into reach, a classical Shien technique that characterized Onderin's lightsaber form. After completing his maneuver, Onderin spun away. Shien wasn't always strong against a single opponent, and he had learned to use it as he traversed battlefields. But Aryian had been adept at both illusions and defensive shields, and now he suspected Ares would use those techniques against him. Shien's ability to defend against multiple opponents and deliver powerful, direct strikes would be well suited to overcoming both of those techniques--or so Onderin hoped. Drawing deep, the Corellian Jedi swept from around him all manner of rubble, from tiny stones to smashball-sized chunks of debris from Ares' own destruction, then propelled them in a stream of directed Force energy at his opponent, from whom he had fallen back a step. Then, leaping back another step, he mixed a concussion grenade from his belt into the stream, both attempting to conceal it from Ares and grasping it firmly with his mind so that the Sith would be unlikely to deflect it from its course. "Aryian," he said, choosing to call the man by his old name. "How have you forgotten who you were?" ((1))

Works for me, Onderin thought as he felt the dark presence depart from its vessel mid-flight. Even without its Sith pilot, the ship then whipped around with startling speed and took a series of shots. Onderin immediately rolled and jinked, turning a barrage that could have burned him into a crisp into something that his shields were able to effectively dissipate. But the purpose of the attack had been accomplished and the Sith's vessel departed over the ocean world's vast seas, having sufficiently bought its master time to reach the ground unharried. The Jedi Master disregarded it--he had a mission to accomplish, and capturing the vessel didn't guarantee hyperspace routes to Sith-controlled worlds. Immediately Onderin felt a tide of fear rise off the civilians and security officers that the Sith was now attacking. He stretched out in the Force, drawing on the same fundamental principles that allowed him to use Battle Meditation, and broadcast a strong feeling into the hearts and minds of the populace. In a major conflict he might attempt to rally the minds he touched, provide them with insights on how to overcome their enemies and anticipate their attacks. Here, he had no time for such complex thoughts, and so he inspired within them something primal: "RUN!" "R7, watch the area and make sure the Sith vessel does not return. I'll signal you if I need you," he instructed his droid before promptly popping the canopy and leaping from the starfighter just as the dark sider had. Already the Force swelled with intensely magnified alarm, the chaos of mass panic... or a war zone. It would have made it difficult to concentrate and draw strength from the Force for someone who had spent any less time in such environments than former Admiral Onderin Starlisk. Over his several-second fall, he took momentary stock of his assets. He of course had his lightsaber, and ever since he had participating in the assault on the Sith Temple on Coruscant he had been wearing extremely light armor and carrying a backup blaster pistol as well as two concussion grenades. It occured to him that he hadn't checked the blaster's charge in a while, and he hoped that wouldn't be a problem. Presently he again drew on the Force to slow his descent and landed only a few dozen meters from the marauding dark sider. He didn't even pause. His viridian lightsaber sprang to life, the Force connecting him to it like an invisible mental circuit forming that linked his mind through its Force-sensitive crystal, and he ran straight toward the still-familiar-but-masked man. Before he reached him, Onderin threw his hands forward and summoned a powerful Force push that would either smash the Sith against a nearby building or at least get his attention. ((Three post duel commencing. You can go first.))

