Dantooine

[darth shadowlord]

"My hate Jedi? There is no more hate from me, I lost it a long time ago. Hate has little purpose for me, it leads to irrational thoughts and actions. Within me there is naught but a drive for knowledge, all forms of knowledge be it from the light or the dark side of the force. Through knowledge comes power and through power is one able to guide the universe."

 

He watched the jedi closely, especially watching his expression. For the moment his sabre still remained in a guarded positin though his stance was bit looser then it had been, not to say that he was unattentive. For that in and of itself was a major lie, he was fully attentive. However, he wasn't presenting an aggressive front toward his opponent more so one of intrigue and one of calmness.

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin still keeps his blade leveled at the Sith. "I can respect that," he states slowly, "yet the company you keep does not share that same sentiment. You still wage unholy and vicious wars of conquest, practice and develop your knowledge by torturing and killing innocent beings." Malin strikes then- not with his sword, but with his mind. The Jedi and Sith link with a violent thrust and two scenes bubble up from memory, shared in a flash of blue light...

 

*FLASH*

 

A tinkling sound was heard throughout the entire building as slowly crystal began crawl up the fake Jedi Knight's legs and feet. From there it spread across to the Starfighter Pilot and began to transform living flesh into perfectly crafted crystal....

 

The crystal spread higher still as it slid up both men's waists and up over their stomach's. The looks in their eyes was one of pure agony, one such that Draken enjoyed and began to harness their agony to keep ther process going. With their agony harnessed for power against the Force, the crystal began to grow faster.

 

*FLASH*

 

Continuing to watch, Draken saw the ship crash through the building as the glass flew everywhere. "Good looking crash, now to have some fun with the workers of the building." The person beside him looked over at him strangely as he spoke and Draken arched his eyebrow. He flicked a finger and the man went flying over the railing and fell to his death with a scream...

 

"That feels better. Now then onto business." Draken headed over to the formerly pristine high rise to where the workers were gathering with venomous curses filling the air. He began to twist their emotions which wasn't hard for him to do seeing as how the workers were already mad. He made one of the workers turn so that he noticed the ship land and saw the pilot leave the ship and yelled to the rest of the workers.

 

The bond breaks, and Malin is no longer alone, accompanied by three ghoulish shades. Not an illusion these were real spirits, channeled back by Malin's necropathic bond. One looked broken, hurt by a long fall- another was a mess of crystals and shredded flesh from where he exploded. They stand there, waiting and looking balefully at the Sith who murdered them.

 

"Tell me, Sith, how do you justify crimes such as these?" Kyrell's voice is flat and devoid of emotion. "No anger, but sick and twisted amusement? Such behavior is beyond reproach."

[Kirana Sunrider]

Kira stood still, submersed in the Force as she observed how her padawan dealt with the missile. As he lifted a large piece of rubble, her lips turned upwards. She could see what he was doing, and how it would work, even so, she kept a 'hold' on the projectile until it exploded against the piece of concrete.

 

With the debris raining down, she kept vigilant that neither of them would be harmed. She clapped her hands as the dust cleared. "Good choice. When my Master did this to me, I pushed the missile back at his ship." Laughter was in her voice.

 

That laughter quickly cut off and her eyes darted around them cuatiously, quickly calling Jhoren to her side. "The Force tells me something isn't right. Tell me what you feel." Kirana was still deep within the folds of the Force as she felt a menacing presence reveal itself, like a veil had been dropped. She searched the area, closing her eyes to pinpoint just where the menace was coming from. She would have to do something about it, that was for sure. Having lost Ilum to the armies of darkness, they couldn't lose another crystal cave location. Kira kept her expression neutral, waiting to see what her padawan would tell her, how much he would discover within the Force.

 

Before she could say anything else to Jhoren, she felt another presence, one that she knew her padawan wouldn't be strong enough to feel just yet... only because she had a close friendship with Malin and had joined minds with him on several occasions, could she detect him easily. He was dealing with the menace though she would bring her padawan in just in case.

[ObliviousKnight]

Some time later, Armiena Darkfire woke up. She stretched out like a roused feline, stretching her limbs back and arching her back, somewhat stiff from having spent a few hours in the complete stillness of a healing trance. This tended to result from such things; even in sleep, Armiena tended to move ever so slightly, just enough to prevent this sort of stiffness in her muscles.

 

Armiena took stock of her surroundings. Arlan was in the cargo hold, probably working on his lightsaber in a trance-like state; and his teacher would have to join him, as she had even more work to do than her novice student. However, there was something to be pursued that took an even higher priority than constructing the revered weapon of a Jedi. It helped that she had ceased to see herself as one.

 

The raven-haired woman retreated to her quarters with an energetic bounce in her step, closing and sealing the door behind her. A few seconds later, however, it slid open again, and Armiena poked her head out into the corridor to glance furtively to each side before affixing a note to the door. It read very simply: ”œInterrupt and face a death worthy of epic poetry. Lots of love, Armiena.”

