Acrid

[Eas-San Fenrir]

Pyre does as his old student wishes and charges forward once again. The dust had pretty much settled now, but some of the specks still lingered in Leo's eyes.

 

The single crimson blade makes a slash to to cut off Stovachi's left arm but is blocked by the annoyance of the staff, a defensive weapon. Pyre quickly shifts his hands at this point. He holds the saber in his left hand with extra force and brings his right fist around to the open rib cage. Leo can't completely avoid this attack but moves with the fist to lessen the effect of the blow.

 

With the sudden shift to Eas-San right, he swings his left foot around as he pivots on his right to smack Stovachi in the back of the head.

 

The boy's next injury could not be prevented. If he were to let the foot hit his head, he would have jutted forward and have been open, and if he had rolled forward it would have freed the attack as well. It happens though. As the foot moves through the air, Leo ducks with his fast Force reflexes, causing their sabers to seperate. Pyre's free saber now moves down with great velocity, going through about halfway through the boys chest and continueing to move down towards his groin until Leo can get out of the way wreuthless path of the saber.

 

Pyre leaps back again to witness his induced wound, still preparing for the next attack.

 

"I'm amazed that missed your heart... Maybe it's smaller than you think..."

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo looks down at his diced body and smiles. He would not give up until he had beaten his former master.

 

"You think my heart is small. Have you looked at your own lately. It is smaller than a midichlorian. And believe me I know. I also know a few other things. Some things I learned without your guidance."

 

Leo calls upon the darkside and a ball of dark energy appears in his hand. He keeps fueling it with his pain, making it more powerful with every second. He then hurls it at Pyre with strength, the young man had never exhibited before. Even Pyre was stunned at his power.

 

 

The ball of energy strikes Pyre square inthe chest burning a whole through his skin, muscle and halway through bone. Leo looks down on his hand and sees it is burnt again. He would need Mara to fix it for him later. He uses the pain from the burn and tries to keep himself alive after being slices halfway through his body.

 

He taps into his reserve of Force powers and begins to pinche Pyre arteries, causing blood to stop flowing to his heart.

 

"Right about now your heart is going to stop beating."

[Eas-San Fenrir]

Pyre looks down to see his hands going purple and can feel the pressure growing in his head as if he is hanging up-side down, a result from the stopping of his arteries. The Sith then analyzes the fresh wound on his chest and touches it with his free hand, taking pleasure in the stinging pain as he caresses it. A scar Fenrir would be proud of.

 

"Pure dark energy... That was quite refreshing."

 

The former teacher, beginning to get dizzy, notices the burnt hand of Leo.

 

"The reason your hand burns is because you do not fully accept the darkside young one." Pyre's tone is now sarcastic, "A fine job in educating yourself and we all know my heart is small."

 

This would be Eas-San's final attack...

 

The area around Pyre grows suddenly dark, casting a pitch black shadow circle around him with a meter radius. Everything around seems to shutter as the man sucks in the Force from all things near him. The few plants instantly whither and ground below the two begins to shake. Another light saber suddenly shoots to Fenrir's hand, displaying his favorite attacking form. The glow of the two crimson sabers now illuminate Pyre's face, revealing a dark sinister look that the Rogue had never seen before. His teeth clenched tight and his eyes squint with his eyebrows down, it seemed as if he was in pain. Wind from the summoning blows his hair up, giving him an even more sinister look.

 

Pyre's summoning of the Force cuts off the hold Leo has on him, sending a rush of blood to his open chest wound. It splurts on the ground and strangely evaporates the moment it makes contact. A powdery red hue now fills the air.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pyre screams.

 

Pyre moves forward lightning, with his screams trailing behind him like sound tails an airplane. The two sabers move to one side. Leo moves to block, catching one saber but the other slices his two-side light saber in half and continues to rip through, nearly cutting Stovachi in half. There's no way the boy could continue to fight now.

 

Pyre lays crouched a few meters behind Leo, a sudden gail blows up behind him with a loud roar. His battle yells had finally caught up...