((Post made with permission from Aryian to ignore typical response time as adjudicated by the galactic map.)) One of the words where Onderin Starlisk had spent the most time, Mon Calamari was a world that had served for a time as a staging ground for Rebel Alliance fleet actions. During the war's height, he had ordered the creation of star fleets that had fought successful battles in countless theaters of war, and still others that had been destroyed with thousands of casualties. Now, those times had ended, and the planet's shipyards had turned away from making warships back to passenger liners and other vessels for a galaxy that was no longer at war. And yet, even now that there was no formal conflict between empires and democracies, trouble had again found its way to this world, this time at the hands of a Sith Lord. Having been actively seeking a Sith he could capture to learn of the whereabouts of their temples, Onderin had immediately responded to the call they had sent out asking for assistance in dealing with a terrorist attack. There had been no guarantee, of course, that the terrorist was a Sith Lord, but Onderin had felt the call of the Force and jumped without a delay, and now as he arrived he stretched out with his feelings and could feel the dark aura of the attacker... tinged with just the slightest bit of familiarity. He couldn't immediately place where he had felt this particular presence before, but this was a man that he had encountered before in some circumstances, and that put him on edge. Most of his oldest foes were rotting in a CoreSec prison or had been reported dead. Either way, it was his duty to intervene against a being that was powerful enough to overwhelm Mon Calamari city defenders with enough consistency to deal significant damage and cause the loss of civilian lives. As a Jedi Master, Onderin took a deep breath to calm his nerves as his E-wing starfighter rocketed down toward the conflict, letting his anxiety leave him and dipping into the Force. No matter who it was he was going to face, he would fight without anger and without fear, placing his trust in the Force to see him victorious against any opponent. The energy field had bade him to respond to the distress call for a reason, and he would submit himself to its will without question or regret. The E-wing was fast and maneuverable, optimized for both space and atmospheric superiority. Onderin knew his military history--it was on this world that such fighters as his had fought one of their greatest battles against Palpatine's World Devastators. Despite their superiority to the Empire's limitless TIE/D fighters, it was a battle that could never have been won without a back door command that ultimately shut down the attacking machines, but only due to the lives and efforts of the New Republic pilots had the damage the world sustained not been infinitely more severe. The result was that the battle had been a turning point in the war against the Emperor's clone, the onset of his defeat. So, too, would this battle be the beginning of the fall of the Sith Order. Streaking through the sky toward the attacking dark sider, Onderin triggered a shadow bomb to be released from his fighter's warhead bay. Propelling the baradium-packed torpedo with the Force, he sent it after the enemy ship, deliberately aiming high so as not to put the city at risk. Moments later, it detonated with tremendous force and Onderin sent a comm to his opponent. "Unidentified vessel, this is Jedi Master Onderin Starlisk. Land immediately and submit to the local authorities or you will be shot down." He primed another shadow bomb and put his finger on the trigger. Getting the man on the ground would make it much easier for local security to get involved as well as making it significantly easier for Onderin to defeat him without killing him, but if necessary, he could outfly and shoot him down. He had, after all, spent the first few years of his military service as a fighter pilot.

OOC: Since we kind of rolled back the Geki mission, I will say that Onderin never left the Eternal Vigilance. IC: Onderin had a large task ahead of him, and it was time to get started. Boarding his personal E-wing the Vigilance's main hangar, he set out to find the Sith by whatever means he had at his disposal. But before he picked a random Sith-controlled world, there would be a few things he needed first to increase his chances of success--and indeed, his very survival. With that in mind, he laid in a different set of coordinates and jumped into hyperspace.

Onderin was content to watch Adenna and Gracelyn interact and become acquainted in silence after his initial introduction. It immediately became clear that Adenna was going to bring her new padawan along for the next incursion into Geki's mind, and he hoped that the padawan would have the sense--or, even better, lack the ability--to get involved personally. The mind of that madman was so dark Adenna was still reeling from her first attempt, and he didn't expect someone of any less experience to stand a chance. The former Emperor had been so far gone for such a period of time that Onderin was still uncertain about their chances of actually redeeming such a person. Chances that were immediately improved when Aira arrived. He knew that she was just the kind to believe that any man could be redeemed, a belief that would be a tremendous asset in the task, especially when combined with her experience helping to heal soldiers from both physical and mental wounds sustained during the final days of the war. He smiled as she entered the room, meeting her eyes and letting just a touch of pride glisten in his own. "Welcome, Aira, and thanks for responding to my call in such a timely manner," he greeted her. Then he turned to Adenna. "I think we're ready to go back down to the surface." So saying, the Jedi Master started to lead the group back to the hangar... ((Someone else can take it from here.))