[darth shadowlord]

"It was required to maintain the balance. There must always be a balance." He concentrated for a moment then unleashed the force and banished the spirits before him.

 

"Crimes? Its crimes you speak of, then what of the countless lives lost in the destruction of our temple by your hand. How do you justify your crimes? You can claim no more reason then I, in fact you have less so. You are the jedi hidden in shadow, a jedi free to break what all laws that the jedi hold to and for what to hunt us?"

 

He was quiet for a moment, his sense's extending beyond the cave. "Ah so you have reinforcements. Interesting."

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin's concentration flickers, watching the Sith's actions. He feels energy directed at the spirits he summoned back and reaches out with threads of the Force, anchoring them to return. His caelestum sparks on a blueish tint in the aftermath.

 

"Balance? Is that the latest ratlonalization for justifying your wants and whims? Justifying mortal whim and agony afterwards as balance?" Malin's flat voice grates through his mask. "Your kind disgusts me. My actions on Coruscant were aimed at stopping further slaughter and to free those you would practice your arts on, to free them from torment and bond. Your order's selfishness sealed their fate... and yours..."

 

"My reason, Count," Malin's voice goes hollow, even sepulchral, as his body takes on a blueish cast. "is I am the shadow, the hand, of justice." An almost mocking smile draws hidden across Malin's face. "And I am the reinforcements."

 

Leveling his blade at the Sith, the blue glow errupts into a howling scream that reaches the count in less than a second. It is not lightning, nor any energy of substance, but spirit- three spirits mortally spun off from the coil by Draken. In an instant they reach the Count and give him a cold embrace, wracking the Sith with 3 overwhelming physically sensations- the pain each felt at their moment of death, condensed into one psychic and physical jolt to the system. Three moments of mortal agony wrack the Sith, threatening to overwhelm him and drag him into blackness.

[darth shadowlord]

"No Master Jedi, you are a lie."

 

His final words before the Jedi's attack struck him and he screamed as the pain hit him, everything around him fadeing to darkness with the exceptions of three lighted spirits before him. The first of the spirits spoke to him. ”œOur pain now yours, the moment of our life being taken is our bond with you. Bonded together, our pain, your life our death, your power.”

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin watches the display with dispassionate composure. He could feel the moment of vengence, the Sith's agony then the use of the Force to banish them back. Cold as ice, Malin waits until they are finished, adjusting his expectations that the attack would drop the Sith Master into a stupor.

 

"It is not an attack I use," Kyrell replies simply when all was said and done. "It is an attack that one brings on the self. I only act as a medium, letting one reap what they've reaped." Malin probes mentally, cautiously hopeful. "Your actions create an imbalance in the spirits of those you have slain, upsetting the Force. Knowing this, what would you do to set things right?"

[Jhoren Zeur]

Jhoren grinned. Using her own ship against itself seemed like a good idea now, but given the circumstances that he was in only moments ago, he'd been forced to improvise and act on his own vagary. Using his lightsaber against the missile would have most likely cost him a limb - or his life for that matter -, so using the Force seemed like the most logical answer at the time. And it was; he'd only used it in a way that Kirana hadn't seen carried out before by any of her other Padawans. Or so he thought. Still, a sense of pride washed over him as he stood there, his grin tallying with hers. He always felt this way after doing well with one of his given lessons or exercises.

 

He abided by her command and opened himself to the Force, openly using it and his mind to search for the oddity that she'd sensed. He found it with little trouble; to describe it, one would say that it was quite similar to locating a blip on a radar - only with one's mind. He was even able to tell which direction it was coming from. Turning to his side, he gazed off into the near distance, only to discover that the source of this newfound presence was in fact somewhere within the crystal cave; the very one that he'd collected his from.

 

Strange. He hadn't seen anybody else inside of it when he was there. Could there have been, by some small chance, another Jedi Master and their Padawan within the earthy enclosure?

 

No.

 

There was something odd about the being's Force presence... something dark. Sinister, even. The harder he concentrated on it to find out exactly what it was, the easier it became to focus on it. It was a human being, no doubt. Non-humanoids didn't give off this strong of a signature - an evil one, at that.

 

”œI-...it's hard to make out,”

[darth shadowlord]

"There is no cause to amend for what I have done. My actions do maintain a balance. Consider this, that at the fall of the Republic there was but two Sith. Now I do admit that there were other users of the darkside, however at the time there were many Jedi. This was no true balance, the same would be true if there were no sith now."

 

His stance was firm now, his cloak falling behind him and his hair as always in perfect place. He looked at the Jedi, watching him closely both through his normal eyes and also through the Force.