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo looks up as Pyre moves in. He could feel Pyre anger above any scales he had ever seen. As he hits the ground, he uses the Force and hurls a burnt piece of his saber at Pyres face. It slices a nice long gash through Pyres cheek,

 

"I wont give up fighting you piece of fodder." He lies on the ground and sees a haze cover over his eyes.

[Eas-San Fenrir]

Pyre continues to trod forward, not even flinching as the broken saber leaves a scar in his cheak. He stops next to the dying body of Stovachi and kicks the other half of the saber away. The Sith's boot then lifts in the air and mashes on the head of the defenseless one.

 

"That is why I chose you young one..." Pyre's tongue still spoke with a sinister tone..

 

"It must be quite amazing for you right now. I'm almost jealous... well not really. Experiencing death first hand. Feeling as the Force, which gave you life, take back which you have come to cherish."

 

Pyre's mind keeps an invisible eye focused on the dead sabers off in the distance, knowing the boy could still be rash and try some futile attack though now it was impossible. His foot continues to press in on Leo's head, attempting to crack the skull.

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo hears Pyre words.

 

"You chose me becuase I was vulnerable. You chose me becuase you could easily manipulate me. You never once knew I would be strong. I could easily surpass you with enough training. I would crush you except for that fact my arms are not responding. But I will take you down."

 

Leos eyes starte to haze over some more as death begins to come for him.

[Eas-San Fenrir]

Pyre presses down on Leo's head even more.

 

"HAHAHA..." The Sith's head turns up then back to Leo, "You could never surpass me Rogue. The gap between us it too great. A chasm you could never cross, especially along your grey lines. Your true power, which I did notice, will be realized when you devote your life and studies to one area of the Force."

 

Eas-San suddenly jerks his leg off and quickly plants it into the side of Stovachi, going into his chest where a gash had formed and covering his pant leg in blood. Stovachi juts in the air and quickly lands back down.

 

"And you should know before any person, that the Sith would never pick the 'vulnerable' or 'easily manipulated'. I chose you because you were elite but now I realize the error of my choice. My first student has failed me and turned into nothing but a fool."

 

Fenrir's foot makes two quick contacts with Leo's side again, then replants itself upon his head to watch him squirm in pain.

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo feels the boot on his head pressing him into the sand. He reaches up with his one good arm and tries to push Pyres boot off.

 

"You piece of sithspit. I will surpass your power one day. I will make you and your power look like a womp rat. And you will pay for all the evil you have unleashed upon the galaxy. I will be the one who makes you pay."

[Master Prophet]

The dying martyr lies, head being crushed with the force of a thousand Rancors atop his head. Eas-san's foot continues its pressure, as Leo concentrates to reach Pyre's former Master.

 

Tears of blood spill from Stovachi's eyes, his face wrinkled from the pressure of the beast above him. His message was sent with haste across the galaxy. Stovachi could only think of how he had been betrayed, Pyre, former friend, had betrayed him, and now would see his end.

 

A blue glow, soft at first, appears before Leo's eyes and before Leo's eyes alone. The image was hazy at first, then the image was clear. The glow that stood in front of him took shape, the shape, of a robed figure, a fallen Jedi, just like himself, a Rogue.

 

Leonardo lay, tears of blood pouring down his face from the stress on his skull, though, at the moment of seeing the figure, he became calm, relaxed, and was overcome with a sense of peace.

 

Sly Stevenson, fully robed, appears in Spiritual form to Leo before his eyes, perhaps it was an illusion, but never the less, the man spoke and Leo listened.

 

"Death is nothing to fear, embrace it. It will set you free, your soul will be cleansed, and purified... let go Leo... let go."

 

Suddenly the image boar on Leo's back fades, his cut that bleeds begins to take shape, and embed its bloody color into his skin. On the back, where his tattoo of the Sith once was, now took shape of the spiritual Wings that spread upon his back. The same wing form that appears on Sly's back, the symbolic form of freedom Native to Sly's home planet of Ilum.