Now that the explanation for Adenna's disconnect was out, Onderin was somewhat less certain that she was fit to take on Geki again. If her current state was weaker than last time she had tried it, she was setting herself up for a very costly failure. Then again, if they had three or more Jedi involved, it was possible that they could take the brunt of Geki's assault while making use of Adenna's experience in the matter. It was quite possible that her experiences made it worth the risk, as Onderin wasn't looking forward to trying to untangle the mad Sith Master himself. And, for what it was worth, he found the very neutral, emotionless state in which Adenna was now to be very fitting for a Jedi attempting such a task as this. He did not believe that all emotion was to be shunned, but only by putting most emotions away could a Jedi truly follow the will of the Force, know good from evil, and act as was truly just. And so he didn't say anything. He was content to see how things played out, taking an active role in whatever ways were necessary and hoping that, even as the damage to Adenna's brain was repaired, she would come to understand that there were important lessons to be gained from all of this. And maybe, if things went perfectly, she could strengthen the Order by becoming the sort of Jedi it needed. Checking his datapad to see where this Gracelyn Maier was waiting, Onderin quickly led Adenna and Agent Leife there. As they rounded the last corner, he sized Gracelyn up with a glance, looking into the Force to gain additional insight. This was someone who'd had experiences already with both sides of the Force, frighteningly intelligent and extremely rational. Some of these things would be assets to her in Jedi training, but others might stand in her way. Sometimes, the more rational mind had trouble letting go of the physical world and their own logic and acting on instinct. It was a Jedi's duty to let go of themselves and be the person the Force would have them be. Hopefully, Gracelyn's experiences with the Force would make it more real to her, or at least real enough that her education wouldn't stand in her way. Onderin's eyes told the story of how much he knew, but he didn't speak to that effect. Instead, he held Gracelyn's gaze and spoke. "Gracelyn Maier, I'm Master Onderin Starlisk. Welcome aboard. This is Jedi Knight Adenna Alluyen--she is going to be your new Master."

On their way down to the hangar, Onderin received a notification that there was another hopeful waiting for a Master. Normally, he wouldn't consider it his responsibility to do anything about that, but as he walked he got what he could only describe as a prompting from the Force. This girl wasn't going to be his padawan, as he was convinced that Elnia was still fit to be trained and she would come around in time, but Adenna's extreme discomfort with what had happened to her previous apprentice opened the doors to immediate lessons to be learned. Onderin knew from experience that those lessons would fade if not exercised immediately, and when he touched the Force, he felt a rightness about what he had in mind. "Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from what happened with Sandy," he suddenly said as they walked. "I just received a notification about another hopeful that just arrived on station named Gracelyn Maier. I'm assigning her to you, Adenna. I trust that you can handle having another apprentice so soon?" That was the long and short of it. Onderin wasn't really interested in hearing any excuse Adenna might make because of the Force's prompting, but hopefully she would be less likely to resist if she felt like she had some hand in it.

OOC: Darex is... very far away and unlikely to post. We can probably move on, though. IC: Onderin's thoughtfulness deepened. This certainly wasn't the headstrong, stubborn Jedi Knight that he had fought alongside on Thalassia. "A Jedi's life is a dangerous one," he said carefully. "While your apprentice is your responsibility, it is disturbing that a Sith prisoner could attack her inside CoreSec headquarters, which should be a secure location. Sandy can be cloned, but I don't believe her death was due to negligence on your part. I would urge you to equip her to defend herself as soon as possible, though." The Jedi Master couldn't decide if he was disappointed that CoreSec had allowed such an incident to take place or impressed that they had held as many Sith as they had without something much worse taking place. Not that the death of a Jedi padawan was to be taken lightly, but Onderin had firsthand experience with how destructive dark siders could be, and that the HQ still stood at all showed that CoreSec had been prepared. The Corellian Jedi finally stood, straightening his green robes. "Jedi Cadan can meet us at Geki's location. I have confronted enough powerful Sith that I should be of use in this matter." He was interested to see more of this new Adenna as well, not to mention being glad to catch up with his former apprentice again. Aira's skills had been tempered by the war, but her spirit had not been dimmed, as evidenced by her willingness to put the war to rest and seek peace when it mattered the most. So saying, Onderin started to head toward the hangar areas, excusing himself from the Council chamber and the Grand Master. OOC: You can post Onderin heading down with you guys.