[Onderin Starlisk]

A Lambda-class shuttle appeared out of hyperspace above Dantooine. Aboard were Jedi Master Onderin Starlisk and his padawan learner, Aira Cadan. "This should be much less eventful than last time," the former was saying to the latter as he pulled the ship towards the surface, again reaching out in the Force to get an idea of what was around him. There was a collection of Jedi at the Temple down there, and there appeared to also be a Sith Lord, but he detected nothing to suggest that a battle was going on, so he simply ignored it and did a sensor focus on the area to pick up the crystal caves.

 

The Temple provided him with a map of the area and he picked a cave, then set down nearby. As he was powering down the shuttle, he reached into his cloak and produced the parts necessary to build a lightsaber. He turned to Aira and handed them to her. "This is what is necessary to build a lightsaber," he explained. "A lightsaber is a weapon intensely tied to a Jedi and the Force, as you may have noticed from your training. Therefore, I need not instruct you on how to use these parts to build the weapon, but you must trust the Force to provide the means.

 

"Inside these caves you will find crystals that are the heart of a Jedi's weapon. They will define it, and they will also to an extent define you and vice versa," he went on. "I'm going to stay here--return once you have made your weapon. There probably won't be any danger in there, but this shuttle has a blaster rack in the passenger section if you want to go in armed with more than your training saber."

[Malin Kyrell]

Kyrell shakes his head, familiar with this argument. "Balance was restored when Vader dropped the Emperor to his death and was thought to end the Sith influence on the galaxy."

 

Malin's voice is once more hollow as he continues. "The Dark side is powerful, but the way it motivates and brings about the worst in a person makes it corrosive, in turn hurting the Force. It is stronger, but cancerous to the soul. It can be used... but there's a price.. there's always a price... one that I believe comes from upsetting the balance, acting in ways that are unnatural and should not exist." There was almost a grimmace under his mask knowing to the core of his being how true that was.

 

"Either way, maintaining you have made balance by committing murder in a callous fashion does not absolve you of your responsibility, your error, or your duty to atone."

[darth shadowlord]

"No, that did not restore the balance it only succeeded int ripping the balance again. Jacen Solo aided the balance the most in recent history. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Absolve no, permit yes. The balance can not be destroyed like it had been at the fall.

 

The price is not from upsetting the balance but from the lack of restoring the balance." He continued to watch the Jedi though his sense picked up on yet another arrival of still more jedi. This new arrival however, he reconized their signature.

[Malin Kyrell]

Malin's senses prick up, sensing the arrival of Admiral Onderin Starlisk. This in tun causes a moment of hesitation, adding an unknown element to the situation and question of if he took stock in the accusations the Sith made against Malin as a peace breaker- though Malin also still thought that Mandalorian bounty hunter did a better job on the matter.

 

That said, Malin knew for a fact that his interpetation of balance in the Force prophecy was correct. A regret came that Kyrell never had a chance to study with the Whills or read their famed journals, believed to be all but the word of the Force itself.

 

"Balance is not maintained by kicking a man off a building on whim here, then on whim saving a child. Light and Dark are opposing forces, and they are at war. One's soul cannot be ordered unless one comes to term with that conflict." Malin's voice grows soft, pitying for the Sith before him, knowing that his efforts to achieve this balance inside would tear him apart, or lead him back to darkness.

[darth shadowlord]

Draken turned away for a moment, his lightsabre igniting for a brief moment to make several brief cuts into the top of the cavern wall. Then he closed down the sabre and and looked back at Malin with a wink. He tuened back around and pulled something from the wall. Within his hand he held part of the cavern wall which he set on his boot to remain for a few moments. He smiled to himself and glanced at the wall using the force to see that within the wall was several interconnecting cavities which were large enough for what he had in mind.

 

He reached into hs belt and removed a small shiny orb from a pouch. he pressed several unmarked buttons on the orb then tucked it into the alcove. Next he flipped the piece of wall up into the air and replaced it in the wall before turning to look at Malin.

 

"Well I have good news and bad news for you. Good news is we will have to continue this conversation sometime. Bad new........I'd run if I were you. There is about fifteen seconds left on the timer. Bye"

 

Draken dove out a side exit and pelted for the entrance of the cavern using the force to aid his speed. He dove into his ship and fired up the engines. Then guided the ship up into the air before opening the comm system and sending a text only comm and had the comm encrypted so that the the person to whom the comm was delievered wouldnt be able to trace it back to the sender.

 

((Comm)) Armiena, the goddess Slannesh sends her greetings but asks why you no longer offer her your service as you ought.((End Comm))

[Malin Kyrell]

The moment the Sith turned his back, Malin suspected foul play or some treachery and rushed forward. No one in their right mind turned their back like that with the potential for hostilities in the air. By that time, the Count drilled his hole and activated his detonator.