 

Sly spoke softly, then continued on ... "You will be freed, I promise you with my soul... you will be freed, and I will have your revenge. Your life is mine, and mine is yours, you have shown me my destiny... You will be freed." Sly say's once more, closing his form with, "Thank you."

 

Sly reaches forward with his hand, and with a force from a thousand miles away, Sly closes the eyes of Leo, releasing the man's pain, and calming his soul. Leo's eyes would remain closed until his death here, where he would be freed.

 

The words of the Prophet begin to fade, though they repeat deep down in the soul of Leo, which would stay with him for the rest of his life... "I will avenge you... You will be free..."

 

Sly says as he fades back to the empty space, leaving Pyre stepping again on the skull of the man.

[Leonardo Stovachi]

As the vision fades from Leos eye he repeats what Sly said to him.

 

"I am free. I am free."

 

As this happens, Leos spirit drifts out of his body. His budy thrusts upward pushing Pyre off his face. His spirit needed to do one more thing before it joined the Force.

[Eas-San Fenrir]

Pyre releases his foot after he feels the relaxing of muscles throughout Stovachi's body, and senses the new death echoing through the Force. The joy of taking the life of this traitor had just been robbed from him. All that time for nothing.

 

Pyre begins to mutter to himself, "Did the boy release his own life... No... He's too head strong."

 

After the statement, Pyre takes one of his lit sabers and slowly slices Leo's shirt down the middle. Then Eas-San waves his hand to remove the cloth from Roiju's back, sending a ripping sound as the fabric, glued by dry blood, comes off. The Sith, still holding his saber, steps back to glare at what he saw.

 

Angellic wings were in place of the dark symbol Pyre had bestowed upon this corpse.

 

Fenrir looks to the sky, trying to feel out if what he thought was true. It was inevitable what was to come. Indeed, this next battle would claim the life of one of them.

 

Quickly and with the familiar look of apathy on his face, Pyre slices off the tatooed portion of Roiju's back. He takes it in his hand then summons the dead rogue's broken saber and wraps it in the skin. Next, Eas-San bends over and yanks a handfull of Leo's long dark hairs free from the skull and wraps those around the skin purse to keep it from opening.

 

With the satchel in hand and calm steps to carry him, Eas-San Fenrir loads up in his x-wing and enters hyperspace.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo's ship entered the Acrid system. He knew that this wasn't the correct destination, but he wanted to make sure that he wasn't tracked to the new base.

 

"Velhart, what were you talking to the Blademaster about?"

[Velhart]

"Uh, nothing really, it wasn't really important."

 

Velhart knew that Hou-Jo would know he was lying, so he decided to put in some truth to the story.

 

"He kept a beam from hitting me, because I couldn't use the Force well enough to keep it away myself. He said that you aren't paying enough attention to my training."

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

"It's none of Xen-Que's buisiness. I don't know who he thinks he is, but he always seems to be monitoring me. I for one don't like it, he has no reason to be watching over me. I'd like to give him a piece of my mind someday."

 

Hou-Jo moved his ship away from the system a bit more, as he was being pulled into the asteroid belt.

[Velhart]

"can we go yet? I think my legs might cramp or something."

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo nodded, "All right, we'll go, I don't think it's necessary to wait much longer. Set cooridinates for Manaan."

 

Velhart put in said cooridinates. ((posted with permission))

 

"All right, hold on."

 

Hou-Jo's ship entered hyperspace...

[Echelon]

From the voids of space, the quiet of life is disrupted by the roaring engines of a single ship. Decaying and deformed, the modified ship soars to one of the asteroids and lands.

 

Out of the hold, two mechanical lifeforms spring to life and begin to dig....

[Bothan CIW Agent(s)]

Disguised quite effectively as a harmless meteorite as it enters the atmosphere, the probe droid begins its assignment and impacts upon the surface of the planet, extracting itself to provide ample reconnaissance without further detection due to its small size. From a specially-tuned antenna, it begins to send out trace bursts of information to be piggybacked on local HoloNet transmissions. It bears no markings of any kind, and is equipped to handle all terrain, even underwater.