 

Malin once more takes the Sith's action with stoic resignation. While calm, there was no delay of action- simply an intense focus on the necessary motions while accepting the situation as is. In almost every single encounter Kyrell had with a Sith, every single one, the Sith pulled some kind of hostage effort to make an escape. The Count's actions in turn left for no surprise.

 

Raising his blade at the thermal planted in the wall, Malin uses the Fore to yank it out from it's hiding spot, holding it in the air. Prudently Force leaping back with several bounds to a safely remove himself from it's blast radius of 20 meters, giving himself an extra six for good measure, Kyrell concentrates, knowing what he needed to do next. With a guided Force throw, his caelstum flies from his hand, its razor edge marked for a single cut- aimed at severing the detonator's trigger from its baradium core. The blade flies true, severing the orb into two neat sections. Malin grips his blade and sends it returning home, cutting the baradium load into further sections.

 

With his blade in hand, he glances up ahead. A 12 second delay with a formidable head start, but probably enough for the Sith if he was running like hell- and well he should. If not for the importance of these caverns to the Jedi, Malin probably would have given pursuit, but... duties balanced each other. Pity stirring in him, he could only shake his head. The Count was going to fall to the dark side, and his fellow Sith would not be pleased with his mellowing and heresy. It would be crude, and cruel, but it would be justice. Even so, Malin could not let Draken get away that easily. He sends out a general alert, his presence announced once in the Force as a shout across Dantooine, aimed at the Jedi on the surface.

 

The Sith Master Count Draken infiltrated the caverns below and is making an escape. Be on the lookout and try to take him alive.

 

With that done, the only thing left to do was despose of the remains of the thermal. Taking his blaster out, Malin sets it on high and, backing up more, using the Force to carefully scatter and dissect the baradium, eliminates the thermonuclear material with careful blaster shots, leaving spherical holes in the cavern floor.

 

The threat passed, and the matter of attempting to apprehend the Sith passed to others better primed to deal with him, Malin set about making a quiet exit from the caverns back from the way he came. While he was less than enthusiastic about it, with his presence announced to the whole of Dantooine, quietly reporting in with the Grandmaster and the Admiral was probably in order.

[Kirana Sunrider]

"Yes Jhoren, what you sense is a Sith Master. That he was able to hide his presence states that he is powerful. I'm not familiar with this particular Sith though we will most likely be soon." Kira answered her padawan.

The Sith Master Count Draken infiltrated the caverns below and is making an escape. Be on the lookout and try to take him alive.

 

Hearing the message through the Force from her friend, Kira recalls her ship and answers in kind, then aloud to her padawan, On it Malin "Come on. Lost Soul will be here in a moment and we need to board quickly to give chase. You did hear Malin's warning?" she added the question to see if he had indeed picked up the call through the Force from another Master.

 

As she spoke, the Lost Soul circled above them, coming to hover close by the ruins. Grabbing hold of her padawan, Kirana broke into a run, bringing Jhoren with her. Once close enough she let the Force pick them both up as she leaped upwards onto the lowered embarksion ramp. "Quick, up to the gun turrets. Guard your mind fiercely, we don't know what this Sith can do. I'll protect you as much as I can." With that, Kira ran through the ship, slipping into the cockpit and taking the controls from her droid. The Lost Soul was quickly in pursuit of the Sith.

 

It wasn't hard to find the Sith's ship, being as they were still close to the caves. Kirana opened the comm, firstly to her padawan, "Jhoren, hold fire until I tell you to." Then to the Sith, "Land now and surrender Sith Master Draken or be fired upon."

[darth shadowlord]

Draken grinned and pushed the accelerator to the max, his ship shooting out of the planets atmosphere. "Land now and surrender Sith Master Draken or be fired upon." He chuckled to himself and didnt answer back, instead he armed the rear launcher which contained diamond boron coated missiles and targeted the Jedi ship.

 

"Oh I rather think not. Actually if I were you, I would return to the planet instead of forcing me to fire upon you. So in the meantime, Bye." He pressed a small button in the console and launched several proximity mines behind his ship and began to set several hyperspace jumps going to no where. He smiled to himself and pressed the button making the first of the leaps to hyperspace, leaving the proximity mines behind.

[Jhoren Zeur]

Before Jhoren had the time to even comprehend what was happening, Kirana had grabbed his arm and he was suddenly being pulled towards the Lost Soul. The ship had not yet landed, so he followed her lead. Using the Force to his aid, he leapt from the ground and onto the Soul's ramp. It wasn't until then when Kira released him and demanded that he go to the gun turrets. Without a moment's hesitation he did just that; scrambling up the ladder that led to ship's dorsal turret, he sat down in the chair that sported a pale white helmet equipped with a sleek-looking headset. Putting it on, he activated the comm system between whatever other channel that it was set to.

 

:: Jhoren, hold your fire until I tell you to. ::

 

He was about to reply with a simple acknowledgement, but was stopped when Kira spoke to the Sith in pursuance. He replied with a boastful amount of confidence, as if he was sure that he wasn't going to get blown out of the sky.

 

Following his response came a group of proximity mines that were lanced from the back of his ship. By instinct, his hands went for the gun turret's control face. With both hands on the control yoke, he lined up either barrel with the nearest mine.

 

”œForgive me, Kira,”

[Aira Cadan]

I nodded, relieved that we had made it out of the Ilum system without a scratch. This new planet appeared absolutely beautiful, with waving seas of grasses that were much more inviting than the snowy wastes of the ice planet we had just come from. I silently thanked the Force.

 

I thought about grabbing a blaster as Onderin handed me the supplies I'd need, but then reconsidered. If Onderin thought there was going to be no need for it, then I'd trust him. I put the parts in my bag, which I then slung over my shoulder. "Right. I'll be back."

 

As I trekked to the cave, I remembered the first crystal I had found, back on Aracoun Morion. I pulled it out of the special pocket in my bag and examined it. It seemed to respond to my touch almost. Thoughtful, I slipped it back into it's pocket. I had heard that Jedi lightsabers required only one crystal, although three crystals allowed for more variation. I decided to find two more on this quest, and attempt a fancier lightsaber. Although, I thought wryly, if I failed, it would be my own fault for trying something too difficult. Not that it would be the first time that had happened.

 

The cave was dry and cool, the water that eroded it long having dried up. I pulled out a glowstick as I proceeded. I had no fear of closed in spaces, but I also didn't want to bash my head open on a stalactite.

 

I wandered almost aimlessly through the cave, surprised at how big it was. I hoped I would be able to find my way back out when I was done. Still I pressed onward, occasionally hearing noises in the cave, but nothing close enough to be threatening.

 

As I walked, I stretched out with the Force. It was cool and dark and almost old down here. Like it was an old man, ancient and wizened, full of wisdom and crotchetiness. I marveled at how the surroundings could make it seem so different to me. I suppose the Force is everything, and has many different aspects. Different sides are shown at different times and in different places.

 

I could also feel almost...echos...of other Jedi. It was hard to describe, even in my mind. It was like a blurry afterimage, except I wasn't seeing it with my eyes, but rather my mind. There were some that were clearer than others; I assumed that these were the lingering presences of powerful Jedi who had been here more recently. Others were faint, almost like whispers. It intruiged me greatly, and I wondered what kind of afterimage I was leaving behind me.

 

Suddenly, I spotted a kind of low radiance. I picked up my pace, and turned the corner...

[Kirana Sunrider]

When the sith released the proximity mines, Kira threw the ship into evasive actions, applauding the actions of her padawan as he fired and cleared the mines from their path, "Nothing to forgive. Good shooting there Jhoren. I only wanted you to hold off firing until I'd given the Sith a warning. A Jedi should offer a warning first before taking aggressive actions."

 

With the Sith leaving the atmosphere and soon after disappearing into hyperspace while they dealt with the mines, there was no way to trace where he was going to. If he followed the same kind of procedures that she herself did, he'd make several random jumps before heading to a destination.

 

While circling the ship around to head back to the Jedi Temple, Kira received a comm from the Temple. Moments later, she was heading down to land beside a river bank. There was a meditation grove not far from where she landed. She ran through the post flight checks, then headed into the living area of the ship, calling to Jhoren to meet her there.

 

"There is a meditation grove not far from here that has been corrupted. I want you to travel to and confront the source of this darkness. Remember that a Jedi acts with compassion, with patience and care. That those on a dark path are not always lost forever."

 

===

 

At the grove a young fallen Jedi padawan knelt there in anguish. The darkside radiated from her and tainted the creatures that lived in the area. The Kath Hounds had turned savage and ruthless, becoming a larger threat than usual.

 

 

 

(OOC: I'll post the actions of the 'lost' padawan. I want detailed descriptions on how you deal with this)

[Aira Cadan]

The tower of crystals stretched almost to the ceiling of the cave in the middle, and many smaller towers branched off it. There were crystals of every shape, size, and color, and all glowed with the soft radiance I had seen from a distance.

 

Pure sabacc, I thought, then immediately felt bad. This was such a solemn place; it didn't feel right to be cracking jokes. Soberly, I walked forward and then sank onto my knees.

 

I listened to the Force, opening myself even further to it's invigorating flow. Somewhere in this formation, I knew, the crystals I wanted would be found. So I probed the formation with the Force.

 

Each of the crystals, I found with some surprise, had a unique and distinctive Force-signature. It was similar to what I felt when I probed plants and animals, but at the same time, different. More distinct and individual.

 

I hesitated, then reached out to grab hold of a small crystal that was off to my right. It glowed a deep green, intense and almost pulsing. I pulled on it, but it wouldn't budge. Drawing my multi-tool out of my pocket, I gently used the laser tool to slice the crystal from the larger formation. I then slipped it in my bag.