[Tarrian Skywalker]

Disguised quite effectively as a harmless meteorite as it enters the atmosphere, the probe droid begins its assignment and impacts upon the surface of the planet, extracting itself to provide ample reconnaissance without further detection due to its small size. From a specially-tuned antenna, it begins to send out trace bursts of information to be piggybacked on local HoloNet transmissions. It bears no markings of any kind, and is equipped to handle all terrain, even underwater.

 

Spaming...nulled.

[Zero]

Dhan-Jaroe's ship exited hyperspace just outside the asteroid field, and cautiously navigated through it.

 

His ship landed down in the main city which was still vacant of life. Dhan-Jaroe exited his ship and took in the stale air.

 

"Home... sweet my ass."

 

He looked over to the Senate building first, and than to the Municipal building, which contained Imperial Spartii Cloning cylinders.

 

The building was dark and after clearing out the flooded generators, the lights and main systems began to boot up, and the computers quickly switched from Acronian to Basic, as the bootstrap commanded.

 

He than focused his attention on one of the three cloning cylinders, the Empire had a nicely furnished colony here after the battle of Endor, but because of the Imperial colonists, luckily for him, all records and reports regarding planets in the uknown regions was cleared from Imperial records.

 

The cloning process began and Dhan-Jaroe waited outside for the others.

 

"Her presence is strong here." He smiled faintly, it was disheartning, but a little reassuring.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo and Vrean's ships exited from hyperspace, "Vrean. This asteroid field is very dangerous. Lack of experience in it, and not much training in the Force, it will take you longer to navigate then I. Use your training to see your way through this. Trust in the Force."

 

Hou-Jo flew through the field seeminglessly and landed outside of the old senate building. He stepped out of the cockpit and walked inside into the room in which the old Rogue Council once was. He sat down and went back into the Astral Trance.

[Avararda Dinn]

Avararda's ship came out of hyperspace, landing on the soft ground of Acrid. Slipping out of his ship, the Canine, he bowed to the Jedi masters, he waited for his place in the conversation.

[Prince Vegeta Isolder]

The Final Flash burst from hyperspace. Isolder's readouts indicated the full size of the asteroid field ahead. It was an impressive sight. Isolder wasn't the most experienced pilot, but he was a Blademaster, and in an easily maneuverable X-wing. A few near misses later, and Isolder had descended on to Acrid.

 

Isolder found DJK's location and parked his ship nearby. Exiting, the Jedi Knight walked over surveying the scenery.

 

"Charming place you have here."

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo awoke from his deep trance. He then fell of his seat and collapsed onto the floor. He was incredibly weak from the astral translocation. He struggled to get to his feet. Once he had practiced and perfected it, he wouldn't be weak from doing it. Perhaps one day he could use his Force powers at will through it. He sat down in a chair. He hoped to travel back to Tempay, but at the moment he was far too weakened from his travels.

[Nom Anor's avenger]

What looked like a flying pile of junk exited hyperspace and entered the atmosphere of Acrid. He landed his ship next to the others and found the other Jedi who already seemed to be talking.

 

Nom approached them with Bron at his heels, not even waiting to be addressed. He was tired of dealing with pointless formalities.

 

"Just once I would like to see us use our power to defend ourselves. When ever we are threatened, we just leave right away. We can't just keep running, we have to make stand eventually. The order is in dissaray because we are always moving, we can't just keep using that as an excuse not to fight."

[Ara-Lai Kaipi]

A comm comes in to Dhan-Jaroe.

 

"Dhan-Jaroe, I've found us a new home. We won't have to worry about anyone finding us for a while. The coordinates are attached. Please, tell everyone I'm sorry for making everyone do a hop skip jump routine to get to a new place. Ara out."

 

Attached are coordinates to Rafa V.

 

---end encrypted comm---

[Talon]

The interceptor bearing Talon dropped out of hyperspace right outside the asteroid field. Immediately, the Jedi flung the ship into evasive maneuvers. Though he favored his skills with a blade over his skills with a ship, he was not a bad pilot, and the nimble interceptor allowed him to weave in and out of the asteroids relatively without trouble. Emerging planet side of the field, Talon let R2 take control of the ship. He was more interested in seeing the planet below him...

 

Acrid was by no means a welcoming planet. It offered no outstanding cultures or contributions to society. No impressive feats of architecture or works of art. No famous heroes or villains. It was a brown planet- figuratively and literally. And yet, even through all the rolling doldrums of primitive society, Acrid seemed to be calling his name. He was anxious to set foot on the surface.

 

It didn't take long for R2-Z2 to reach the surface. It seemed he could sense Talon's anticipation to land. The small interceptor softly touched down on the spongy surface, near the other Jedi starships. The cockpit hissed open. Immediately, the stale tasting air hit his lips. It made Talon pause. It was... familiar. He waited several minutes before finally getting up out of the seat. He stood on the side of the ship, and his gaze swept out to the cityscape around him. He quietly hopped off the side, and the mossy turf seemed to swallow him whole...

 

Immediately on impact, Talon understood. He understood everything. This place was familiar to him because he had been here before. Memories of the Rogue's came... but they were not the only ones. Previously he had received bits and pieces- but now the memories flooded back like a Kamino tide. He remembered his training so very long ago. His ascension through the ranks- becoming a Jedi Knight and eventually a Jedi Master. He remembered above that his lightsaber- the golden blade that dealt justice like an iron fist. He remember battle- the never ending war against the Sith. He remembered his own apprentices, his successes and failures. He remembered the schism in the Order... His mind drifted and his eyes glazed over. He remembered leaving the Jedi- setting out on his own journey. He remembered fighting for the Rebels. He was a general in the Rebel army. He still fought for the Lightsiders. And then he remembered- death. He died and rose on Coruscant, and his time was not yet up. The Jedi had restored faith in the Exile, so the Exile restored his faith in them. The Empire was cruel, and Talon would bring them justice on swift wings.

 

His eyes regained focus. This is who I am. With his right hand open at his side, Talon remembered his former power. A flaming orb of Force plasma was summoned to his hand. He twirled it around playfully over his palm several times before finally quenching it. He turned back to the ship. The droid, who had seemed familiar before as well, now was seen with opened eyes.

 

"Zee?"

 

The droid seemed frozen in shock for the briefest of moments before shrieking.

 

"This place... has given me life again..."

 

Talon's revelation was interrupted by a comm from Ara. Rafa V. He would meet the Jedi there soon enough, but first there was something else he needed to do. He returned to the cockpit of his interceptor. Instead of the dull stale air he had inhaled on arrival, there was now an air of excitement. His faithful sidekick Zee shared in the exhilaration.

 

"Zee, my friend, we have a ship to find."

 

Zee beeped once, and then the ship was gone- lost in hyperspace.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo slowly but surely made his way to his ship and got in it. After a few minutes to get the ship ready, Hou-Jo pulled his ship up off of Acrid and went into space. "Son of a..." he muttered to himself as he saw the asteroid field. He concentrated on the Force again and was able to navigate through it again. Once through he sent a comm to Vrean, who had never went through, "Vrean... we're leaving for another planet. I'm sending you the cooridinates."

 

Within moments Hou-Jo entered hyperspace...

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp appered to close to an asteroid field for his liking. He immediatly threw a hard right to avoid being killed.

 

"Well next time perhaps I Should start a little farther out."

 

Scorp then proceeded to duck and dodge the field in his ship before finally breaking through and beginning the decent down to the planets surface. Upon shortly afterwards he touched ground.

 

"Well we are here."

[Kayla Mhin]

After the rough ride through the asteroid field, Kayla was more than happy to get out of the ship on solid ground.

 

"Now what?" She asked, looking around.