 

The second crystal was towards the top of the formation, almost at the top of my reach. It glowed a pale white, almost like a diamond, but so brilliant it looked more like a corusca gem. I took it down gently, reverently, for I felt like it was a great honor for me to be taking these gems for my lightsaber, like it was a great honor for me to be following this path at all.

 

It really made me think.

 

I walked out slowly, making my way back through the cave until I saw a small side cave. Entering it, I knew it would be the perfect place for me to assemble my first lightsaber.

[Malin Kyrell]

With the Sith escaped, Malin waits on the surface of Dantooine, expecting a call or greetings from some of his fellow Jedi. Giving a faint empathic burst of warmth for Kirana, Malin trecks out alone over the fields to his ship and takes off into hyperspace, leaving the lush world behind. There would always be other battles; and duty, heavy as a mountain, called to him.

[ObliviousKnight]

((We have a Temple here?))

 

Armiena scowled, feeling the presence of a familiar Sith unmask itself, along with that of a Jedi that she had absolutely no desire to see. As far as she was concerned, Malin Kyrell was persona non grata; the only welcome that he would ever receive in her company was an arrest attempt.

 

The Sith broke away, but the expert pilot made no attempt the retreat up the boarding ramp of the Ghost Breath. Unless the idiot had traveled deep into the crystal caverns, he would probably be at his ship in minutes””and if he'd shown the foresight to operate under conditions of maximum paranoia, his ship would probably be primed and ready to lift off at a moment's notice. The Ghost Breath wouldn't be ready for combat for some time.

 

As far as Armiena was concerned, that Sith was good as gone, and if he'd had the sense to take the necessary precautions, only dumb luck would help them get back on his trail. Her guesses proved to be correct, though she was pleasantly surprised to see that another Jedi had been in position to attempt an interception””and one that she knew.

 

Striding back up the Ghost Breath's boarding ramp, Armiena seized her comlink and spoke roughly into it, her face contorted by frustration. ”œSunrider, transmit your sensor data to the Ghost Breath as soon as you are able." Hopefully, with a bit of analysis on the sensor data, that ship would be of no further use in infiltrating a planet occupied by the Jedi.

 

Her every breath escaping as a frustrated sigh, she recovered the fist-sized chunk of silvery crystal that she had recovered from the caves and made her way to the Ghost Breath's cargo hold, where most of the Jedi Master's specialized equipment was kept. Placing the raw rock in a vise to hold it steady, she stared at the crystal with unblinkingly wide emerald eyes, visualizing where she would make the first cut to shatter the stone into several pieces that could be cut into fine focusing lenses.

 

With a pair of firm taps with a fine-toothed chisel, the rock broke into seven pieces, each of which she estimated could be used to make a focusing lens in a lightsaber.

 

Her earlier frustration was forgotten, the woman completely enthralled with her work. No matter how she hated fighting this civil war, Armiena would have never been able to work with such complicated machinery on a regular basis in a time of peace--and she absolutely adored this sort of work. Cutting these stones, however, was the difficult part”¦

[Jhoren Zeur]

Abiding by his master's wishes, Jhoren disembarked from the Lost Soul, bound for the meditation grove that he sensed was on the other side of the hummock. There was indeed a darkness somewhere there, though it wasn't like the Sith's presence that he'd felt whilst in the middle of the ruins. This one was less powerful, and almost... hesitant. It was as if whoever possessed this source of ill-doing wasn't sure if they were making the correct choice. Of course, he might have been getting mixed readings from the other creatures nearby. All creatures, living or not, possessed some sort of a Force signature. Those who weren't Force-sensitive didn't stand out above those who were. It was a fairly easy system to understand, and was one that Jhoren would have to understand in order to tell just how many there were in the grove. Recalling what Kira had told him, it had supposedly been ”˜corrupted'. Did this mean that there was only one other person there? Or were there more?

 

He took a sharp intake of breath and set off up the hill, keeping his senses open and hand close to his lightsaber hilt. He'd put his training saber away in Kira's ship before he left. He longer needed it. Not when he possessed - built, nonetheless - an actual lightsaber. He'd managed to get a bit of sparring in with his training remote a few hours prior, and was already feeling more comfortable with the newfound weight and power of his weapon. The Praetor hilt was a bit wider than the one on his other saber, though for some odd reason, the handle fit his hand more ably.

 

Whatever the reason, he found himself absent-mindedly running his finger along the handgrip. To his surprise, he'd already reached the top. From where he was standing, he overlooked the entire meditation grove. There was somebody down below, from what he could see. Their back was turned to him and they appeared to be kneeling down. Dotted along the perimeter of the grove were several Kath Hounds. There was nothing remarkably odd about the hounds, and there was enough distance between him and them, so he started for the grove.

 

As he walked along, he finally unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. He chose not to ignite it yet, and instead keep it off of his belt for his own safety. He hadn't been the victim of any surprise attacks in the past - something that he wished to carry on in the future, if he could help it - but he knew that he couldn't be too careful. The figure - what he'd previously determined to be that of a girl around his age - remained unmoving. It was as if she was lost in some sort of trance.

 

He came to a halt no less than fifteen feet away from her. Thumb resting on the ignition switch of his lightsaber, he thought back to what Kira had said not ten minutes ago.

 

”œRemember that a Jedi acts with compassion, with patience and care. That those on a dark path are not always lost forever.”

[Aira Cadan]

Now that I was here, with everything ready, I realized I had no idea how to begin. I took the parts Onderin had given me and laid them all out before me in a semicircle, then added my three crystals to the mix. But I had never built a lightsaber before, only seen them. And most Jedi lightsabers weren't exactly transparent; I had no idea what the assembly would be like on the inside.

 

Taking a deep breath, I thought back over what Onderin had said, trying to think if he had mentioned anything about exactly how to make a lightsaber. His words floated back through her mind, and she could almost hear them aurally like another cave echo. "Therefore, I need not instruct you on how to use these parts to build the weapon, but you must trust the Force to provide the means."

 

So I'd have to let the Force tell me what to do. I took a deep breath. This was going to be really hard. I had slowly gotten more accustomed to listening to the Force for guidance, but never for something this tiny and detailed. I knew that if I made one small error, the weapon would explode or melt. It was intimidating, and in a way, it was scary. Could I really trust the Force to tell me how to put the saber together?

 

It came down to whether or not I really trusted the Force. And I knew I did. It had never proven me wrong, and had always led me on the right path so far. I had no reason not to trust it. I took another deep breath, crossed my legs, and sank into the Force.

 

I threw myself into the deep end, deeper than I had ever been in the Force. All thought of anything else was washed away, and I was focused solely on the task at hand. Suddenly, I realized I did know what to do. I quickly got to work on the casing and wiring, screwing on a comm charger to the butt of the handle. It didn't take long--or so it felt to me--to have the housing complete.

 

I then turned to the crystals. The Force told me exactly where to put each one, and I chose the Aracoun Morion crystal as my central crystal, with the others as focusing lenses. When everything was in place, I closed the casing and did the final outward touches, including shaping the grip so that it would fit my hand perfectly.

 

Once the lightsaber seemed done, I got a nudge from the Force that there were still some things that needed to be done to complete it. So I responded by bathing the weapon in the Force. Suddenly the Force flowed over me so powerfully that I gasped, and tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I could feel subtle corrections being made in the alignment of everything--in the lightsaber and in myself.

 

More than anything, I felt the weight of responsibility that I now would carry. A Jedi had to do the most good for the most amount of people possible all the time. I could no longer be rash or impulsive, for my decisions could affect lives. It also changed the way I thought of myself. In a way, I grew up a lot in that moment. I had power, responsibility, and duty now. I was now an adult not just in words or by law, but in feelings and responsibilities too.

 

Suddenly, the Force withdrew, and I knew I was finished. I blinked, and then realized that I was thirsty and absolutly ravenous. I also knew, somehow, that danger lurked somewhere on the horizon of the future if I chose to stay here. I fumbled with my canteen and took a long drink, then picked up my new lightsaber and rose to my feet. I made my way at a good clip out of the cave and back towards my master's shuttle.

 

Pressing the entry button, I strode up the ramp. Onderin was waiting for me, and I offered him a nod. My thumb hit the ignition switch on my lightsaber for the first time, and a brilliant deep green blade erupted from the hilt. I was entranced by it's beauty; I hadn't known what color it might be. I then hit the smaller button above the activator, wanting to try out the second phase of the weapon. The blade doubled in length, becoming much thinner, and as the clear crystal came into line, the color changed from brilliant green to cool silver. I switched it back to normal mode, then deactivated it and presented it to my master.

[Arlan Vass]

The final piece of Arlan's lightsaber clicked into place some twenty minutes after he'd first sat down at the workbench. When it did, he opened his eyes, reaching out as if by some internal instinct. Catching the sleek-styled hilt in his hand, he was immediately met with a heavier weight as opposed to his training saber. The odds and ends that he'd seen on the latter were replaced with slightly more complex-looking knobs and buttons. The use of said parts, though, he had yet to discover. The ignition switch was as obvious as the one on his parents' lightsabers, which still hung from his belt by their metal fastenings. He knew that it wouldn't be wise to carry all three hilts with him at once; he made a mental note to himself to put the other two somewhere safe, preferably in one of R2's many hidden compartments. The droid looked as innocent as it did unthreatening. The chances of somebody finding out that two lightsabers were stored within it were quite slim.

 

He jabbed his thumb down onto the ignition switch, and was immediately met with the all-too familiar snap-hiss of the blade's kindling. The blade was of a bright bluish hue, matching up well against the color of Armiena's - the very one that was lost to the Sith on Borleais. He was holding the hilt on its side, but now turned it up at a ninety degree angle, speculating his handicraft. He hadn't even come into contact with the blade yet - and he strongly hoped that it would remain that way -, and already he could feel the pure intensity of the weapon's power. Much like his parents', a sense of confidence washed over him as he knelt there, habilitated in a Jedi's apparel and wielding the weapon to match. It was all quite intoxicating, really; as was his first experience using his parents' lightsabers.

 

He rose to his feet in one graceful manner, pressing the switch once more to make the blade retract back into the hilt. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned from the workbench and left the room, walking through the Ghost Breath's several corridors that he'd already become the utmost familiar with. Getting to the room that was used as a sparring chamber took a little less than a minute. Once he was there, he unsealed the door and walked inside, but didn't bother with resealing it afterwards. With luck, Armiena would find him there and give him her own input on the final result of his lightsaber. From his perspective, he'd done remarkably well, given that it was his first time partaking in the weapon's construction. But, she was the Grandmaster of the Jedi. She knew the ins and outs of everything that he had - and was - delving in and learning about. Surely, she would be able to give it a more thorough inspection and see if he'd put each part in its correct place.

 

Until then, however, he wanted to get well-adjusted to this - his - lightsaber. With a gentle flick of his wrist, a stark white training remote rose from the depths of a metal crate on the opposite side of the room. Small, almost pinpoint dots of light spread across it like stars in a spherical galaxy, indicating that it was on and ready to be put to use.

 

The blade of his lightsaber leapt to life once more, ready to be put to its own use in the young Padawan's self-wrought lesson...

[Onderin Starlisk]

While Aira was gone, Onderin monitered her closely. He respected her choice to not take a weapon with her, but the result was that she was unarmed should some danger seek her out. So he watched her through the Force and with the shuttle's passive sensors, just sort of making sure things stayed safe in there. Dantooine wasn't nearly as dangerous as Ilum, but there were kath hounds and kinrath in there and it wasn't inconceivable that his padawan would run into some.

 

He felt her wonder in the Force as she found the crystals she would put into her weapon, but much stronger were the feelings she exuded when she finished the lightsaber. He remembered himself how he had felt when he had made those finishes, and how in some ways the Force had finished him at the same time. Now he felt Aira almost maturing and wondered how it would affect her character.

 

The first effects were apparent as soon as she came up the ramp. She knew that this was a solemn event and she treated it thusly. He was also impressed that she waited to try the weapon out until she was in his presence--she had enough faith that it would work that she would risk it blowing up in the shuttle. That was exactly what he was looking for in his padawans. When she tried it out, he smiled.

 

"Dual-phase. Very impressive," he said. He then took a step up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, careful not to cut his arm off on her new fully-powered blade. "The lightsaber, as you know, is the symbol of the Jedi Order. With it comes great responsibility--you must choose to use it by judging when it becomes necessary and showing proper restraint or lack thereof when it comes to combat. Where it's seen, the Jedi are implicated, so you represent the whole Order now.

 

"But through making it, you've proven that you are very well along the path to becoming a Jedi Knight, and the Force would not have helped you achieve this if it did not want you as a representative of the Jedi Order," he said solemnly. Then he perked into a smile. "While you were gone, I was thinking about what we should do next, and it inevitably involves fieldwork. So I contacted Grand Master Darkfire and she gave us something to do.

 

"There's a terrorist that has been causing some trouble on a number of worlds. We're supposed to track his gang down... and you'll probably get a chance to try out that new lightsaber of yours," he said. "But before we leave again, do you have any questions... about the weapon, your responsibilities, or your training in general?"

[Aira Cadan]

I glowed with pride as my lightsaber was inspected by Onderin. "Thank you Master."

 

As he spoke of an assignment from the Grandmaster of the Jedi, curiosity raced through me, but then I raised an eyebrow. "And you can just take off and go track this guy down? I mean, you have lots of other responsibilities. I understand that you aren't just a Jedi Master.

 

"Don't get me wrong," I quickly added, "I'm thrilled and honored that we are getting to spend more than a random training session here and there together, but I also understand if you are too busy to do this mission."

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin maintained his smile and shook his head slightly. "The Republic is a very robust faction, Aira," he said. "I may be its military leader, but they're quite capable of functioning without me for a few days. Actually, I was planning on using the resources inherent to my position to aid the search.

 

"We can try to track the terrorist by second-guessing him or following leads, but most of the time, the only way to catch guys like this is to wait for them to strike and get there before it's over," he explained. "NRI is very good at what they do, and it should make it possible to find this guy."

 

As he finished, he headed back to the cockpit and, moments later, the shuttle had left Dantooine.